hi! .. a few newbie questions about UC..

[CherryBombMama]

hi i am 17 weeks pg and this is my second... first was born at kaiser, and as expected they didnt follow through with their "natural" promises and i was induced and given an epidural

so now UC is looking VERY appealing to me... but i have some question that i cant seem to find anywhere, so those have you who have UCed, please help!:

1) after baby is born, how do you deliever the placenta? how long does does it take to naturally come out? what do you put it in, and then do with it afterwards?

2) while you are waiting for the placenta to come out, what are you doing? (i know this is a silly question lol) i mean, are you still in "labor mode"? or have you washed up, are you in the same spot where baby was born?

3) when do you cut your LOs umbilical cord? what kind of care do you put into your LOs cord after it has been cut? (ex: in the hospital, they clamp it shut ... do you do the same?)

4) do you suction out babys nose right away like in the hospital? does it matter?

thanks!!

[MJB]

1) after baby is born, how do you deliever the placenta? how long does does it take to naturally come out? what do you put it in, and then do with it afterwards?
It usually comes out anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour afterwards. Occasionally it takes longer. You can put it in a bowl, or just wrap it in a chux pad. You can throw it in the trash, eat it, plant it under a tree, make placenta art with it, or whatever you want.

2) while you are waiting for the placenta to come out, what are you doing? (i know this is a silly question lol) i mean, are you still in "labor mode"? or have you washed up, are you in the same spot where baby was born?
You're generally just snuggling your baby. Nursing can help the placenta come out. You'll get a contraction when the placenta is ready to come out. Usually you're in the same place the baby is born, but not in "labor mode" at all. There's no point in washing up as the blood comes after the placenta.

3) when do you cut your LOs umbilical cord? what kind of care do you put into your LOs cord after it has been cut? (ex: in the hospital, they clamp it shut ... do you do the same?)
I cut it after the placenta came out (about 30 minutes). We tied it using cord tape (some people use braided embroidery floss or a shoestring), and cut it with clean scissors. You don't have to wait until the placenta is out if you don't want to, but you should tie or clamp the baby's end of the cord (the side attached to the placenta doesn't need to be clamped) unless it's been a good while since the birth (at least an hour or two).

4) do you suction out babys nose right away like in the hospital? does it matter?
Nope, and lots of hospitals don't, either! It's an outmoded practice. The baby will sneeze out any mucous in their nose.

[zoebird]

1) after baby is born, how do you deliever the placenta? how long does does it take to naturally come out? what do you put it in, and then do with it afterwards?

i didn't do anything special to deliver the placenta. it just came out within 30 minutes of the birth. it was lovely too. it just came right out. we put it into a large bowl and kept it for two weeks (because we liked it--and we used preserving techniques during to avoid any smell--salt and rosemary), and then we buried it with a bit of ceremony.

2) while you are waiting for the placenta to come out, what are you doing? (i know this is a silly question lol) i mean, are you still in "labor mode"? or have you washed up, are you in the same spot where baby was born?

After the baby was born, i felt compelled to jump back into the warm bath. I'd labored in the bath for maybe 30 minutes, then felt compelled to get out and birth on land. After he was out, i felt compelled to get back into the bath. So, i carried the baby back to the bath and got in. we added more hot water, put a towel over the baby (warm towel) and we enjoyed the baby.

In a bit, i felt the need to sort of get up a bit and wiggle. i did that, and the placenta plopped out into the bath water. we scooped it up and put it in a bowl.

i wasn't in any kind of "mode." i was just hanging with the baby.

then when i decided it was time to get out of the bath, DH held the baby, and i washed up real quick and got out of the bath.

3) when do you cut your LOs umbilical cord? what kind of care do you put into your LOs cord after it has been cut? (ex: in the hospital, they clamp it shut ... do you do the same?)

we did what i call a "half lotus" birth. we kept the umbilical cord connected for about 7-9 hrs after the birth. then we felt like cutting it. we used scissors from the kitchen that we'd boiled before using them. that was it. no clamp, no treating it with anything. it had self-sealed and so it wasn't an issue at all.

4) do you suction out babys nose right away like in the hospital? does it matter?


no, the vaginal birth does this for you. his airways were clear. i would say about 2-3 hrs after the birth, he had a cough and more fluids came out and it was fine. didn't do any suctioning or anything.

[claddaghmom]

Well here was my experience:

I birthed DD on all fours. Then I rolled over onto my bottom next to her and rubbed her, touched her, soaked it all in lol. I was just speechless with amazement. I then held her and stared at her, and I know I undid my bikini top to nurse her but I can't remember if I actually latched her on. I was really exhausted from pushing (imagine how you feel after a marathon...my muscles started to stiffen). So I passed her to DH and we cut the cord at that point. It was limp and white so I felt confident she had received a good amount of blood.

Then I sat on a birthing stool and gave a few tiny pushes. I felt the placenta detach...strange but very clear feeling. The midwife applied some traction on the cord which I was okay with b/c I had felt it detach and move down. Birthing the placenta did actually feel similar to right when DD popped out. It had the same intense moment and then really pleasing feeling of "ah! It's gone!" in my head...if that makes sense. I want to say this whole period was probably 10-15 minutes after birth and no I did not move other than to climb onto the birthing stool.

We did not plan ahead very well for storing and using the placenta. DH grabbed a large plastic bowl and we tossed it in there, along with the membranes, cord and any blood that was caught. Then it got shoved in the freezer. Next time around I want to rinse it off, remove the cord and membranes and store it in small pieces.

[onyxravnos]

1) after baby is born, how do you deliver the placenta? how long does it take to naturally come out? what do you put it in, and then do with it afterwards? It takes from 5 mintues to about an hour to come out. For me it was about 30 mintues or so and then i had a sudden strong need to push and out it came. I had a little hospital type bucket that it went into. afterwards we put in a plastic bag and freezed it i plan to dry it and capsule it and ideally use for when i hit meopause.

2) while you are waiting for the placenta to come out, what are you doing? (i know this is a silly question lol) i mean, are you still in "labor mode"? or have you washed up, are you in the same spot where baby was born? I had baby and layed down on the bed. i was tired and just kinda chilling taking a breather with the new baby and my support people.

3) when do you cut your LOs umbilical cord? what kind of care do you put into your LOs cord after it has been cut? (ex: in the hospital, they clamp it shut ... do you do the same?) we knew we wanted to leave it on until it stopped pulsating but we ended up waiting until after the placenta had come out. I had two clamps which we put on and then boiled metal scissors which DH used to cut the cord. after that we just applyed a little goldenseal oil to it once or twice a day.

4) do you suction out babys nose right away like in the hospital? does it matter? no reason to do this unless there is a problem. most babys have NO NEED for this and it's a little tramatic. I did have a bulb suction thing just in case but there was no need.

[CherryBombMama]

thankyou everybody for replying! my mind is so much more at ease ... none of the websites that i found talk about any of these "little things" ... i definitely feel more prepared