Natural delivery
During a natural deliveryDeliveryThe process of giving birth to a baby.Read more the baby is born through the mother’s vaginaVaginaPart of the inner sexual organs of a woman. The vagina connects the…Read more. A delivery on average takes between 10 and 12 hours for the first child. A 2nd delivery generally lasts less time.
Before the baby is born, the mother has contractions. The muscles in the uterusUterusOrgan in a woman's belly in which a foetus can grow.Read more squeeze together. Call the midwifeMidwifeA trained person who helps a pregnant woman before, during and after delivery.…Read more when you have contractions, or when you are worried.
Natural delivery: woman giving birth to her baby.
Contractions
The contractions open up the cervixCervixNarrow entrance at the bottom of the uterus, at the top of the…Read more (the entrance of the uterus). When the cervix is open wide enough, you are ready for delivery.
To ease the pain during contractions you can:
- move around;
- use breathing techniques;
- take a bath or shower to relax;
- get aidsAIDSThe late stage of HIV. The immune system of someone with AIDS is…Read more like a hot pillow or a ball chair;
- ask for pain relief by means of a PCA-pump or an injectionInjectionWhen you have an injection, fluid (for example medicine or a liquid drug)…Read more in the lower back. The injection can be given while you are sitting or lying.
Woman having contractions.
Pregnant woman standing. The focus is on the internal sexual organs with the foetus inside the uterus.
The contractions make the cervix, the entrance to the uterus, open up.
The cervix is wider.
When the cervix is open wide enough, the baby can be born.
Doctor giving an epidural (local) anaesthetic: an injection in the lower back to ease the pain during contractions.
The place of the delivery
You discuss with your midwife where you would like to deliver. In the Netherlands you can choose if you want to deliver with your midwife in your own home, in hospital or in a birth centre. If a gynaecologistGynaecologistDoctor specializing in health care during pregnancy, contraception and women's diseases. A gynaecologist…Read more monitors your pregnancyPregnancyThe time when a woman is expecting a baby. The pregnancy begins when…Read more, you always deliver in hospital.
During delivery, your partnerPartnerPerson you are in a relationship with.Read more or another person of your choiceChoiceDecide which is the best from several options. For example, people have the…Read more can stay with you.
The midwife and/or maternity assistant will guide you during the contractions.
The midwife also checks the baby’s heartbeat and carries out an internal examination to feel if the cervix is open wide enough. If the cervix is open completely you can start pushing.
Often, the perineumPerineumSkin between the scrotum (men)/vagina (women) and the anus. In both men and…Read more tears when the baby’s head comes out. Your midwife or gynaecologist will stitch it.
The baby comes out of the vagina. The umbilical cordUmbilical cordA sort of tube connecting the foetus to the placenta. The umbilical cord…Read more is cut.
10 to 30 minutes after delivery, the placentaPlacentaOrgan which grows alongside the foetus in the uterus when a woman is…Read more leaves your body.
Father cutting the umbilical cord of the baby.
Placenta leaving the woman’s body, 10 to 30 minutes after delivery.