What happens immediately after birth

[RGxo13]

Hi ladies, 37 weeks now and so excited - FTM.
Just a silly question really, I was wondering what happens immediately after birth?
my plan if everything goes okay is for a water birth, know this can change depending what happens. If all ok, I know baby is delivered straight to my chest for skin to skin and I have to get out to deliver placenta but was wondering then what?
I’ve heard of the apgar score to check baby is ok but not really sure what that is. Do I dress baby? (thinking they will be cold pretty soon once out of the water). Do they need to do checks on me (know about potential stitches etc) and at what point are you then put on a ward? Felt quite prepared until I had this little wave of thought!

Oo, how exciting. What you describe is pretty much what happened to me x3 glossing over the fact I was induced
I stayed in the birthing room for a few hours with dc before going down to the ward but was home the same day. And yes they check for tears, do stitched if needed offer you tea and toast and help you dress baby.

They give baby to you. You deliver placenta while baby is on you. They check your vagina. Then they take baby and weigh them and check them over. Then you get baby back you can have skin to skin or feed or dress baby- it's up to you. They like baby to feed within a certain time, I think it might be the first hour.
I breastfed DD then dressed her and had a shower. They let me go home 6 hours after birth but if you're staying in they will take you to the ward.

With my second, he was delivered, straight on to my chest. We did not do delayed cord clamping due to previous post partum haemorrhage so DH cut the cord, placenta was delivered, not stitches needed. Then they weighed and checked baby, put a hat on him, that only took a few minutes. They left us for around an hour “the golden hour”. He was on my chest and then a blanket over him/me to keep him warm. He had the first feed and then they did a few more checks, I had a shower etc the midwife’s left us to it mostly. He was born at 8:30am and I went into the ward about 12/1 just after lunch. They came and checked him every hour as he had some meoconium? Then we left about 8pm.

My first was quite similar but I had a PPH so after about 5 minutes they took him off my chest and DH did skin to skin while they sorted me out.

Agpar scale checks colour clear airwaves heart etc.
https://www.pampers.co.uk/pregnancy/giving-birth/article/what-is-apgar-score

1st baby I had a straightforward labour, quick birth, baby was put on my chest for a few minutes as my placenta came straight out followed by a PPH. I stayed in the delivery room for a few hours then was moved to the recovery area with the mums who had had C-sections so I could be monitored and rushed to theatre if needed, I didn't. The baby was born just before 7am and it was 3pm before I was moved to the post natal ward.

With baby 2 I had him at 1.30am moved to the ward at 3am and home at 1.30pm.

I suffered a PPH with DS1 so after initially being handed him DH took him. With DS2 he was handed straight to me, I did skin to skin, they gave us a blanket/towel and hat to keep him warm (also hospitals are like saunas) at some point I delivered the placenta and and then stitched me up. I breasted within the first hour. DS was only dressed when I went for a bath (in the birth room) and DH did it both times. Felt like we hung around ages before we were moved to the ward, maybe 4 hours from birth to the ward.

If everything goes smoothly then they will deliver baby onto you and can remain in water for a while holding baby with the cord attached. You have the option of having the injection in your leg to help your placenta separate and deliver within a few minutes or not having the injection and waiting for the placenta to separate naturally. If you choose to have the injection then you will need to get out of the pool shortly after the birth for this. Either way the cord will not be clamped for at least the first 3 minutes unless there is an emergency which requires it e.g. baby needing resuscitating. Best practice is for baby to remain naked skin to skin for the first hour as taking baby off to weigh etc disturbs the process that helps initiate feeding, keeps baby warm and calm etc. The Apgars are done as baby is delivered (I.e. midwife can feel the tone, see the colour and that baby is breathing etc as they bring baby up to you) and in the initial few minutes while baby is skin to skin, if all appears well they don’t require taking the from you at all. The key priority of the midwife will be to keep the baby warm so they will dry baby off immediately while baby is on your chest (once out of the pool) and put a clean warm towel and a hat on baby and may also take a temperature during your initial skin to skin. They may recommended someone else holding the baby for a couple of minutes if you are needing gas and air for them to check if you need stitches. After a ideally an hour of skin to skin and the first feed they will then weigh and examine baby and give the vitamin K injection and then dress baby.

P.s if you have a CS then they may do the weight, vitamin K etc first as they will have taken baby to the side anyway so may as well get that done quickly then and then usually put baby skin to skin with you as your tummy is being sutured

Had baby after an induction - they put the baby on my chest and cut the chord etc. I did have a PPH and I was a bit wobbly. Baby was born at 10.40am and I went to the ward at about 7pm - partner could stay until 9pm. I was with women who had all had c sections as I needed to be monitored.

Im not going to lie as I wish someone would have told me - being on the ward for that 1 night was like being in the bloody Hunger Games 😂 some of the c section ladies were really poorly, babies crying non stop and bells and buzzers going off. But please remember it is TEMPORARY! And you’ll be home with your baby in no time. You’ll be woken up in the night by the midwives for pain relief etc, buttttt that being said in hindsight I loved having that first night just me an my new baby curled up in the bed having our first sleepover. My brain has blocked out me crying to my partner on the phone saying please come as soon as visitation starts 😆.

