The third stage of labour follows on from the second stage when your baby is born, and is when the placenta is delivered.

What happens

Once you start to contract again up to 15 minutes after the birth of your baby, you will need to push the placenta out.  This can take up to 20 mins.   It is common practice to have 'managed third stage' now, which makes this process very quick and unnoticeable.

Managed third stage.

You will be given an injection of Syntometrine into your thigh at the time that your baby's head is crowning. This makes the womb contract for a long time, which helps to stop haemorrhaging. Your placenta will come away from the wall of your womb very quickly while it is contracted, so the third stage often goes unnoticed by the woman.  You don't have to have a managed third stage, but it's important the midwives know if you don't want it, as it is becoming normal practice in a lot of hospitals as it benefits the staff. It is the safer option, however, if you have had a very medicalised birth, as you are more inclined to bleed without it. It is always the patient's choice which type of third stage she has.  To read more about the natural third stage click here   Side effects of mannaged third stage - Occasionally a managed third stage can cause sickness, and a retained placenta.

Retained placenta

Sometimes the placenta, or part of the placenta, isn't expelled by the body, and a procedure to remove it may have to be done. This involves a doctor removing the placenta manually. Some pain relief will be given before this, to make it more comfortable - often an epidural. The doctor will insert a hand up through the vagina to the uterus,  where the placenta will carefully be detached from the uterine wall, and removed. This complication is dealt with quickly, as it increases the risk of haemorraging. If you have had this in a previous labour, it increases your risk of it happening again, however a good way to minimise this risk is to opt for a natural third stage, rather than a mannaged third stage.