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Welia Health offers a 48-hour well-baby visit to ensure you and your baby are adjusting to being at home. This is a free visit that will be scheduled before you are discharged.
During this check, the following will be measured or checked:
Of course, we’ll also answer questions you may have now that you’re at home with your baby.
Most babies, when delivered, don’t look like what you see in a magazine. Babies have been crammed up in a water-filled uterus for months. After the journey down the birth canal, sometimes their appearance can be affected.
Several screenings occur after the birth of your baby. This is a public health service used to help identify potentially serious conditions at birth. For those potentially affected, appropriate screenings allow providers to start treatment right away.
Learn more about screenings from the Minnesota Department of Health.
Welia Health encourages you to meet with your provider to discuss how to have a positive birth experience while managing your pain during your birthing experience, whether it be with medication or by utilizing a more holistic approach.
Pain can also be controlled with medication and can be administered independently or in conjunction with one another, allowing you to deliver your baby with minimal pain and anxiety yet leaving you free to fully participate in the experience.
After you are complete and ready to push, there is normally not enough time to provide the procedure. However, that may not always be true. We will assist you whenever you and your provider agree is the best time for an epidural or intrathecal.
Not normally. Your legs will get a “heavy” feeling, and for safety reasons, laboring moms should stay in their beds after they receive their epidural.
Yes. Most women can still feel when they are having contractions, but they are no longer as painful, making it an advantage when it comes time to “push.” The medication used for LABOR epidurals is not intended to totally disconnect you from the labor process.
The procedure is done using local anesthesia (like when you go to the dentist), which takes approximately 5-15 minutes. Sometimes placement can be more difficult and take a bit longer. During the procedure, you may feel a little “pinch” when we numb up the insertion site on your back, but you shouldn’t feel any severe pain or discomfort, and we will stop if anything we are doing hurts.
It is extremely rare to be paralyzed from a lumbar epidural/intrathecal. There are rare reports of nerve injury from the procedure. In those isolated cases, nerve function generally returned over time.
Taking the tape off will be the most uncomfortable part of taking out the epidural. You will not be uncomfortable with the removal of the catheter itself. Remember the site may be tender for a day or two after delivery.
Cesarean delivery, also called c-section, is surgery to deliver a baby. The baby is taken out through the mother’s abdomen. Most cesarean births result in healthy babies and mothers. But a c-section is major surgery and carries risks. Healing also takes longer than with vaginal birth.
Most healthy pregnant women with no risk factors for problems during labor or delivery have their babies vaginally. Still, the cesarean birth rate in the United States has risen greatly in recent decades. Today, nearly 1 in 3 women have babies by c-section in this country. The rate was 1 in 5 in 1995.
Public health experts think that many c-sections are unnecessary. So it is important for pregnant women to get the facts about c-sections before they deliver. Women should find out what c-sections are, why they are performed, and the pros and cons of this surgery.
Your doctor might recommend a c-section if it’s deemed safer for you or your baby than vaginal birth. Some c-sections are planned. But most c-sections are done when unexpected problems happen during delivery. Even so, there are risks of c-section delivery. Limited studies show that the benefits of having a c-section may outweigh the risks when:
We encourage you to raise any questions or concerns you many have with your Welia Health provider.
If labor begins prior to 37 completed weeks of pregnancy, it is considered preterm. Preterm labor can be dangerous because if your baby is born too early, s/he could have health problems or not be developed enough to survive outside the uterus.
Your provider can tell if you have preterm labor by using a fetal monitor to check for contractions, doing a pelvic exam to check your cervix, or conducting lab tests to tell if you are at risk for delivering early. There are several treatment options to slow or stop preterm labor, and they include:
Remember do not to lie flat on your back because lying on your side will increase blood flow to your baby. Many times, preterm labor can be treated at home. Other times a hospital stay may be needed. Your provider will help determine what is best for you.
Your health care provider may give you specific activity restrictions, but keep these general tips in mind as well:
What to Expect: The stages of labor >
Contractions can feel like a tightening sensation, menstrual cramps, a dull backache or pain in the front of the thighs. To check for contractions, lie on your left side and put your fingertips just above your belly button. If you feel your muscles tighten (become hard) and relax (become soft), you may be having contractions.
Count the time between contractions from the start of one tightening to the start of another. It is normal for your uterus to contract up to five times per hour during your pregnancy. To help slow contractions, cramps or pain, drink two to three glasses of water or juice, urinate and lie down on your left side to rest.
Recheck your symptoms. If you still have signs of labor, if you think your water has broken, or if you are bleeding, call your provider or go to the hospital birthing center immediately.
As you’re imagining your baby’s birth, what do you envision?
A birth plan helps to answer some of these key questions. It’s a document that you create before delivery. A birth plan outlines to the OB team what’s important to you, helping you to have the best possible birthing experience. Here’s a guide for creating a birth plan and a downloadable worksheet for you to use during planning.
Labor occurs in three stages. When regular contractions begin, the baby moves down into the pelvis as the cervix both effaces (thins) and dilates (opens). How labor progresses and how long it lasts are different for every woman. But each stage features some milestones that are true for every woman.