I had DD back in February. Her birth was induced and she came 1 hr 25 minutes after the induction was started. Apgar is done as soon as they're born and again after 5 minutes. You don't even know it's happening as it's just observations by the midwife.

Baby was wrapped in blankets on my chest for a good hour after birth, there's no rush to get them dressed, the rooms are really warm. She was taken for weighing (at the end of the bed, she never left the room) and given to dad after while they stitched me up (2nd degree tear) but then was back on me. Because birth was straightforward and baby was absolutely fine we didn't even go to the ward. We were told we were allowed to go home about 2 hours after she was born but stayed until 6.30am as it was a more sensible time of the morning (had DS at home and didn't want to disrupt his sleep too much)

Hope you have a lovely birthing experience. I would have loved a water birth but preeclampsia scuppered my plans

My second baby I had a water birth.
Baby was in my arms for 5/10 minutes whilst still in the pool then I was helped out whilst his cord was left attached. They do put a hat on baby almost immediately so if you want to use your own tell them before baby is delivered.
Baby was covered in the blanket but skin to skin underneath then had skin to skin with dad whilst I delivered the placenta.
Once we were ready weight etc. Was done and we got him dressed and he had a feed. They weren't overally fussed on rushing to feed him for over an hour.
Then I had a shower whilst baby chilled with dad then we had a nap.
Didn't move onto the ward until 13 hours later, but that may have been due to my particular circumstances in a previous birth but did move to a postpartum room around 8 hours later til moving to the ward.

I couldn't have the water birth I was hoping for due to having the drip induction. But baby was born and put straight onto my chest, delayed cord clamping was done and at some point the midwives cut the cord (partner didn't want to) and gave me the injection to deliver placenta and that happened but I didn't notice any of these things as I was just looking at baby! It's in my notes placenta came 7 mins after birth. Baby was taken off me and weighed and nappy put on by partner, I was then being stitched for a long time while partner had skin to skin with baby, not sure why I couldn't have held her actually but didn't think about it at the time as partner had her. Midwives then left us to it and I did my first breastfeed then after a while of skin to skin we dressed her. She was born at 1.11am so we stayed in the delivery room until around 10am the following day before being moved to post natal ward.

Oh yes she had vit k injection whilst partner held her while I was being stitched

No rush to get dressed, baby will probably be on your chest in a blanket and a hat.

The midwife did my stitches while I was holding the baby.

After a few mins the midwife helped me go to the toilet for a wee while DH held the baby. Then I got back into bed.

If all is well they’ll leave you alone for a while and then come back to weigh the baby.

After a few hours you’ll be moved from the birthing room to a labour ward. (might stay overnight if you’ve given birth in the evening or at night).

Also you’ll be offered an injection to help the placenta come out and reduce likelihood of haemorrhaging. I had to have it twice because I was bleeding a lot.

I had an instrumental delivery in theatre so I only had baby for a minute before he was taken to the corner of the room and all the doctors attended to him. This took about 20-30 minutes and is apparently standard for a theatre delivery and doesn’t mean anything is necessarily wrong. You have far fewer choices over stuff like how the placenta is delivered or cord clamping etc. my partner was still offered to cut the cord though. And they gave his vit k injection.

we ended up in some sort of post-theatre observation room/holding room for about an hour after. Baby was just in a blanket and a hat and I didn’t know how to feed him so he was crying for food.

eventually a midwife took us to the ward

IME (3 babies) - I got out of the water before the birth part all 3 times.

Baby is out which is very intense - they pass baby straight up to your arms, and put a towel over the top of them to keep them warm. Sometimes they are totally wrapped in the towel, but I think 2/3 times I had proper skin to skin with the towel just laid on top. Much ohhhhh hello and loveliness. They don't do anything at this point, unless there is something very wrong e.g. baby not breathing (I think in a c-section also they have to take the baby instantly for oxygen etc). They are taking apgar score, but you don't really notice.

It's probably about 20-30 minutes that you just have the baby in your arms and nothing else seems to be happening, staff may be going in and out of the room, then they will look for whether the placenta is coming. I didn't have the injection for mine, and it took between 20-40 mins after birth for it to come out. I just knelt up and did a tiny little push and it all came out - feels like no trouble at all after the head and shoulders parts!

I requested all 3 times for the cord to stop pulsating before being clamped and cut and was able to have this.

At the point where the placenta is coming, or before this if someone else (e.g. dad) wants to have a hold they generally wrap the baby up properly like a tiny little bundle so it doesn't get cold.

Once placenta is out, they will examine you to see if you need any stitches. You can hold the baby during this, or dad/birth partner can or there may be a fishbowl type cot in the room to put the baby down.

At this point with DS2 they felt he was still a bit blue, so they asked to take him for some further observations, which I agreed to but asked DH to go with him, which he did. Babies are normally slightly blue/purple when they are born but it's a problem if they don't pink up quickly enough. They were giving him oxygen but he wasn't really responding properly to it/breathing on his own. So I can't remember if they brought him back to me or they wheeled me to him, but they basically didn't want him out of the heat lamp/oxygen thing for too long because he wasn't breathing effectively. He had to go to SCBU for a couple of days. (He was fine and able to come home after a week).

