We are going to talk about a topic today and the wheel is going to choose it ready let's do it
okay today we are talking about the third stage of labor. Third stage of labor,
this might be a term that you're not familiar with though you might be familiar with
what's involved in the third stage of labor so the third stage of labor is the birth or delivery you
might hear either way of the placenta so the first stage of labor is our dilation effacement and
opening of our cervix and then once the cervix is totally thin totally opened then we go move on to
our second stage of labor and that is the pushing stage when we're actively pushing out the baby
and then our third stage of labor is the delivery or birth of the placenta
so i actually have nearby my childbirth head tools it's a stage that is kind of um
i don't know not discussed as much you know this part the baby and dilation in a basement and
pushing is generally the first and second stage of labor is generally the part that we focus on when
we learn about labor when we talk about it but along with the baby we get a placenta so these
are some of my childbirth teaching tools here is our placenta and we have an umbilical cord
like this so the third stage of labor is when our placenta is the first thing it has to do is detach
from the wall of our cervic the wall of our uterus so the placenta is attached inside the uterus
and through a series of hormones the after the baby is born the body tells the placenta that it's
no longer needed and that where it's attached to the wall of the uterus and it detaches now
this usually happens within the first say of i think it's about generally about 5 to 30 minutes
after the birth of the baby the placenta detaches and there are a couple of things
that happen when the placenta detaches first of all there is often a small gush of blood that that
can be seen to come out and your if your care provider is watching your midwife or your OB
they will notice a trickle of blood sometimes can indicate indicate that the placenta has
detached uh also sometimes when the placenta detaches and kind of drops
down in the uterus it's pushing not pushing but the weight of the placenta is on the cervix and
sometimes the um person the the birthing person will feel like that urge to push or just feel
kind of like um something else is going on in there i sort of feel like pressure sort of feel
like i need to push sometimes sometimes that can indicate that the placenta has separated also
when the baby is born and generally will be put you know in arms of mom and um the cord is
often still attached now it really depends on your care provider if when the cord is clamped and cut
years ago we would see regularly that the cord was cut very quickly upon birth of the baby
and we're seeing more and more of uh delayed cord clamping and we'll probably cover that in depth on
another wheel topic on the wheel but delaying the cord it gives us more time that we're allowing the
baby to be attached to the placenta before we cut the cord so if um you're holding baby the cord is
still there and the placenta is still inside you might know that your care provider might notice
that more cord comes out sort of drops down and that usually means that the placenta has to touch
so delivery of the placenta is really important because in order to stop the bleeding that happens
the uterus has to contract down so the uterus is you know fairly large sized when the baby's inside
with the placenta when the placenta detaches there is basically like an open wound and what
needs to happen is the uterus needs to clamp down and almost shrink back to to a very small size
it's such an amazing feat to go from you know this large muscle that's holding the baby down to this
you know orange sized uh muscle but what the purpose of that is really to stop that bleeding
and so the third stage of birth while it might not be as exciting as the first or second stage it is
super important so um certain a couple things to know especially if you are supporting someone if
your partner is going through birth remember that you know that really your care team is going to be
very present and really active until that third stage is complete so until the placenta is out and
the uterus is clamping down properly firming up properly you might hear
nurses or care providers talk about is your that the uterus needs to firm up
become firm so that is really what's happening with the after the placenta comes out and
sometimes if we are if we see a hemorrhage which is an excess loss of blood
it is during this third stage of labor so our care team is going to be
really present during this time um still looking to make sure that everything is going normally
and you might not notice what's going on if you're holding baby and you know meeting your new baby
and everything you might not even notice the the placenta comes out or your care provider might say
something like uh give me a little push or bear down a little bit to um to birth the placenta
now if you have never seen a placenta or have would like to see what your placenta looks like um
and and you might not okay so it look it is it's quite bloody it looks a lot like a piece of meat
you might have no interest in this at all but I want to just say that if you do have interest in
it ask your care providers if they can show you the placenta before they take it away or put it
away um it's something interesting and i having being a doula and childbirth educator and having
conversations around this field i have heard mothers and even mothers of older children high
school aged children say oh i didn't even see my placenta i wish i could have seen it which
is a funny conversation to have at high school drop-off anyway or middle school drop-off but
if you have any interest in it talk to your care provider and say hey can i see
the placenta and usually they will pick it up and show it to you and maybe explain like
this side was where the baby was the side was attached to the uterus and that kind of thing
also if you are someone who is going to encapsulate your placenta uh that is the
time to make sure that your care provider you know doesn't take your placenta away so your support
team should be on top of that make sure that everything is taken care of to take the placenta
home with you or get it picked up for placenta encapsulation which is also something we should
another topic we can dive a little deeper into on on another big bill of birth topic so
third stage of labor is very important because it is the delivery and birth of the placenta and the
um firming up of the uterus the other thing i want to mention that it can be surprising for people
for firming up the uterus it depends on your care providers but a lot of hospital-based providers
and nurses their procedure is to to do some manual pushing down on your uterus to help it firm up if
you push on it they it can help firm up especially if you have an epidural you'll see providers are
often pushing on it it can be a little painful sometimes it can be a little distracting
the purpose of this is really to help your uterus become firm and stop bleeding so it if it
is uncomfortable for you or bother some because you're holding your new baby and you're like why
are you pushing my stomach just know that you can always use your childbirth techniques i really
recommend some real big deep breaths during the um you you know your uterus being pushed on your
fundus the top of the uterus being pushed on you can use your childbirth techniques for this too
if it is painful and just remember that your care providers are doing this really to help prevent
postpartum hemorrhage and and really stop bleeding so it's important just sometimes uncomfortable so
third stage of labor if you have questions about it or thoughts about it i love to hear about it
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and i hope you have a great day thanks for letting me share about the third stage of labor bye guys