You’ve just gone through the most painful part of labor and delivered your baby safe and sound. Congratulations, the hard work is over! You’re only left with delivering the placenta out of your birth canal. The delivery of the placenta is important to your health after giving birth - retention in your body can lead to unwanted bleeding and other side effects. It usually lasts from 5 to 20 minutes and sometimes more. 

Key Points to Expect:

  • Duration: 5 - 20 minutes, but sometimes longer.
  • Contractions: Weak, mild contractions that last about 1 minute each

What can you do when the delivery of your placenta starts?

Nothing actually. You should relax and let your practitioner do the rest. 

What will your practitioner do to help deliver your placenta?

  • Apply pressure on your uterus: Your practitioner may help speed up the delivery by pulling the cord gently and giving you a soft massage, applying some downward pressure on the top of your uterus. You may be asked to push at appropriate times to help accelerate the process. NOTE: If you’ve delivered through a C-section, don’t worry about pushing at all, your doctor will be removing the placenta for you. 
  • Offer you some Oxytocin/Pitocin: You may be given some oxytocin or pitocin via IV or injection to stimulate your uterine contractions, which will then accelerate the delivery of your placenta. These medicines also help shrink your uterus back to size and limit the bleeding. 
  • Check the condition of your placenta: It is possible that your placenta won’t come out whole in one piece. Your doctor will examine to make sure if your placenta is intact; if not, they will proceed to inspect your uterus and remove any placental fragments that remain. 
  • Stitch up any Vaginal or Perineal tears: Your doctor will help clean up the wound that may have resulted from strong pushing before. They may apply an ice pack on your perineum to minimize swelling.

What’s next? 

You may experience some degree of shaking and shivering after the delivery of your placenta. Don’t worry! This is completely normal after exerting so much of your energy and suffering through the blood loss. Just note that you may start having heavy bleeding for the next 10 days after birth that’s called the vaginal postpartum bleeding or Iochia. It is typically very dark in colour for the first 3 days after your baby’s delivery. 

Read more about Vaginal Postpartum Bleeding - Iochia here. 

Last but not least, congratulations! You’ve made it to the end! 

You may feel tired, relieved, funny, or fizzy, experiencing mixed feelings like having butterflies in your stomach. Clear out your mind and give yourself some time to rest. You’ve just been through one of the most challenging days of your life, it’s okay to feel less excited when you’re exhausted all over.  Feel accomplished. Be proud. Thank you and your body for holding it out for so long. You’ve done a great job introducing a beautiful life into the world. Thank you for the hard work, mummies!

 

Continue reading other series in the trilogy:

Childbirth Trilogy #1: Childbirth Trilogy #1: The 3 Stages of Labor

Childbirth Trilogy #2: Delivery of Your Baby, Welcome to the World!