A question for those who let the cord pulsate and no injection

[DoulaRelle]

OK, I am in the middle of starting to prepare my birth plan and after having 2 births of not really thinking about these things, I am now looking at not having the cord clamped immediately and not having the injection for expulsion of the placenta.

I would like to know if you did find these beneficial to you and baby and if you came up against any objection from your caregivers?

[Antheia]

I let DS's cord to stop pulsating before they clamped it and they were fine with it. With DD we didn't have that option because she was born not breathing. I actually think leaving it was better. DS seemed a lot better than DD did but that could also have been because of their deliveries.

[DoulaRelle]

Thanks Tegan! Did you also let the placenta deliver naturally as well hun?

[castle]

I've had 2 vaginal deliveries and for both, we waited till the cord stopped pulsating and did not have the syntocinon injection. For the first, I was at a midwife-run birth centre and that was the centre's policy. Everything was great, the placenta delivered in 5 minutes. For the second, also great, but the placenta took over 30 minutes to deliver. If it had been much longer I would have had syntocinon. This time I was at a teaching hospital so i had to specify before labour that I wanted a physiological third stage, and sign off on their policy re syntocinon. But there was no resistance to my wishes.

[Beach Mama]

silly question sorry - can someone explain what the difference is?? To bubs and mum?

[BellyBelly]

Studies are popping up all over the place about this - lower rates of anaemia (and other blood issues) for the baby, baby getting it's full store of blood, including 6-12 months supply of iron (formula companies market that so many babies are low in iron, wonder why?!) and lots of other things like that, it's your baby's supply of nutrients and oxygen until they take the first breath. It's actually alot of blood if you watch how much blood comes out in the surgical dish. I have posted some studies, look at the labour and birth sticky thread on FAQ's.

If you donate cord blood, you will need the cord to be clamped so they can get their blood, I'd chose not to donate, JMO

If you have the injection they need to cut the cord.

[Trish]

Relle, we delayed the clamping of Tehya's cord until it stopped pulsing - nearly 20 minutes later. I also had a physiological third stage. The placenta came away probably 10 minutes after the cord was clamped and cut. I had no problems with it at all. Neither did my midwife.

Tegan, that shame of if for Lily is that if they left her cord unclamped she still would have been getting oxygen through that even though she was having breathing difficulties.

Tan, by leaving the cord unclamped until it has finished pulsing means that bub gets all of his or her precious cord blood. This is the stuff they want to bank yet we have to whinge to allow our babies to have. When a baby is first born a huge ammount of blood is taken from other organs to fill the babies lungs, now if the cord is left attached there is still extra blood flowing into bub making sure plenty is available to her.

Here is the link to the discussion that Suga was talking about Cutting The Umbilical Cord

[Aranah]

I have not done this before.

Can you start BFing before the cord is clamped and before the placenta is delivered (if doing so without getting the synto injection)?

Does anyone know if there is a link between gettng synto and having problems delivering the whole placenta? Both births before I had the synto, but then had retained products, bits of the placenta and needed a D &C a few weeks after both births, by that time I was very sick from infection. So I'm opting not to have the injection this time and hoping that will work, but I'm getitng pressure put on me by the doctor because of this that I need to have the synto...so I'm very confused.

They also sunctioned both my babies last time, reckoned they were having trouble breathing....is this still necessary and if so can they do all this while baby is still attached with the cord?

[Trish]

Yup you sure can start feeding while the cord is attached.The contractions that will start from feeding will help the placenta to seperate quicker too.

The synto injection causes massive uterine contractions which makes the placenta seperate from the uterine wall.

Some babies can be a little slow to start, there is lots of mucous in their chest when they are born. But leaving the cord attached will help to make sure that bub is recieving plenty of oxygen too.

I had retained products too after Brandon was born, I had the injection but still haemorraged 2 weeks later. This was only because there was a small piece of placenta left inside that caused the infection.

[Aranah]

Thanks very much Trish. I really hope the hospital I am going to is supportive of me choosing this. I've now been put in high-risk category because of my BP and PE history and also because of the retained products, so now I'm only allowed to see OBs and not midwives and I'm worried they won't support my decison to not have the synto this time.

Sounds like you had a very similar experience, even though you had the injection you still had bits left in there.

Since I had the injection both births and both times I had retained products and bits of placenta, I've decided unless I'm bleeding to death that they can't do the injection this time. It will be interesting to see if this time I'm not having it, if the placenta will birth fine, I just hope they let me.

[DoulaRelle]

Thanks so much for your replies Kelly and Trish. This is definately something I will include in my birth plan. I see my OB tomorrow, so I will talk to him about this and many other points! LOL

[Kirsten]

I let the cord pulsate and the placenta delivered easily within 5 minutes, I didn't really even have to push, I didn't have the injection even though Dennis said it was routine - I put it in my birth preferences and it all went fine - no one even questioned it at all!

[castle]

Tara, having syntocinon is supposed to HELP you deliver the whole placenta intact. It is definitely not a risk factor for retained products. The opposite.

Given your history, I think that they may want you to have syntocinon no matter what. There are some other things you may want to discuss with the consultant. They can check the uterus after delivery to make sure the entire placenta is out. This can be done in Delivery Suite with an epidural, or you can go to theatre and have it under a general. I know it sounds yucky, but then you have no surprises later. It doesn't have to be done in a rush after the baby comes, unless there's bleeding. You can give birth, BF while letting the cord pulsate, and then have the cavity checked.

Definitely ask Dr Bisits or whoever you see, about management of the third stage.