The first stage begins with the onset of labor and ends when the cervix is fully opened. It is the longest stage of labor, usually lasting about 12 to 19 hours. Many women spend the early part of this first stage at home. You might want to rest, watch TV, hang out with family, or even go for a walk. Most women can drink and eat during labor, which can provide needed energy later. Yet some doctors advise laboring women to avoid solid food as a precaution should a cesarean delivery be needed. Ask your doctor about eating during labor. While at home, time your contractions and keep your doctor up to date on your progress. Your doctor will tell you when to go to the hospital or birthing center.
At the hospital, your doctor will monitor the progress of your labor by periodically checking your cervix, as well as the baby’s position and station (location in the birth canal). Most babies’ heads enter the pelvis facing to one side and then rotate to face down. Sometimes, a baby will be facing up towards the mother’s abdomen. Intense back labor often goes along with this position. Your doctor might try to rotate the baby, or the baby might turn on its own.
As you near the end of the first stage of labor, contractions become longer, stronger, and closer together. Many of the positioning and relaxation tips you learned in childbirth class can help now. Try to find the most comfortable position during contractions and to let your muscles go limp between contractions. Let your support person know how he or she can be helpful, such as by rubbing your lower back, giving you ice chips to suck, or putting a cold washcloth on your forehead.
Sometimes, medicines and other methods are used to help speed up labor that is progressing slowly. Many doctors will rupture the membranes. Although this practice is widely used, studies show that doing so during labor does not help shorten the length of labor.
Your doctor might want to use an electronic fetal monitor to see if the blood supply to your baby is okay. For most women, this involves putting two straps around the mother’s abdomen. One strap measures the strength and frequency of your contractions. The other strap records how the baby’s heartbeat reacts to the contraction.
The most difficult phase of this first stage is the transition. Contractions are very powerful, with very little time to relax in between, as the cervix stretches the last few centimeters. Many women feel shaky or nauseated. The cervix is fully dilated when it reaches 10 centimeters.
The second stage involves pushing and delivery of your baby. It usually lasts 20 minutes to two hours. You will push hard during contractions and rest between contractions. Pushing is hard work, and a support person can really help keep you focused. A woman can give birth in many positions, such as squatting, sitting, kneeling, or lying back. Giving birth in an upright position, such as squatting, appears to have some benefits, including shortening this stage of labor and helping to keep the tissue near the birth canal intact. You might find pushing to be easier or more comfortable one way, and you should be allowed to choose the birth position that feels best to you.
When the top of your baby’s head fully appears (crowning), your doctor will tell you when to push and deliver your baby. Your doctor may make a small cut, called an episiotomy, to enlarge the vaginal opening. Most women in childbirth do not need an episiotomy. Sometimes, forceps (tool shaped like salad tongs) or suction is used to help guide the baby through the birth canal. This is called assisted vaginal delivery. After your baby is born, the umbilical cord is cut. Make sure to tell your doctor if you or your partner would like to cut the umbilical cord.
The third stage involves the delivery of the placenta (afterbirth). It is the shortest stage, lasting five to 30 minutes. Contractions will begin five to 30 minutes after birth, signaling that it’s time to deliver the placenta. You might have chills or shakiness. Labor is over once the placenta is delivered. Your doctor will repair the episiotomy and any tears you might have. Now, you can rest and enjoy your newborn!
Following labor and delivery, care continues for both mom and baby.
Learn more about newborn screenings from the Minnesota Department of Health.
We respect the special private time for parents and their new baby for the first hours after birth. This uninterrupted time is enormously beneficial to the child’s growth and development. Mothers and fathers maximize the bonding experience before introducing the little one to family and friends.
Read more in this issue of Minnesota Parent.
If you choose to breastfeed your baby, our OB staff will help initiate breastfeeding within an hour of birthing your baby. We will encourage breastfeeding on demand and practice rooming-in, allowing mothers and babies to remain together 24 hours a day. Learn more about breastfeeding.
Welia Health has certified lactation consultants to help new moms achieve their breastfeeding goals.
Welia Health offers a four-part prenatal education series designed to help you understand your pregnancy and your baby’s developmental stages, achieve a healthy pregnancy, and prepare for the birthing process and parenting.
We utilize a combination of lectures, audiovisuals, guest speakers, and open floor discussions to help you learn all about the birthing experience.
We look forward to meeting you and discussing your concerns and experiences as well as sharing our insights about the entire birth process.
Prenatal classes are free and offered quarterly at our Mora campus. Preregistration is required. See events calendar to register for an upcoming class.
Congratulations! Pregnancy—what an exciting and emotional time. Welia Health's expert-led classes cover fetal development, labor and delivery, hospitalization and newborn
Congratulations! Pregnancy—what an exciting and emotional time. Welia Health's expert-led classes cover fetal development, labor and delivery, hospitalization and newborn
Congratulations! Pregnancy—what an exciting and emotional time. Welia Health's expert-led classes cover fetal development, labor and delivery, hospitalization and newborn
Congratulations! Pregnancy—what an exciting and emotional time. Welia Health's expert-led classes cover fetal development, labor and delivery, hospitalization and newborn
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