What Is Happening?
Still at work for you, your body reacts to the euphoria you are feeling by stimulating the uterus into the final stage. The umbilical cord is cut after it stops pulsating. With one or two more surges, the placenta is born. You and your birth companion bond with your new baby.
From this point on, all who share this wonderful miracle experience a very enjoyable high. Often doctors and nurses who witness HypnoBirthing express awe at participating in the experience. An indefinable feeling of joy and pleasure sweeps in and takes over. You and your birthing companion may be oblivious to the activities of medical caregivers at this point as you experience getting acquainted with your new baby.
It is important that the clamping and cutting of the cord be delayed until after it stops pulsating. When the cord is prematurely cut, it abruptly cuts off the flow of blood to the baby, depriving him of that source of oxygen and of the many nutrients that will affect his health for a lifetime. Allowing the baby to take his first breaths with the continued benefit of oxygen from the placenta eases the task of taking air into his lungs once he is outside the womb. It is an easier and more comfortable introduction to breathing.
Your baby is put to the breast. HypnoBirthing babies, alert and comfortable, usually take to the breast within minutes of their birth.
Dr. Lennart Righard’s Delivery Self-Attachment video, resulting from a study in Denmark published in 1990, shows the ability of newborns who were not medicated during labor to crawl to the mother’s breast, just as other mammals do, and suckle. On the other hand, even with help, the babies whose mothers were medicated lacked the ability to crawl to the breast and were unable to suckle even with assistance.
When the cord has stopped pulsating, it is clamped. Your companion, if he or she chooses, may take part in cutting the cord, separating the baby from the cord and placenta.
The expulsion of the placenta should be allowed to occur naturally with just one or two pushes as your uterus continues to surge. You may or may not be aware of these continued surges as your placenta is birthed. These final surges help your placenta to loosen from the wall of the uterus and assist the uterus to begin to assume its normal size. Allowing your placenta to break away in this normal manner can take anywhere from five to thirty minutes. In the event that the placenta is not birthed within a reasonable amount of time, your medical caregiver may suggest a medical assist. The cord should not be pulled in order to effect an extraction.
Your midwife or doctor will examine your placenta and then the abdomen to determine the “tone” of your uterus. Nursing will help the uterus return to its normal substance and size. Though episiotomies are not routine today, this would be the time for an episiotomy repair.
How You May Participate
During this phase, there is really very little participation required from you. Most of the activity will center around the medical staff’s being sure that all medical procedures are complete. Your birth companion will be sure to observe that the cord is not pulled. You and your birthing companion will spend your time bonding, together, with your new baby.
Following this initial bonding, which can last up to two hours, the baby may be bathed and freshened. In some hospitals the baby is bathed right in the labor and birthing room, and the father is assisted in this special task. You will welcome this time to freshen yourself and to have your clothes and bedding changed. Very shortly the baby may be returned to you for more “get-acquainted time.”
An indescribable feeling of joy, excitement and even giddiness sweeps in and takes over. Congratulations! Your miracle is complete!