Immediately after birth

thebigmare

So I want immediate skin to skin contact after birth and the time to bond and nurse. What are most hospitals normal procedures? And what do most of you want to happen in say the 1st hour after birth?

LittleEgypt

They don't need to take your baby away to do the Apgar test. It is just a series of quick observations that can be done while you are holding your baby. I don't think it's something you would want to delay, since the midwife or doctor is going to want to know if your baby is blue, limp, not breathing, or has a poor pulse. Are you maybe confusing this with another test?

thebigmare

LittleEgypt:

They don't need to take your baby away to do the Apgar test. It is just a series of quick observations that can be done while you are holding your baby. I don't think it's something you would want to delay, since the midwife or doctor is going to want to know if your baby is blue, limp, not breathing, or has a poor pulse. Are you maybe confusing this with another test?

Yes, I was definitely confused and I edited my original post.  

LittleEgypt

thebigmare:

LittleEgypt:

They don't need to take your baby away to do the Apgar test. It is just a series of quick observations that can be done while you are holding your baby. I don't think it's something you would want to delay, since the midwife or doctor is going to want to know if your baby is blue, limp, not breathing, or has a poor pulse. Are you maybe confusing this with another test?

Yes, I was definitely confused and I edited my original post.  

Ok that makes sense . It varies a lot from hospital to hospital, and birth center and home births are very different. You would really want to ask about hospital policy for prospective hospitals, and see what the possibilities are for a vaginal birth as well as a c-section, because that's always a possible outcome. In most birth centers and home deliveries, it is expected tht you will have skin-to-skin contact immediately and the baby will not be removed for any procedures.

The procedures that they do shortly after birth are eye ointment and Vitamin K shot, both of which are often required by state law. You can delay those for the first hour in many cases, and they can do them while you hold the baby. Of course, if you have a true emergency they will have to take baby to the NICU.

In my case, I had a c-section, and did not get skin-to-skin contact immediately. They did not take the baby out of the room at any point, and DS was with him when he was across the room getting checked out. They brought him back quickly and DH held him near me while I was stitched up. Those would be the important things for me if I end up with a repeat c-section, and I am very grateful that DS was with me all the time.

ridesbuttons

My doctor/hospital was very supportive of skin to skin contact and nursing immediately.  Kids were placed on me immediately after delivery (quick rubdown) and I/we got to relax that way for a time.  Quick clean up and stats taken then right back to mom.  Ok as I was getting stitched up/cleaned up and gave me a chance to catch my breath.  Babe always with dad during this time.

I'd have been stunned if someone suggested prior to the birth that there would be any issue with keeping the baby with me immediately after delivery.  Stunned and then insistent.  After all, its my baby, not the hospital's.

LittleEgypt

ridesbuttons:

I'd have been stunned if someone suggested prior to the birth that there would be any issue with keeping the baby with me immediately after delivery.  Stunned and then insistent.  After all, its my baby, not the hospital's.

You know, I feel the same way about my body (and my baby). Too bad that's not how it plays out so much of the time.

LittleEgypt

ridesbuttons:

I'd have been stunned if someone suggested prior to the birth that there would be any issue with keeping the baby with me immediately after delivery.  Stunned and then insistent.  After all, its my baby, not the hospital's.

You know, I feel the same way about my body (and my baby). Too bad that's not how it plays out so much of the time.

iris427

LittleEgypt:

ridesbuttons:

I'd have been stunned if someone suggested prior to the birth that there would be any issue with keeping the baby with me immediately after delivery.  Stunned and then insistent.  After all, its my baby, not the hospital's.

You know, I feel the same way about my body (and my baby). Too bad that's not how it plays out so much of the time.

Yep.

A lot of hospitals will still want to put the baby in the warmer right away, clean it up, do an exam and the routine procedures (eye drops, etc) before they hand you the baby.  Sometimes they will give you the baby immediately after birth but then want to take the baby to the warmer a few minutes later.  So you might have to be a little insistent with them if you want to do anything that changes their routine.  They can do many of those things while you hold the baby and you can delay non-urgent procedures for an hour or so.

emberlee3

It depends on the hospital.  Check with yours.  At mine (a major teaching hospital), it seemed that they assumed we wanted baby with us, and they were very respectful about asking what/how we wanted procedures done. 