But generally if everything is fine with baby and everything is OK with you they will leave you to it for a bit, as you no longer need urgent attention, and come back when they have free staff. You will probably be offered something to eat and drink, and after this you might be encouraged to go for a bath/shower especially if you have bled a lot. It was probably a couple of hours each time from the moment of birth to being taken to a ward. They usually push you in a wheelchair rather than expecting you to walk (but this may depend on the hospital/birth!)

Baby is normally dressed ready to go to the ward, not usually before. In the UK IME they do not take the baby away to do the newborn anatomy check, this is done at your bedside. I had the younger two in Germany and they did take the baby away to the other side of the room. They found something a bit unusual with DS3 (nothing hugely problematic) so they kept him there for a bit longer while they found a paediatric urologist to come and look at him.

DH/birth partners generally have to leave once you've been moved to the ward unless you happen to be moved during visiting hours.

Sorry that probably sounded a bit alarmist, I think when I said "unless there is something very wrong" I meant "unless there is something very urgent".

What I meant is, most of the time they will give the baby straight to you, they only take them elsewhere if there is a very good reason.

With my first after I gave birth I was immediately given baby for skin to skin, I delivered the placenta then, I didn't really feel that, contractions stopped as soon as baby was born, the midwife told me to push and she pulled it out. She checked me for tears while I held baby, didn't really feel that either and then they took baby and did checks on her. They dressed her for me and we where wheeled into another room, stayed the night and went home first thing in the morning.

In case you end up with a section.

Baby born, short amount of delay before cord cutting (my husband could have done this but didn't want to), towel loosely put round baby back and put straight on my chest (skin to skin) within 3 minutes of birth. Cuddles whilst I was stitched up, then transferred to a portable bed, wheeled to recovery next door. Baby breastfed and cuddles continued. I had a bp cuff and sats probe on for monitoring. About an hour after birth baby was quickly removed to be weighed and a nappy and hat put on. Back on me and we were wheeled to the ward.

it was all very lovely and surprisingly painless, post natal was calm, and although I got offered home the next day, I chose to stay another night.

Baby on my chest while the placenta was delivered, and then I breastfed while I was stitched. Then I think DH put a nappy and a onesie on DD and I had a bit of a wash (a quick rinse really, my legs were a bit bloody and my stomach a bit messy from when DD had been put on me) and put on some fresh pyjamas. Then we went up to the ward.

That was for DD2. With DD1 I haemorrhaged so obviously it was different.

With my first who was delivered on the labour ward he was delivered but taken immediately to be checked but then given back to me quite quickly for skin to skin.

I needed stitches so remember holding him throughout that process. Midwife popped a nappy on him but I kept him on my check with a blanket over him to keep warm.

Eventually we dressed him but not for a long time after.

I got tea and toast but once everything was done, notes, weighting, tea and toast for me etc the staff left us alone and we just rang the bell if needed.

We stayed on labour ward for 7 hours - shortage of staff to do the transfer. At kingston the post natel is a long way so wheelchair for me and cot for the baby. At that point baby needs to be dressed.

Lastly - try and get a shower if you can on the labour ward. After my second I didn't get my own room on post natel and the shower (just one between about 30 women) was always busy.

I don't think I cld tell u much apart from I didn't get a lot of what everyone else goes on about. No skin to skin it was emcs and no tea or the toast that everyone goes on about!

I was quite ill after my first and we were both on antibiotics and had a 6day hospital stay. Here's what I remember:

She was born at 1am held up and taken to the side to get cleaned/wrapped up and then they brought her to me to try and hold. I cldnt manage for long so dh had her. Once I was ready to go to recovery room she was taken in a little crib thing and wheeled down beside me. The midwife asked about clothes and she put nappy on her and changed her. I was too ill and we were both in shock. DH was sent home about 3am and baby was taken away for antibiotics.

I had a terrible fever and felt so ill but they sent me down to maternity ward about 5am. I begged for a fan! Finally got one and baby was brought bk about 6/7am. Someone came in and took more obvs on both of us and said I cld go get breakfast! WTF! No one has tried to even help me stand yet. It was down the corridor in another room not that I cld have stomached anything.

Dh arrived back at 9am and I had to get him to check on baby, change her nappy etc as I hadn't even moved and couldn't. I was then worried she hasn't been fed at all so got dh to fetch someone to try some breastfeeding.

With second it was meant to be planned section but she was early and it was another hard labour and emcs. Born at 11am. Very similar in that no skin to skin, she was brought to me cleaned and wrapped up. This time I remember getting taken to private room for recovery while holding her in the bed as it was shelled down corridor. Any staff I passed said congratulations which was lovely.

They did more checks and dh got her dressed etc. I breastfed when she was awake. We were in this private room all day and I thought I might get to stay there. But na got chucked out about 5pm 😢 I stayed one night went home after 8pm. They wanted to me to stay but I cldnt tolerate another day in there and went home with catheter in.

I think section experience is prob quite different and may differ person to person.