When you're in the second stage
of labor --
delivery -- you are mere minutes
to a couple hours away from
meeting your baby.
If you're having
a natural birth,
you'll push hard
during your contractions
and rest in between them.
And if you happen to poop
during all that pushing,
don't worry!
It happens.
Your care team should let you
get into whatever delivery
position feels best to you,
like lying on your back,
kneeling, squatting, or getting
on your hands and knees.
Your doctor will tell you when
to push once your baby's head
appears.
You can ask to see
your little one in a mirror
for extra motivation.
The doctor may use
a salad-tong-shaped tool called
forceps or a suction device
to help guide your baby out.
Once you've delivered
your newborn, you, your partner,
or a member of your care team
can cut the umbilical cord.
There's one final stage of labor
left now.
You'll deliver an organ called
the placenta, which nourished
your little one with oxygen
and nutrients in the womb.
You'll have more contractions
as you push it out --
but it should take only 5 to 30
minutes or so.
And after that, you can relax
and cuddle with your bundle
of joy!
If you deliver your baby
by C-section instead,
here's how it happens
in general.
Your medical team will clean
your belly and give you fluids
and meds through a vein
in your arm or hand.
You'll get medicine called
anesthesia to numb pain.
One kind numbs just the lower
part of your body
and lets you stay awake.
Another kind called
general anesthesia puts you
to sleep during the procedure.
Your doctor will decide what's
best.
Your doctor then usually makes
a cut near your pubic hairline
and continues layer by layer
to your womb.
She delivers your baby
through those cuts,
removes your placenta,
and closes the incision she
made.
You and your baby will probably
recover in the hospital for 2-3
days.
Whether you have a natural birth
or a C-section, you finally
reached the moment you've been
waiting 9 months for:
getting to know and love
your newborn.
Congratulations!