AutumnBride929

That sounds like a pretty reasonable request.  My baby was laid right on me as soon as I pushed him out.  I had time to cuddle him and do whatever for as long as I wanted before they weighed him and all that.  I didn't start BFing him until after all that was done though.  I probably had him on me for 5-10 minutes, DH cut the cord and then the nurses weighed him, swaddled him, gave him his Hep B vax, etc. (the whole routine probably took five minutes) and then I got him back and started feeding him.

I might like to do more skin-to-skin contact this time around.  Last time, they swaddled DS and that was fine but I like the idea of skin-to-skin contact to stimulate bonding and everything like that.

stbmittleman

At our hospital, they really push the skin to skin contact and if we ask, they will leave us alone to do most procedures until an hour or two after the birth.

Mrs.Handy

I would just talk to your OB or MW about it. I had it all outlined in my birth plan. Skin-to-skin contact was really encouraged by our practice and the hospital. DS was placed on me as soon as he came out and it was amazing! They cleaned him up and did everything they could while he was laying on me. They delayed the eye drops, etc. for a little while so we could try to BF.

LydiaE2

I had an instrument delivery with DS, so he needed a shot of vit K right away and to be examined by the peds team to make sure he was doing okay, there was also meconium in the fluid that DS passed after my water broke (they wanted to suction him and make sure he didn't aspirate).  DS was not taken out of the room, just placed on a warmer/exam on the other side of the room.  I honestly found it not to be that big of a deal.  Typically my hospital hands to baby right to mom after birth, but in certain cases they need to examine right away.  My OB told me when we opted for the instrument delivery that the peds team was going to come in and check out DS immediately, so I knew I wasn't going to hold DS immediately after the birth.  

SammyJJo

emberlee3:

It depends on the hospital.  Check with yours.  At mine (a major teaching hospital), it seemed that they assumed we wanted baby with us, and they were very respectful about asking what/how we wanted procedures done. 

I also gave birth at a major teaching hospital and they were very supportive.  I arrived during transition so there wasn't a lot of time to discuss what I had planned.  They weren't able to ask about my birth plan because there was no time - but they did ask me if I wanted the baby on me right away.  I said yes and they did just that.  They didn't take the baby to the warmer for the standard follow-up until I was ready, and they didn't rush that.

 I think the EBM trend is toward encouraging immediate skin-to-skin contact and rooming in, from what I've seen I would be most worried if you're at a smaller or less prestigious hospital.  Call and ask, I'm sure they get it all the time.

flowerchild77

My dd wasnt cleaned, weighed anything for over an hour after her birth. She was born, put on my chest, *insert me crying and making sure shes a girl here), she was slightly blue, she they gave her some oxygen (RIGHT next to me), wrapped her in a blanket, and handed her back all within a 2 minute span. I nursed her for a WHILE, stared at her some more, I think close to 4 they took her to the nursery to clean her up adn weigh her. My dh went with her while they switched me to the postpartum room, they brought her to me as soon as I was settled in my room.

macchiatto

My hospital placed Baby A on my chest right away; I held him while Baby B was delivered and then B was placed on my chest, as well. They did the APGAR scores while I was holding the babies. Baby B stayed blue for a bit so they whisked him away (just to the other side of the room) for oxygen and returned him to me a few minutes later. I had requested that all newborn procedures take place in my presence and they were very supportive of that. As soon as it was possible the nurses helped me get both babies latched on so we could nurse (which took absolutely forever; one of them was very sleepy and it was tough getting them positioned well with a bunch of pillows).

JNS023

stbmittleman:

At our hospital, they really push the skin to skin contact and if we ask, they will leave us alone to do most procedures until an hour or two after the birth.

