Helpful information about the time before, during, and after giving birth.

Where would you like to give birth?

You have the option to give birth either at home, at the maternity clinic or at the maternity/labour ward.

• Low risk pregnancies
  
• We have a “home birth team” with midwifes from Region H
• We offer “Home birth café” where you can get more information about home birth​

Maternity clinic:

• Low risk pregnancies
  
• Smaller unit, within the hospital
• Designed to be as home-like as possible
  

Maternity/labour ward:

• Low risk pregnancies with a need for medical pain relief
• Highly specialized pregnancies
  

Discuss with your midwife what is important to you when giving birth.

Due date

Babies arrive on the day, they are ready. On average, first-time births start four to seven days later than 40 weeks. Only five percent of mothers deliver after exactly 40 weeks. 95 percent deliver before or after, and lots deliver after. It's a perfectly normal pregnancy if it lasts from 37 to 42 full weeks.

How does labour start?

Labour can start in basically two ways

• Waters breaking: Labour starts with the waters breaking in c. 10 percent of cases.
• Contractions: For the majority of women, labour starts with contractions.

The "prelude" of labour

In the initial phase of labour – the prelude – you can experience back ache, Braxton Hicks contractions, period pains, bleeding, a bloody show.

During the prelude it is important to activate your body's relaxation system, which predominates when you are relaxed, feel safe and are given affection and intimacy. This hormonal system is your friend during labour. The partner plays an important role in helping the woman activate her relaxations system and making her feel safe.

What to do during the prelude?

• Rest
• Eat and drink
• Use a heating pad
• Take a warm bath
• Breath deeply
• Watch a good movie
• Perhaps take one gram of paracetamol (two tablets of 500 mg)

You can't miss your own delivery, so if you feel like something is about to start, the best you can do is to relax.

What happens during labour?

When you start having contractions the cervix gets softer and shorter, and causes the dilation (cervix starts to open). The contractions grow in strength, duration and number. When the cervix has dilated 10 centimeters the baby's journey through the pelvic begins. You can't tell how dilated you are. The midwife will check in the beginning and during the active stage of labour .

When to call the assesment unit?

• Always call us if your waters break. The staff at the assesment unit would like to know when it happened and know the colour of the water.
• Call when you have had three contractions over a period of ten minutes. Each must last c. 60 seconds and the contractions have been uniform for a couple of hours.
• Always call us if you are worried.
  

Call us if you experience

• Bleeding that's more than just a spot but more like period bleeding
• That the baby/fetus is not moving as it should  
• A constant intense pain
• If you feel discomfort and/or doubt

Assessment unit also called “Fødemodtagelsen”

The midwife will meet you and estimate the size and position of the baby. The midwife will also listen to the heartbeat of the baby and do an internal examination of you to see how much you have dilated.

The midwife will check whether you are in the initial phase of labour or if you have reached the active part of labour.

If you are in the early stage of labour, perhaps you will need pain relief, go for a walk or go home again.

If you have reached the active phase of labour, you will be transferred to a delivery room, and perhaps you will get pain relief if you need this and be offered an enema.

Handling the pain/management of labour

Do your breathing to create relaxation during tension. Think of the pain as a constructive pain, as it helps you deliver your baby, and remember contractions are not dangerous.

The midwife can help you with pain relief:

• A "cocktail" – a mixture of a pain killer, a sedative and a muscle relaxant
• Morfine
• Massage
• Acupuncture
• A heating pad
• A bath tub
  
• Sterile water injections ("bee sting")
• Oxygen
• Rebozo
• Pudendus block
• Epidural

You can always ask the midwife about different kinds of pain relief, how it works, side effects and alternatives.

You can also read abour pain relief here.

The role of the partner during labour

As a partner you play an important role in supporting and encouraging the woman.

It is also important that you remember yourself. Being in a delivery room is intense, so remember to get outside and breathe if you need a break..

You can help the woman by:

• Massaging the lower back
  
• Holding hands
• Helping her remember the breathing technique
• Provide food and drinks, a cold cloth for the forehead, a heating pad
• Helping her out to the bathroom and helping her move

If the contractions stop or take a break

Don't stress if the contractions pause. Take advanges of the break to rest, eat, and drink. When it is time to get things going again, moving around might help. Snacks, drinks, or even acupuncture could do the trick. If not we might break the amniotic sac or use an IV to kickstart the contractions.

The last part of the dilation phase

In the last part of the dilation phase, the cervix has dilated 8-9 centimeters. For some this is the most painful part of giving birth. The baby's head is close to the pelvic floor, and you will start to feel a growing urge to push. In the last part of the dilation phase, the baby will begin to move its way through the pelvis.

The pushing phase

When the baby's head has passed the narrowest place in your pelvis, you will start to feel an urge to push. It feels like the need to go to the toilet. The cervix is 10 centimeters dilated. The baby's head is on the pelvic floor. You must push actively when you are having contractions. For this phase the midwife and the mother-to-be must cooperate closely. We ask you to alternate between panting and pushing. The midwife will support the area between your vagina and anus as the baby's head is born to minimize tearing.

After birth

You will get the baby in your arms/on your chest. We offer the partner to cut the umbilical cord. 

We give the newborn baby an APGAR score based on five parameters of general condition.

You will be offered a Syntocinon injection. It is artificial oxytocin and helps to prevent major bleeding after birth (excess of 500 ml). The baby is offered an injection of vitamin K.

Afterwards you will be delivering the placenta. We wait up to an hour for the placenta to detach. It does not hurt when it is ready to leave the uterus to be born.  

Tearing

The midwife will examine you vaginally and anally to assess if you have torn/how much progress has been made.​

8 out of 10 first-timers tear when they give birth. Most of you will have first or second degree tears. Your midwife will sew them up in the delivery room. You will be given a local anaesthetic to prevent any pain. The stitches will dissolve within 8-10 weeks, and the tear will heal within a month. Contact us if something doesn't feel right.

Monitoring devices during labour

During labour the midwife monitors how the baby is doing by using a doppler, a CTG or a scalp-ph.

You probably know the doppler from the midwife consultation. The fetal doppler ia a hand-held ultrasound device that use soundwaves to listen to a baby's heartbeat.​

A CTG measures the baby's heartbeat and your contractions and draws some curves on a graph. A scalp-ph is a tiny blood test taken from the baby's head.

If we think the baby is better off outside the womb, we can offer to help them out using a vacuum cup.

Caesarean

If you need a ceasarean section, you will be taken to the operating theatre and get a spinal anaesthetic. The operation takes about 30 minutes, and your partner can come with you. After the caesarean you will be transferred to the recovery room, where you will be for a couple of hours before being transferred to the maternity ward.

The needs of the newborn

Once the baby is born, it needs as much skin-on-skin contact as possible. Give your baby rest, closeness and warmth. This will give your baby the best beginning of life.

Breastfeeding is a big and important topic and we will help with breastfeeding establishment if you want it.​

When will the new family go home?

If mother and baby are doing well after an uncomplicated birth, you can go home after 4-6 hours.

Some choose to stay at the maternity unit. You can stay here for one or two nights, and midwives and nurses will help you if needed. Your partner must pay a small amount for the meals. The visiting hours are are 16:00-18:00.

2-3 days after birth

2-3 days after birth you need a checkup at the hospital. We will check how mother and baby are doing, ask how the nursing is going, and do a PKU-test and hearing screening of the baby.

Herlev Hospital wishes you a good birth.