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Easy Nine Months your pregnancy and newborn care guide |
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Labor and delivery
This is the final stage of pregnancy and the aim that all pregnancies lead to. There are certain things you need to be aware to be well prepared for labor and delivery.
The process of labor and delivery is simple the cervix (the opening at the end of the uterus) dilates and opens up and you receive contractions. The contractions keep increasing and the opening also starts increasing and finally it opens fully and the baby can come out by pushing. The initial stage of labor that is when the contractions start can last for a few hours and can go up to a few days. The contractions first are a very few and then increase in frequency and intensity. Always make it a point to time your contractions and inform your doctor or midwife about it. If your case is not complicated and very thing is normal the doctor may not suggest coming to the hospital at the onset of contractions and may want the intensity to increase. There might be certain complicated cases when the water breaks or when the mother is bleeding or she secrets a green or yellow color fluid. Sometimes the baby may also seem to be less active. In such a situation she needs to be immediately rushed to the hospital and attended as the case could go out of hand.
There are different types of deliveries. Some are natural, some through c-section and some are normal but with an epidural. We will try and look into each of them in detail.
There is nothing like a normal delivery. The mother has to
go through a lot of pain but healing is much faster and the effect of it on her
health is minimum. Sometimes in a normal delivery the mother might want to have
a painless delivery also called an epidural. In an epidural medication is given
to the mother through a catheter in the lower back and he does not experience
and pain and is totally in her senses during the labor. Though here the pain is
reduced it is not the same as a normal delivery. The process of labor can be
prolonged in an epidural as the mother does not have sensation in the lower
body. The anesthetics and narcotics in the epidural can cause the mother’s
blood pressure to lower and could also make the mother feel nausea. The
mother’s pressure and foetal heart rate need constant monitoring in an
epidural. Another type of delivery is the c-section which should be avoided as
much as possible. This is like a full fledged surgery and can take a long time
for recovery. There might be some situations where a c-section cannot be
avoided. To name a few - Blood pressure or fetal heart rate not coming in control during
labor. - Delivering twins. - The baby is in breech position. - The umbilical cord gets entangled around the baby. - The baby is too large to come out of a vaginal delivery. - Failure to progress in labor despite having pains. - Mother having complications like blood pressure or diabetes. In situations other than the ones mentioned above it is
always advisable to avoid c-section. After labor and delivery the baby is cleaned and wrapped in a blanket.
The umbilical cord is cut and a clamp is attached to it. Blood is taken from
the baby to check the blood type and to perform other tests. The baby is tested
for heart rate, reflexes and breathing. The baby is given to the mother so that
the mother and baby can bond.
