What about right after birth?

MrsBigTime · September 2012

Hi ladies! This may be a weird question, but please bear with me.

I am planning an unmedicated labor/birth in a hospital with a Midwife. I know I need to discuss this with my MW, but I am wondering if you ladies have any insight into what exactly happens with a baby after it is born so I can start to think about what I want for my baby and me. There are some things I know I want and I want to be sure there isn't something obvious I'm not thinking of.

What I do want: skin-to-skin immediately after birth, no erythromycin eye ointment, breastfeeding, possibly delayed cord clamping (need more information), and for the baby to stay with us for the duration of our stay.

Basically, I want to do whatever promotes bonding and security between my DH, our daughter and I. I would like her to also have as few unnecessary medical interventions as possible and to avoid anything that hospitals do "just because."

Do you know of any procedures, cares, treatments, etc. that many hospitals perform on infants just because it's part of their standard treatment that I should think to talk with my MW about?

I hope what I'm asking makes sense, thanks for any input you may have!

Mrs.Syntax · September 2012

I think hospitals can vary widely regarding their procedures. The best thing to do is ask when you do the hospital tour.

The hospital I had DD at let us do skin-to-skin right away. They took her to another part of the L&D room for just a few minutes to do the testing, eye ointment, etc but returned her to me really quickly so we could get down to BFing. I didn't know about delayed cord clamping at the time, so I'm not sure whether or not they did that (probably not though.) DD stayed with us the entire time aside from being taken to the nursery for a short time to do tests. The nurses never encouraged me to put her in the nursery - I think this was due to being a BFing friendly hospital. She roomed in the whole time.

sbevmc09 · September 2012

A few things I thought of that you didn't mention: vitamin K injection and Hepatitis B vax. Some people choose to forgo or delay these things by hours, days, or longer (in the case of the Hep

. Most hospitals do the vitamin K right at birth or very shortly after. Hep B is usually given maybe a day or two after delivery.

Jenilyn and Matthew · September 2012

PP already mentioned Vit K and Hep B shots. They may want to do a few Bili tests for jaundice, especially if you're BFing, but those should be able to be done in your room. They may want to do a hearing test. Our hospital insisted that DD had to go somewhere else to do the test, and we were hesitant, but she was only gone for 10 minutes. You can also ask about baths. DD got her first bath while I was being taken to the mommy and baby wing from L&D. DH went with her to give her the bath (as well as my entire friends and family who watched through the nursery glass). I did miss that part, but someone videoed and took pictures for me, and my mama stayed with me.

Asking during your hospital tour should give you some good insight as to what is done, and your OB and future pediatrician should be able to answer your questions too about early testing and procedures.

Joyfullnoise · September 2012

Something kind of cool that the hospital did for us: LO didn't even get a bath until my husband gave him one that night (12-ish hours later). I really liked that we got to be part of everything. He got swabbed off on my stomach, but he was sticky and smelly and all ours until we were ready to let him go, a little.

Sawyerplus1 · September 2012

Yep, talk to your MW about what she encourages and what the hospital may do or not do as standard procedure. I think immediate skin to skin, delayed cord clamping, and rooming in aren't uncommon anymore in healthy deliveries. Make sure the staff know you want to EBF and they shouldn't give any formula (esp. if LO is rooming in there will be no chance for them to sneak her a bottle). Just talk to your MW and see what's standard and what you're options are. It depends on the condition of your labor and delivery, but for normal, healthy ones I don't think what you want is uncommon at all.

tortuga47 · September 2012

As PP's said you might want to do the hospital tour. We did the birthing class associated with our hospital and they answered all of this. Our hospital is baby friendly, so they delay cutting the cord until it stops pulsating and delay all treatments (eye, vitamin k, bath, etc) and allow a good solid hour or more (pretty much as much as you want) for bonding and breast feeding. The just towel the baby off on your belly and wrap a blanket around him/ her to keep the baby warm. All babies stay room in with moms and are never separated (unless you want a circumcision, but they allow you to stand outside the room and watch on a video monitor because it's a "sterile procedure.") All this assuming a healthy birth and no complications. It sounds like more and more hospitals are trending this way, so you may be delighted by what procedures, or lack there of are already in place.

oliversmommy32912 · September 2012

One more thing we did that our doula suggested is to have them rub the vernix in instead of rubbing it off and delaying the bath for a bit (we actually waited until we left the hospital). Studies have been done that show a lot of benefits of not wiping off the vernix (you can find info by Googling it). Plus our little one never got the dry peely skin that a lot of newborns have a few days after birth.

nosoup4u · September 2012

We skipped the eye ointment with DS2 (it's state law where DS1 was born, so he had it - you might want to check on that), did Vitamin K and delayed Hep B for both our kids. Neither of them got baths the first few days, and both of them got to stay with me pretty much right away. DS2 had to be checked for meconium aspiration (he was fine), but after that I held him for the first 1-2 hours, and then they weighed and measured him. I'm pretty sure they took his vitals while he was on me.

They both had the 30-hour blood draw - is it the PKU test? And DS2 was so big that they did a blood sugar heel prick with him a few times that first day. Hearing tests are standard within the first day or two, also.

Ask about c/s, too, just so you can list the things you'd like if you have one.

hilwithonelary · September 2012

You might ask what kinda of procedures can be done while baby is on your chest. For example, they were worried that DD wasn't pinking up quickly enough. Instead of taking her away, they brought an oxygen mask over to us and gave her oxygen while she stayed on my chest.

mystrana · September 2012

Definitely find out your hospital's policies!

The hospital I gave birth at, for example, was very supportive of my wanting to go natural, allowed skin to skin immediately (of course barring complications), did newborn procedures at a table right near my bed, delayed cord clamping by policy, had baby rooming-in by policy, etc.

GoldenPeaches · September 2012

I would ask about baths. For me, it was important that he not be bathed as I believe vernix is great for their skin. He had his hair washed at the birth center and that's it. He got his first bath at 2 weeks old.

NoeliaV · September 2012

I would start with your hospital's procedures, then take any that you're concerned about to your dr/MW.

One that bothered me (as an example) was that the hospital procedure stated no skin-to-skin (baby would go immediately to the warmer) and when I asked our dr/MWs about it they stated "They can't take that baby to the warmer until the cord is cut, and we won't cut the cord until you tell us."

So, your dr/MW's procedures should trump whatever the hospital requests, and they'll be able to tell you how they handle that in the hospital.

RayRay007 · September 2012

A couple things we did that you didn't mention was delalying the bath - DH bathed her probably about 10 or 12 hours after she was born - and doing all procedures in my arms. They did eye goop, shots, blood draws, etc. in my arms.

MrsBigTime · September 2012

Thank you all for the information! This was exactly what I was hoping for in writing this post. It sounds like the vision I have for my after-birth experience is really not that uncommon or strange to request. I'll now have a more thorough list to talk with my MW about!

Want a personalized experience?

What about right after birth?

Re: What about right after birth?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards