You'll recall our tremulous friend from the ante-natal classes who goes funny colours whenever blood gets mentioned? If you're the type to feel the same, you may want to skip this one!
Placentas, then. Vital, multifunctional ephemeral organs that serve as nutrient, oxygen and waste disposal system, all with built-in filtering for harmful substances. It also produces many of the hormones necessary for the gestation, such as progesterone and placental lactogen (which increases the sugars in the maternal bloody supply to ensure a supply to the baby). They are also an excellent source of apparently inappropriate comments to make at ante-natal classes that make your wife give you the evil eye. Of which more in a bit?
It's a pretty amazing thing, the placenta. I didn't know until I researched this piece that it's comprised of two parts, one of which shares the mother's DNA and the other the baby's. It makes sense when you think about it, but it's still incredible stuff!
Of course, once the baby has popped itself out ('popped' being a highly appropriate word given that it suggests something quick and trivial...) the placenta's job is done and it must be birthed too. This is known as the third stage of labour - the first is the dilation of the cervix, the second the popping out of the baby.
Now, left to its own devices, the placenta will tend to disengage itself within a couple of hours but often women want it out sooner than that. K___ was one, and had it been me in that position, I think I would have felt the same way, but something they said at the classes made us think again.
They can induce the placenta to disengage from the wall of the uterus with an injection - an injection that according to at least one mum in the ante-natal class, you don't even notice being administered. This is called a 'managed third stage' and in the UK is usually done with a drug called Syntometrine which induces strong contractions and makes the uterus 'clamp down' once the placenta is free thus reducing blood loss. This method tends to result in the placenta coming out in about 15 minutes or so. However, there can be issues.
Placentas, then. Vital, multifunctional ephemeral organs that serve as nutrient, oxygen and waste disposal system, all with built-in filtering for harmful substances. It also produces many of the hormones necessary for the gestation, such as progesterone and placental lactogen (which increases the sugars in the maternal bloody supply to ensure a supply to the baby). They are also an excellent source of apparently inappropriate comments to make at ante-natal classes that make your wife give you the evil eye. Of which more in a bit?
It's a pretty amazing thing, the placenta. I didn't know until I researched this piece that it's comprised of two parts, one of which shares the mother's DNA and the other the baby's. It makes sense when you think about it, but it's still incredible stuff!
Of course, once the baby has popped itself out ('popped' being a highly appropriate word given that it suggests something quick and trivial...) the placenta's job is done and it must be birthed too. This is known as the third stage of labour - the first is the dilation of the cervix, the second the popping out of the baby.
Now, left to its own devices, the placenta will tend to disengage itself within a couple of hours but often women want it out sooner than that. K___ was one, and had it been me in that position, I think I would have felt the same way, but something they said at the classes made us think again.
They can induce the placenta to disengage from the wall of the uterus with an injection - an injection that according to at least one mum in the ante-natal class, you don't even notice being administered. This is called a 'managed third stage' and in the UK is usually done with a drug called Syntometrine which induces strong contractions and makes the uterus 'clamp down' once the placenta is free thus reducing blood loss. This method tends to result in the placenta coming out in about 15 minutes or so. However, there can be issues.
If the uterus clamps down too fast, it can result in the placenta becoming trapped and this then requires an operation to remove it. Nice. It can also make the mother feel sick, faint or headachy at a time when she should be bonding with her new child. Managed third stage also means that the umbilical cord must be clamped before the injection is given otherwise the baby might receive a 'shunt' of blood and this can cause jaundice.
One reason a woman might want to go for a natural third stage is that if left to its own devices, the placenta will continue to pass oxygen-rich blood to the baby for some time.
The downside of early cord clamping is that the baby does not get the benefit of the oxygen-rich blood in the cord and placenta which would come to it in a natural third stage. Many mothers choose to wait until the cord stops pulsating (which I think was the phrase that started Mr Squeamish rocking backwards and forwards whilst moaning ever so slightly) so that their babies can get the benefit of this additional blood. I seem to recall - I'm sure K___ will confirm or deny - that we were told it could be an additional 20% of blood given after the birth, although that does seem very high! The downside to this is that the mother is likely to suffer greater blood loss as a result.
Swings and roundabouts, isn't it? Of course, once you've delivered the placenta - an organ that looks a bit like a vacuum-sealed bag of liver - you can cook it and eat it - yummy.
Oh blast! There's one of those inappropriate comments that got me 'the look' at the classes again...
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