Tell me wat happens right after baby is out?

[SunnySideUp2020]

FTM. Coming up to 30 weeks.

Just wondering what actually happens after the baby comes out?
Lots of info and videos on the labour itself but not much about the hours after....
Does the baby stay on you for skin on skin?
Do they take him away for a wash?
What about the vitamin K and eye meds?
When do you dress him?
Do you take a nap?

C section or vaginal birth i am really interested if anyone would like to share their own experience ?

Thank you!!!

For me, vaginal birth:

Baby placed straight on me for a cuddle.

Dad cut the cord, had a cuddle then gave baby back to me.

Placenta delivered, midwife stitched me up while i breastfed.

Baby weighed and checked.

Dad dressed baby whilst i had a bath.

About an hour later taken to the antenatal ward

Mine were both C-sections, one emergency and one elective, but more or less the same processes. Once they were out and breathing (DS needed help to get started) they cam for a cuddle while I was been sewn up, then into the cot and pushed along to recovery next to my bed. DH dressed them while I was getting checked over, then they came to me to breastfeed.

Once my obs were stable I was pushed along to a room on the ward where I stayed the first night, I was discharged the next day with second, but with first I was moved to the ward for another night. Mostly we were left to it from then on, people came round with meds or to take my blood pressure, and do some checks on baby, but all the care was me and DH. It was fine during the day as DH did all the changes and just passed them to be for feeds, overnight with DC1 was hard though, that hospital didn't let partners stay, but I wasn't up to lifting baby in and out of the cot, so just ended staying up all night holding him.

@rhowton

You eat toast and it's glorious. Oh the cheap white toast with butter... ahhhhhh... it's what dreams are made off.

With lukewarm pissweak tea. Best meal I've ever eaten in my life!

For me, I had an assisted birth. Baby was wrapped in a towel and given to me for skin to skin whilst my husband blubbed like a baby himself. Meanwhile midwives and obstetrician faffed about delivering the placenta, checking it, stitching me back together. Once it was ascertained we were both ok (bit of a dramatic birth), the 10-12 midwives, doctors, paediatricians, cardiologist etc. left the room and it was just the consultant (still stitching me back together) and our 1-1 midwife (pre existing health conditions can be very beneficial!). After maybe 45-60 minutes of skin to skin, and a small feed, baby was taken by the midwife (and a paediatrician who had appeared) and weighed, measured, but K few tests done - they hadn't managed to complete the 20 week anomaly scan despite a few attempts hence paediatricians at the birth and check soon after - he was wiped down and dressed by them whilst I ate the glorious toast mentioned above. I had my epidural and bits and pieces removed, was given a bed bath (still no legs back yet!) And we were left to it for the night, as by this point it was about 11pm. I had to have 12 hours hourly monitoring, and baby had 2 hourly blood glucose checks due to medication I was on during pregnancy. They would just pop in, do their checks and pop back out again.

The following morning I was up and about and had a shower and got dressed before being transferred to the post natal ward for 5 loooong days for continued monitoring before we were finally allowed to escape.

The two things that I hadn't really thought about much or totally prepared for was delivering the placenta and breast feeding so soon after birth.
Both mine were straight up on me for skin to skin, then taken to be weighed and snuggled up.
I just thought the placenta would just come out (tbh I really hadn't thought about it!) but you have to push it out too with some contractions but although you might be a bit tender the placenta is soft so it's actually okay.
Also breast feeding was encouraged literally the moment they were put on me which again I wasn't prepared for. With my first I remember thinking 'give me a fecking minute,please!'

Hmm well a lot of faffing and tutting about blood loss, made me feel like a naughty girl. Then lots of debating about whether I needed theatre for stitches, followed by lots of complaining about the blood. And baby wasn't passed to me for an hour mainly because this all seemed to be too much of an issue. Quite annoying but don't worry all fixed and healed fine.

Straight after the birth DS peed on me! then skin to soggy skin as I delivered the placenta. A little cuddle and feed before a wobbly shower, then tea and toast. He was born at 10:40 and we were home that evening.

Here’s mine. Had a section with general anaesthetic. Baby removed and given to my husband for skin to skin. When I met her she was already dressed and lying next to me on my gurney. No skin to skin possible. No idea how long this took, but I went into theatre about 4.30pm and the next I knew I was being wheeled through a darkened hospital for the night. Midwife came in and gave the baby some formula from a cup. I lay and dozed and hallucinated. DD started crying but I couldn’t pick her up as I was still on a drip and couldn’t move. I remember shouting feebly but no-one came as I was on a room/labour suite on my own. In the morning two midwives came and made me get up and shower while they waited.
We were in hospital for another week, during which time every nurse and midwife for a 50 mile radius came and grabbed my breasts.

