If your medical team feels you need help during labour, or your baby needs help to be born, they will talk this through with you and explain any procedure they feel you need.
You should have a chance to ask questions and be a part of any decision that is made. You will also be asked to give your consent before any interventions take place.
Oxytocin
Your body makes a hormone called oxytocin, which causes your contractions. If you need help with getting contractions going, you can be given an artificial version called syntocinon.
Syntocinon is given non-stop through a needle into a vein, called a drip. It helps make your contractions stronger and more regular and can be used to speed things up when you're already in labour, this is called augmentation.
Amniotomy (breaking your waters)
This is also called artificial rupture of the membranes (ARM) or breaking your waters. If your labour isn’t progressing or other problems are identified and your waters haven't broken, your midwife or doctor may break the amniotic sac for you.
It doesn't hurt your baby at all and for you it will feel similar to an internal examination. The contractions afterwards may become much more painful, so it's worth talking to your midwife about pain relief before your waters are broken.
Read more about what to expect if your waters break naturally
Ventouse or forceps
If the pushing stage, or second stage, of labour is very long and your baby’s heartbeat is changing, the medical team may suggest forceps or ventouse to help deliver him.
Forceps look a bit like metal salad tongs and are positioned with one part on each side of your baby's head. A ventouse is a suction cup that attaches to your baby's head. Whichever is used, the doctor or midwife will gently pull as you push with your contractions to ease your baby out.
If you have a forceps or ventouse delivery, your baby's head may look a bit squashed, bruised or swollen after the birth but this will disappear within a few days.
Episiotomy
If you have a forceps or ventouse delivery, you may need an episiotomy. This is a cut made in the area between your vagina and anus, called the perineum. It will be stitched after the birth. Even without the forceps or ventouse the perineum may tear during delivery.
Caesarean section
Sometimes during labour, your healthcare team may decide that a caesarean section is the safest way for the baby to be born. If you didn’t know you needed a caesarean before you went into labour, it is called an ‘emergency’ caesarean.
It sounds dramatic but it doesn’t mean that your baby was in immediate danger – just that the caesarean was not planned beforehand.
Read more
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Hypnobirthing is a method of pain management that can be used during labour and birth. It involves using a mixture of visualisation, relaxation and deep breathing techniques.
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Having a home birth
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How to prepare for a water birth
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Delayed cord clamping (DCC)
Cutting the cord immediately after the birth has been routine practice for 50-60 years but more recently research is showing that it is not good for the baby.
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What to expect when your waters break
Your waters can break before you go in to hospital but they are more likely to break during labour, or they can even be broken for you by your midwife to speed up your labour (a process known as artificial rupture of membranes).
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Braxton Hicks
Braxton Hicks is the name given to the action when the womb contracts and tightens with your bump becoming hard to touch; it then relaxes again, becoming soft.
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5 positive ways to prepare for labour
Manage your anxieties about giving birth, with some helpful advice from mums who’ve been there.
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Getting your baby into the best birth position
The ideal position for your baby to be in for labour and birth is head down, their back towards the front of your stomach.
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4 ways your body gets ready for labour
At the end of your pregnancy, you may have some signs that your baby will arrive very soon, even though you may not go into labour for a little while yet.
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What is a membrane sweep?
The membrane sweep is a drug-free way of helping to bring on labour when you are going past your due date.
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What to do when labour starts
The moment has arrived. Your contractions are regular and building up, and your baby is really on his or her way…
Sources
- NICE (2014) Intrapartum care: care of healthy women and their babies during childbirth, National Institute of Health and Care Excellencehttp://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg190
- NHS Choices (accessed 30/01/2015) Inducing labourhttp://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/induction-labour.aspx
- NICE Guideline (accessed 30/01/2015) CG70 Induction of labourhttps://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg70/resources/guidance-induction-of-labour-pdf
ℹLast reviewed on April 1st, 2015. Next review date April 1st, 2018.
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