Third Stage: Delivering the Placenta

The third stage begins when the baby is born. It is when the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus, and is delivered through the vaginal canal.

You will still be having contractions at this time, but they are much less intense than before. For some women, they’re still strong enough that it helps to use labor breathing techniques to cope with the discomfort of these contractions. Some women are so enraptured with the baby that they barely notice the cramping.

Your caregiver may ask you to push a few times to deliver the placenta. Again, this pushing is less intense than the delivery of the baby.

Third stage usually lasts ten to thirty minutes. If it lasts longer than this, you may be given Pitocin to increase contractions to encourage the delivery of the placenta, and help the uterus to begin involution (shrinking back down to the non-pregnant size.)

During third stage is also the time when your caregiver will clean your genital area, examine your perineum, and will stitch up your perineum if you’ve torn or had an episiotomy. A local anesthetic is used if you haven’t had an epidural.

In this period after birth, most of the parents’ attention centers on the baby, and not so much on the final stage of labor. In the first hour after birth, you will want to begin breastfeeding.

More about labor and birth

c. 2004, Janelle Durham, www.TransitionToParenthood.com