Delivering the placenta during a water birth?

[Guppy051708]

Hello for those of you planning a water birth, what happens after baby is born but before the placenta is delivered? ive heard that some MWs make you get out of the pool to deliver the placenta, but that sounds bizarre to me to have to get out immediately after birthing your baby and having a large cord hanging out. So what is the proceedure for this part? Also I'm delivering at a birth center within a hospital so i'm not sure if that makes a difference or not

 

[milkmachine]

i think that you can deliver it in the water providing your not bleeding loads and there are no other complications.

 

[jubilee]

as i understand it, you are asked to leave to pool to deliver the placenta so that they can make sure all of it comes away from the wall of you uterus and to accurately gage the amount of blood loss. It's for you benefit. If you deliver the placenta without injextion it will take about 15-45 mins for the placenta to come out anyway so you won;t be rushed

 

[bky]

I've been told you need to at least stand up or otherwise lift your vaginal opening out of the water so in addition to gauging blood loss etc you don't get the birth pool water inside you which can cause infection. I guess since you are still contracting and expelling things until you expel the placenta it isn't an issue until that point? That's what we were told at my antenatal class anyhow. I'm not sure how much sense I think it makes...

 

[Lillylemon]

I've also been told I can't deliver the placenta in the pool - they have asked me to set up an area to the side of the pool, where presumably I can lay to deliver it. I want to deliver it naturally, I think they are open to this if all is ok.

 

[amandadixey3]

when i had my waterbirth with ashton they cut the cord then while checking baby and oh was dressing him they asked me to get out and i think they gave me an injection in my leg. I think thats what happened (way to much gas and air hehee

 

[gina8177]

It will depend on your MW. I haven't talked to my MW about it yet, will be doing so on Monday, but her back up midwife prefers to deliver the placenta out of the pool. She recommends having a little set-up beside it so you don't have to move far. I am hoping that my MW will let me deliver the placenta in the pool if I don't feel like moving.

 

[cupcake23]

If your having a physiological 3rd stage then it can take upto an hour until you deliver the placenta, so in this time you could be in the pool. If you have the injection then its delivered 5-10mins later and the midwife will help deliver the placenta using controlled cord traction, you will need to be out of the pool to do this. Either way if you deliver the placenta in the pool(bum not in the air) then blood loss measurement can be skewed.

 

[Guppy051708]

What does the injection feel like?
Is it painful?
And, to the gals who have already gone through labor and delivery, would you recommend taking the injection or doing it naturally?

 

[cupcake23]

The injection is so quick that you probably won't feel it as you will be on , being in a pool will mean that they will get you to stand up to give it though. I had a physiological 3rd stage (with my first I had active) it only lasted about 20mins and it was great, I was the only person to hold her and I got a chance to really look at her, unlike my son where they injected, clamped, cut the cord which meant I only held him for 5 mins before they took him away to get dried, dressed etc instead of leaving him with me for skin to skin.

 

[amandadixey3]

yes hun i am ABSOLUTELY petrified of injections and tbh the situation is so strange i cant even remember having it done, i dont even think the mw asked me because she new i would of said no (i refused all pain relief anything that looked scary didnt come near me pmsl ) its so quick and with the injection its over in 10 minutes id recommend it xx

 

[JenStar1976]

My midwife asked me to get out of the pool about 5 minutes after Alex was born. I was still holding him as I got out then sat on the floor. I had initially said that I would be happy to have the injection, but she said that seeing as I had done everything naturally, why don't we try to deliver the placenta naturally too. The midwife massaged my tummy to bring on a contraction and then a few minutes later the placenta was delivered (12 minutes after Alex was born). x

 

[Guppy051708]

Thanks girls!
So, by " massage" do you mean painful "massage"? My sister (used epi then had routine pitocin- or whatever is used to expel the placenta) and she said they "massaged it" but it hurt worse than any part of the labor!

 

[bky]

As I understand it the massage is to mimic something the baby does if it's put on your stomach and allowed to find your breast. Basically a pushing on your abdomen with baby feet or someone's hands is supposed to convince the placenta to release. I've heard people say it's uncomfortable, or somewhat painful, but not heard it's worse than labour.

 

[Rmar]

From what I understand of it, breastfeeding is the most useful way of expelling a placenta. By breastfeeding I don't mean specifically feeding but any kind of stimulation by the sucking of the baby (which is also great for bringing the milk in) helps the uterus to contact faster even if no milk is coming out which is great for expelling the placenta and minimizing bleeding.

Research the difference between physiological third stage of labour and active. After going through all of the information, I decided that I wouldn't have an active stage unless the second stage was activly managed and there is a higher recommendation.

For information regarding physiological third stage with water birth:

https://www.studentmidwife.net/student-midwife-forums-2/clinical-placements-8/28398-waterbirth-physiological-third-stage-experience.html (From the midwives persepctive)

https://www.homebirth.org.uk/thirdstage.htm

 

[kcj2008]

Hi

Just thought I would add my experience, I had a homebirth with an independant midwife I had hired so I had continuity of care throughout my pregnancy.

I actually delivered the placenta naturally with no injection and it came away within 10 minutes this was in the birthing pool. The reason not many hospitals like you to do this is because it is very hard to measure blood loss in the pool. Imagine a drop of blood in a glass of water it looks alot because of dilutation. However I was lucky and the water didnt even change colour so minimal loss.

I would recommend no injection this was my 3rd I had minimal bleeding, no after pains compared to horrific after pains with my first two and am convinced that the injection contriuted to these pains.

 

[summer rain]

Hi

I did have the injection with all three of mine, its a matter of personal choice and thinking of any medical factors unique to yourself as well. With my second the placenta was huge (the two midwives said it was the largest they had ever seen) and it left quite a really large, raw bleeding site when it came away; they had to then give me the injection and I had to have 5 shots of it in the end to stop the bleeding; even then I bled for 8 weeks afterwards. Also I have needed stitches with all of mine due to circumstances completely beyond my control and I'd rather not wait around for however long it may be for the placenta to come out before being able to have my stitches, rather get that over and done with so I can hold and feed my baby some more (and with the younger two I did get to hold and feed them immediately after birth for a good few minutes; its a myth if you have the injection then they automatically take the baby away wash and wrap him or her and you can't have that skin to skin).

Sophie

 

[Debberann]

I delivered the placenta in the pool and my mw just had a little fishy net to get all the pieces out if there were any.

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

Hello :wave:

I had a water birth when I had DD and I did have to get out the pool to deliver the placenta. But it wasn't immediately. I didn't have any injection to quicken the delivery of the placenta so I got to spend about 30-40 minutes in the pool with DD having skin to skin contact. It was a bit akward getting out with what looked like a willy hanging between my legs but the MW was lovely she helped me get out and the bars that were on the pool were near enough the same size as bars on a swimming pool so it wasn't overly difficult to get out. The only reason they prefer you to get out is so they can check that all the placenta comes away from the wall of you're uterus. They also examine it to make sure it's "healthy". Also the MW that delivered DD persuaded the placenta out with a gentle tug because it was quite big. I think they check blood loss aswell.. You'll be great-ful for getting out to deliver it though. The size of the bloody thing don't think I'd want to sit in a pool with that floating around lol. Ewww

 

[winegums]

Hello :wave:
You'll be great-ful for getting out to deliver it though. The size of the bloody thing don't think I'd want to sit in a pool with that floating around lol. Ewww

hahhaa