@changedmynamelol

I had a huge bleed immediately after my littlest was born as the placenta had not detached so we had no early skin time. The midwives jabbed my thigh with vit k and hit the red emergency button and dashed me to the consultant led unit for emergency care. Then 3 months of iron pills for anaemia and other perinatal issues also.

With my first baby I puked 😂 thankfully I managed to give the baby to her dad beforehand.

Mine was put on me for skin to skin and breastfeeding within 1 second of coming out. My partner cut the cord and held DD skin to skin whilst I was stitched up. She was weighed and checked over, dressed in something warm. I had a little nap and had something to eat whilst they came in and out to check her hearing etc and then we went with her whilst a full exam was done before we were discharged.

Unless there are medical issues, it’s up to you. Birth is something you do, not something done to you.

Write what you want in your Birth Plan. You can ask to have your baby delivered onto your tummy with the cord still attached (I did this); you can specify when the cord is cut and by whom,; when they’re weighed (within reason), etc

All that is still part of your Birth Plan.

I chose delivery onto my tummy, delayed cord cutting and straight to the breast after.

Also if you Google NHS birth plan you can print this off, fill it in and put it with your notes so the midwife knows what you want. Really helped us!

If all goes well, you'll be holding your baby. Afterbirth will come out. You'll have a cup of tea, a wash and go to the ward.

They put him straight on me for skin to skin then gave me the jab to get the placenta out, after that is a bit of a blur but from the timings on my photos I was holding him for a good hour or so then another midwife came in to weigh him and give him the vitamin k jab, then she dressed him. Then more midwives came in the do my stitches. There was also toast and tea involved I think before baby was weighed!
You can select different preferences in your birth plan, I downloaded a template from NHS website so you can choose if baby is straight skin to skin etc

Nap.... with most of ours that was a no, they didn't want to be put down.
Lots happens all at once and tbh you are in such a haze you don't notice much of it.
They will give you skin to skin ASAP, often weight them and cut cord 1st. They did stitching up, bloods, injections while I had cuddles. They try to get most discharged the same day, only complications or certain types of delivery prevent this. If you have epidural or spinal they monitor you for 24 hours. We've had 1 with cord round neck, was taken to a station in same room for oxygen so I didn't get her for a bit. One with meconium in waters so again they cleared airways before I got him and monitored him for 24 hours. One had suspected heart murmur and clicky hip so kept in again. Had 1 cesarean, that was pretty straight forward, what annoyed me about that was they gave me the 1st one for skin to skin and the 2nd to my husband. I just kept thinking "give me my baby" lol. I was kept in recovery for several hours as I had heavy blood loss, thankfully iron levels good enough to go home the next day. I hate being in hospital, I really struggle to sleep.
They gave me a bed bath after our 1st in the delivery room but was told to shower the next day with the rest. They helped me to bath our 1st in hospital but the rest had their 1st baths at home. Food in hospital, 1st they took pre-orders and delivered them. Others had to walk to a room with facilities at set times to collect your meals. 1st was born in a different hospital to the others. I imagine things will have changed on this with covid.
You can dress them as soon as you like, take in a few sets of clothes as they can make a fair bit of mess for such tiny things.
They pretty much leave you to it on the ward unless you ask for help.

Have birth in birth centre so stayed in same room the whole time. Baby was put straight in my chest even while I delivered placenta. Then given a quick weigh and clean while I had a stitch put in. I went to have a shower while my dh had skin to skin with newborn. It was just after midnight so we all got snuggled up in bed in our pjs and basically just stared at the baby until we felt tired. Put baby in her little bed, we had a snooze. Unfortunately the midwives came and woke us up again after an hour, but I fed the baby and changed her and we all went back to sleep until the morning. The baby had her checks in the morning and then we went home

Both of my babies were put straight onto my chest for skin to skin whilst husband cut the cord.

Immediately administered drugs to brith placenta and following the first hello baby was moved to be checked over by pediatrician, weighed etc and then handed straight back for nursing/skin contact.

Both my babies were left with me to feed/s2s as long as we wanted and after a few hours I got up to shower and dress.

