When the Baby Is Born

If the baby’s head is still visible during the contractions, the nurse will help to put you in a birth giving position. When the job of the labor goes on in a delivery room, all the nurse needs to do is remove the platform that is at the end of the bed and dispose of the padded leg supports. If necessary the nurse will then move you into a delivery room that looks more like a surgery room, and will move you along with all the monitors in a stretcher. Where you will actually give birth, whether it be in a room looking type of place or a formal delivery room depends on the hospital you are in and the risk factors. 

When you are in position to give birth, you will need to continue pushing with each contraction that comes along. The nurse or doctor will clean the section between your vagina and anus with an iodine solution and place sheets over your legs in order to keep the lower region as clean as possible for the newborn baby. As you are working on pushing the baby out this region will start to stretch more and the doctor will only be able to see if you need an epsiotomy in the last minute.

With each contraction and each push, the baby’s head will descend more and more until, finally it comes out of the birth canal. After the baby’s head is out, the doctor will ask you to stop pushing so that he or she can take the secretions out of the baby’s mouth and nose and this is done before the rest of the body comes out.

It will be quite a bit of challenge to stop pushing at this point because there will be a lot of intense pressure, however if you have been given an epidural the pressure will probably not be as intense.

This will also be the moment in which the doctor will make sure the umbilical cord is not wrapped around the baby’s neck. The umbilical cord being wrapped around the baby’s neck is not something uncommon and is usually not something to be worried about. If it were to happen, the doctor will make sure to unwrap the umbilical cord to free the baby’s neck before the baby comes out completely.

After the baby has been cleaned from the secretions and the doctor has verified the umbilical cord is not wrapped around the head, he or she will then indicate for you to push again so the rest of the baby’s body comes out. Generally the baby’s head is the widest part and giving birth to the rest of the body is much easier. After the baby has been born the doctor will then clean his or her mouth and nose again by using a suction device.

Usually after the baby’s head has come out, the shoulders and body come out quite easily. However, there are occasions in which a baby’s shoulders will stay stuck behind the mother’s pubis and will cause difficulty for the rest of the body to come out. When this situation does come up there are different things the doctor can do to try to help the baby come out such as:

• Put direct pressure over the pubis to move the shoulder that is trapped.
• Bend the mother’s knees in order to provide more space for the baby.
• Manually rotate the baby’s shoulders.
• First take the arm out that is closest to the way out.

This problem can happen to anyone but there are certain characteristics that make it more probable:

• When a baby is too big
• Gestational diabetes
• Prolonged delivery
• Background of big babies or babies born with dislocated shoulder.