This.  I had my DS at the local birth center which is very concerned with immediate skin-to-skin contact and also getting the baby to latch on as quickly as possible.  There really is no need to rush baby away for ANY tests.  My son was given about one minute to adjust to the world (he was born kind of stunned haha) but once the midwife made sure he was breathing ok he was given to me for skin-to-skin time and I immediately started teaching him how to nurse.  The cord wasn't cut until it stopped throbbing, he wasn't weighed untila about 2 hours after he was born which is also when they did the eye cream, vitamin K, etc.  No need for him to go to a warmer since he was birthed in a room with the temp set to 85 degrees and a warming lamp was right over me as I delivered him, so he was born into a warm environment.  MW did the APGAR while I was bonding with him!  Best experience of my life and I can't wait to do it again!

JNS023

JNS023:

stbmittleman:

At our hospital, they really push the skin to skin contact and if we ask, they will leave us alone to do most procedures until an hour or two after the birth.

This.  I had my DS at the local birth center which is very concerned with immediate skin-to-skin contact and also getting the baby to latch on as quickly as possible.  There really is no need to rush baby away for ANY tests.  My son was given about one minute to adjust to the world (he was born kind of stunned haha) but once the midwife made sure he was breathing ok he was given to me for skin-to-skin time and I immediately started teaching him how to nurse.  The cord wasn't cut until it stopped throbbing, he wasn't weighed untila about 2 hours after he was born which is also when they did the eye cream, vitamin K, etc.  No need for him to go to a warmer since he was birthed in a room with the temp set to 85 degrees and a warming lamp was right over me as I delivered him, so he was born into a warm environment.  MW did the APGAR while I was bonding with him!  Best experience of my life and I can't wait to do it again!

I should say, in a normal, non-risk pregnancy with nothing alarming during delivery or right after baby is born.

Mrs.Greeko

I think it depends on the birth, the hospital, the doctor/midwife, the nurses, etc.  My first was born in a hospital (no drugs) and when she came out they laid her on my belly while they did Apgars and cut the cord.  Then they took her to be weighed/measured while I delivered the placenta.  Then they gave her to DH to hold while they stitched up my atrocious third degree tear with internal tearing.  I asked to hold her, but they wouldn't let me while they were sewing me up.  I was very upset and still am to this day.  Especially after the birth of my second at a birth center and seeing what it should have been like.  I got to hold her, I held her while I delivered the placenta.  I nursed her right away.  She was not out of my arms for longer than a minute or two for the first couple of hours.  Look, if I'm going to push a baby out, I want the reward at the end of holding said baby for as long as I want to!

ka2005

You have to check with your hospital. My Dr knew I wanted the baby asap. However, we had meconium so baby had to be suctioned and then the pediatric people just kept doing their stuff. I kept making suggestions to give me my baby but no one listed and they handed me (20 min later!! I know bc of my digital camera) a completely wrapped baby. Do your best to communicate your desires but know things don't always go as planned.

julyjennifer

I was at a hospital. There was meconium in my waters so right after I pushed DD out they suctioned her and had DH cut the cord pretty much right away, then took her across the room to be checked out by some people.  Then they measured and weighed her and footprinted and she came to me about 5 minutes later all wrapped up.  At the time I didn't care because I was just so happy to have done my job of pushing her out (I had a longer pushing stage, prob 3h20min), but now it bothers me that she had her cord cut immediately and that I didn't get to hold her right away.  You'd think they could have checked her out on my tummy just as well, and certainly have waited for the weighing and measuring.

I came in at 10 cm dilated and they didn't have a copy of my birth plan (we'd left ours in the car) so I don't know if that would have changed anything.

They did wait to ask about the vitamin K (which we decided to do) and eye ointment (which we declined) for a good hour or two after the birth.

erinkate23

That was the most important part of our birth plan, and one I really made sure everyone understood and was on board with.  As long as DS was healthy, I wanted:

~Delayed cord clamping (this is important, it changes the whole process and makes everyone slow down)

~Skin to skin contact

~Breast crawl - baby will initiate breastfeeding on his own - VERY cool

After he has finished breastfeeding, then I let him get a little bit cleaned up.  I did allow the eye goop, but had oral vitamin K (you can order it in advance) and waived the HepB at the hospital (we did have it at his 2 month).

My midwife didn't write down his APGARs for an hour or so, she just did it from memory.  It's pretty simple stuff, no major "tests" required.