Two vaginal births. First baby was whisked away and bottle fed by the receptionist to the delivery suite whilst i was stitched up. I was grateful tbh as had no clue what i was supposed to do. I can't breastfeed due to extremely inverted nipples. Like a PP it didn't occur to me that i was allowed to pick y baby up from the clear plastic box on wheels they put him in so i just stared at him most of the night and looked at the curtains drawn around me.

Second baby was given to DH to dress whilst i was stitched up again. I just remember seeing DH crying his eyes out kissing DS2 in the chair in the corner.

Two ELCS here. Both times the babies were delivered and shown to me over the screen. They were then taken to be weighed, cleaned and have the Vitamin K shot. Then when that was finished they were handed to me to hold on my chest whilst the surgery was completed. Returned to private room afterwards where I gave them their first breastfeed and then cuddled / fed them until I was ready to go back to the ward. Breastfeeding went great with both, despite the ELCS. Wonderful memories both times

With my second they gave me the option of having her passed straight to me after she was born but I preferred to have her jabbed / cleaned first as I knew that once I had her I wouldn’t want to let her go!

No skin to skin for me as he had passed his meconium and they were worried about him so handed straight to a doctor. The midwife then literally knelt on my stomach to get the placenta out which hurt far more than the actual birth. The doctor dressed him and swaddled him as he was quite cold and then he was passed to his dad. Somebody ran a bath for me and brought me a cup of tea which I quickly threw back up. I was transferred to the ward with him but he slept from 2pm until 6 am the next morning. Once he woke up a nurse helped me in to a chair and positioned him on a pillow to feed and off he went. I had no issues breastfeeding even though we hadn’t had skin on skin. Came home that afternoon and he slept through the night again. Made up for it the next night though.

I had emergency csection and had to be put under general anaesthetic. I was told that my baby was wiped down and give some air as he was a bit sleepy from the meds. He was then taken to my DH where he saw our DS being weighed and given his vitamin k injection. DH then gave skin to skin and fed him. Once i had come round i was taken to them and has skin to skin. I had coffee and toast and my DS was dressed when i had to be moved.

My three births were fairly straightforward. Even though I was physically exhausted after labour I was so full of adrenaline I struggled to sleep for days afterwards and certainly wouldn't have wanted to nap as it's such a huge moment and I just wanted to hold and stare at my baby and process the birth, ring family etc ...
I needed a couple of stitches after each birth but I honestly barely noticed them as I was to besotted with my babies and on such a rush of hormones . If you go on the post natal ward you are pretty much left to it.

He was delivered onto me but they had to cut the cord and take DS straight off because he had the cord round his neck and wasn’t breathing. He started crying in the corner of the room though. I probably had him back within a couple of minutes. Then we had skin to skin cuddle, they did his jab. There were issues with me losing blood so they had to give me the jab to get the placenta out, and then use a fair bit of force to deal with it. I think DH was holding the baby then- don’t really remember that bit. DH then helped midwives get DS dressed and I was encouraged to sit in a chair. Then encouraged to shower (shower was off the delivery room). And then was taken up to the postnatal ward in a wheelchair. Wasn’t offered the mythical tea and toast at all!

DD was delivered (vaginally) onto my tummy, they then waited for the cord to stop pulsing before they cut it. They put a towel over her and lifted her to my chest and we had skin to skin for a few mins while we waited for the placenta to be delivered. They injected me for the placenta to deliver. They they took her about half a metre to the side of the room and checked her and did her vitamin k while I delivered the placenta and was stitched up. She was covered in a towel and placed on my boob to latch on, and we had skin to skin for about an hour while she fed. Then DH dressed her and I got dressed (with some help from DH).

Amazing stories! Thank you!!!

So i am not in the UK anymore...
Now in my DH's country in eastern europe. So far the antenatal care has been good and very much what i had been prepared to back in London so i would assume the practices around birth should be similar. Minus the dreamy tea and toast... might get cottage cheese and rye bred instead 😂
I don't speak the language and i don't know if they will really bother with my birth plan or our requests. But we are determined to ask to do delayed cord clamping and definitely an hour of skin to skin/breastfeeding if possible.
Not sure if DH will be allowed at birth as the covid restrictions are currently the toughest and it has been 3 months.

I love reading all the stories though. It's like mental preparation for me. I like to have in mind all possible scenarios.

Oh and i did read the positive birth book!

And the eye meds i meant the antibiotics ointment.

I did ask my midwife when can we have the birth chat and she said 34 weeks so next time i will ask her about what they routinely do locally etc...