Leaving the cord until it stops pulsating means the baby gets more blood from the placenta, as their not disconnected from it as early IYKWIM?

Cass - the things on your list are all faily standard.

For many people, (assuming they are in hospital here) depending on your hospital and the birth support you have it comes down to whether the hospital decides somethig is medically necessary. Sometimes they obviously are but others deend on the dr you are see - I know of one person whose OB augments thier labour after 2-3 hours cos "I dont have all day you know, who knows how long your labour will last"