How long did it take for you to deliver the placenta? - Page 2

[rixafreeze]

2 1/2 hours. It was an unassisted birth so no drugs, obviously! I have a hunch that it had detached earlier and was just waiting for me to push/pull it out...

[rockycrop]

Mine took 2.5 hours too! It was a homebirth...I think one of my midwives gave me some angelica to stimulate contractions.

I was also sitting on the toilet for a long time and when it finally came out I went into neurogenic shock and passed out for a couple seconds.

[jsnv]

I had no idea that it could take sometime. I don't remember the first time, but 2nd and 3rd time it was pulled out by the midwife after a few minutes. I have a new ob so we will be talking about this at my next visit. I was never comfortable with her taking it out. Good question. Thanks.

[pamamidwife]

I've seen placentas come in five minutes, others in three hours.

I think alot of it depends on individual factors, but then there are some provider issues that keep that timeline pretty tight within a half hour.

Alot of times I've seen placentas in for longer than an hour is when the placenta is either not separated from the uterine wall for whatever reason (which means there is no blood loss, so waiting is prudent), or it has separated and is sitting right inside the cervix...needing just a position change or some cord traction to bring it out.

One couple I did UC birth support for had a placenta that didn't come for over 24 hours. Because I wasn't there, I wasn't sure what happened, but based on what they said, there was no bleeding, no cramping, etc., until right before the placenta came. I thought that was interesting!

[LoveChild421]

ds's body came out on one contraction and the placenta came out on the next, so maybe 3 minutes? Homebirth, no pitocin.

[SheBear]

1st birth (hospital): pit was given automatically after ds was born, I have no real clue how long it took (have a bit of a time warp there but it wasn't over an hour, and really prolly much less. I think the ob or a nurse may have tugged on the cord : but i couldn't swear to it.

2nd and 3rd births (home w/ mw): no pit, and I felt no contractions to deliver the placenta....just sat on the birthing stool getting the baby latched on until I felt slightly pushy, then pushed them out. Neither took longer than 15 minutes....3rd was prolly much quicker, and I didn't give the mw enough warning to catch it in the bowl!

[cottonwood]

I've never had pit.

#1 -- 15 minutes, forced pushing at the midwife's direction. Very unpleasant.
#2 -- 1 hour 15 minutes, the placenta had likely detached long before, but I was reclining and enjoying the baby and not concerned about it. The midwife started to get worried at about an hour (despite the fact that I was alert and in good spirits with good color and pulse) and started to tug on the cord, but then hesitated because I'd wanted a hands-off birth, and her assistant suggested that I squat. That did it, and the placenta was out shortly thereafter.
#3 -- about 30 minutes after an unassisted birth. I started getting restless, not as focused on the baby, and feeling like I wanted to deal with the placenta (a sign, I believe, that it had detached.) I squatted, instinctively tugged gently on the cord, and had a expulsion urge in my vagina (very like the feeling one has when having a bowel movement.)
#4 -- very similar to #3.

[thefreckledmama]

Thank you for all the replies! I really appreciate everyone taking the time to share their experiences.

The reason I'm so interested, is that ideally I'd like to wait until the placenta is delivered before clamping and cutting the cord. I wanted to see what the average amount of time was-especially without pitocin, because I had pit with both of girls' births.

[naturalthinker]

Originally Posted by laohaire

It was 3 hours for me too! I'd never read of a 3rd stage this long before.

I hope that's not too off-topic, but I figure the more people know about what can happen the better. I was just too out of it at the time to even think, but I would have done that completely differently if I had the chance.

What could have been done differently?

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by naturalthinker

What could have been done differently?

I would have insisted on focusing on nursing my baby, for one thing. By focusing on the placenta (midwife had me moving around, upstairs to the toilet, up and down on a birthing stool, etc.) I went hours without nursing my newborn baby. I believe that led to a downward spiral that caused latch problems (after a while she was too sleepy) and jaundice (for which she needed hospitalization and had all the invasions, shots, IVs, etc. that I wanted to avoid in the first place by having a home birth). Not to mention that nursing my baby might well have been what I frickin' needed to deliver the placenta! (Frustration directed at midwife, not you!).

I'm not sure everything I would have done differently, because I still don't know much about the third stage. But I guess I would rather decide if it was an urgent issue - in which case I should have gotten pitocin or something managed - or not - in which case I should have just been left alone to nurse and bond with my newborn. The way it happened just dragged out for hours and upset our early relationship.

[jsnv]

Okay ... so I was reading this while cooking dinner, cooking polenta. Placenta/ polenta/ placenta/ polenta. I guess I told my children that we were having placenta for dinner because I just heard them tell dh that we are eating placenta! MUST PAY MORE ATTENTION!

[luckymamato2]

The medwife and nurse MAY have been tugging on the cord, I believe it had been cut, but everything is so blurry! I think it was about 15 minutes. I remember the nurse massaging me and describing my uterus as "boggy", would that have been before or after? It was my first full term pg (I had one confirmed EARLY loss and possibly others). I had no pitocin. It actually just started coming out on its own. I don't recall there being any pain involved.

[ani'smommy]

5 minutes after the baby, maybe, no pit.

[naturalthinker]

Originally Posted by laohaire

I would have insisted on focusing on nursing my baby, for one thing. ...

Yeah - i'll be keeping this in mind this time around. I didn't have 'problems' last two times w/placenta, but not knowing what problems can occur can be problematic. thanks for sharing!