Benefits of a physiological third stage????

[Sequoia]

If your going to birth in a hospital it is very unlikely that you wll have a physiological labour so many hinderances to a physiologic third stage.

I birthed in a private hospital setting and my OB asked me to cough, that was it. No injection.

[femme]

For those who are interested this article

Hastie C, Fahy K, 2008, Optimising psychophysiology in thid stage of labour: Theory applied to practice, Women and birth, Vol 22 pg 89-96.

The authors discuss factors which interfere with normal physiology and placental birth and that should be considered risk factors for Post partum haemorrhage. They are:

bright lights,
cold room temperature,
noisy strangers int he room.
Midwife unknown to the woman and the woman unable to maintain mindful focus. Under the influence of pethidine, morphine etc
The baby taken to be resuscitated or transferred to the nursery,
unneccesary talking,
uninvited touching of the woman or baby.
Being in a hurry to finish and clean up or carry out fear inducing activities such as setting up for an emergenc,
phone calls from family of friends.
The mother exhausted and feeling that the birth is over.
The baby being abnormal, unwanted or the 'wrong' sex. (pg 93)

Something to think about when writing your birth plan.

[femme]

mumma to 2

Yes it is a personal choice I can see the benfits of waiting and I prefer to allow my body a chance to work properly before helping it along with artificial hormones. If syntocinon prevented PPH as most women have it in hospitals then we would have no more PPH. Most women that have a PPH have already had syntocinon. It is just another means in which birth has been medicalised.

[femme]

retained placenta may be one reason for PPH however it is not the most common reason which is uterine atony (weak muscle tone). Putting the baby to the breast can also release natural oxytocin.

[jpelc]

I didn't want a managed third stage, but the doctor talked me into it. Even so, during the conversation he told me the injection only prevents 30% of pph - which means 70% of the time a woman will still have a pph even with the shot. This is what happened to me, and I had to go on an IV drip for 4 hours to stop the bleeding.
It seems to me that the only way to prevent a pph is to have a homebirth! Something I am seriously considering for my next birth.