Huggies
Skip to Content
back to Labour and Birthemail thisprint this

The Third Stage

Once your baby has been born, your uterus rests for about 15 minutes. It will then start to contract again in order to expel the placenta. This is the third stage of labour and is comparatively painless – you probably will hardly notice it.

During the third stage of labour the placenta becomes detached from the uterine wall and is delivered by expulsion down the birth canal. The large blood vessels, which are about the thickness of a pencil, and run to and from the placenta, are simply torn across. However, bleeding is rare because the muscle fibres of the uterus are arranged in a criss-cross fashion, which means that when the uterus contracts down, the muscles tighten around the blood vessels and prevent them from bleeding. This is why it is absolutely essential that the uterus contracts down into a hard ball once the placenta has been expelled. The uterus can be kept tightly contracted by massaging it intermittently for an hour or so after the third stage is complete. Normally the third stage lasts about 10-20 minutes but with active management it can be much shorter.

You should check with your doctor or midwife what their position is on the use of oxytocin to assist the delivery of your placenta.

After Delivery*

Once the placenta is delivered, medical staff carefully examine it to make sure that it’s complete and that none of it has been left behind. If any of the placenta has been retained by the uterus it can be a cause of haemorrhage later on, so it should be removed as soon as the diagnosis is made. In cases of doubt, an ultrasound scan will probably show whether the uterus is completely empty. The membranes should form a complete bag except for the hole through which the foetus has passed. The cut end of the umbilical cord will be examined to check that the umbilical blood vessels are normal. After the placenta is delivered the whole of the vulval outlet will be examined carefully for tears. Some small tears will heal on their own while others can be more extensive and require suturing to facilitate healing.

* Dr Miriam Stoppard MD FRCP, Conception, Pregnancy & Birth, Dorling Kindersley, Australia 2002