Most women are extremely anxious prior to their due date about vaginal delivery, whether they will be able to take labour pains or not, or whether they will require a caesarean section. Should you require a caesarean section, we have fully equipped and modern operation theaters for the same and an expert anaesthesia team for any type of obstetric emergency. We give the couple full opportunity to discuss their birthing plan with our obstetric team in the last weeks of pregnancy. Should you be scared of labour pains or find them unbearable, the option of epidural analgesia is open for the lady in labour, after the doctor has examined and assessed her clinically and finds it suitable for her.
On admission in the birthing suite the obstetrician will subject the patient to a cardiotocograph of the baby and an internal examination to assess which stage of labour she is in. On an average, active stage of labour would last for 6-8 hours before the birth of the baby. The treating doctors may have to do several internal checkups in order to assess the progress of labour. For women who are not able to bear the labour pains, the option of epidural analgesia remains open, provided the doctor feels it is suitable at that stage of labour. Deep breathing exercises and minimal ambulation is allowed in the labour suite. Oxytocin drip may be required to augment labour pains. In order to aid the second stage of labour, vacuum cup may be applied to the baby’s head or rarely an outlet forceps. A fully qualified paediatric team always attends to any delivery in our hospital. You may require stitches in the vagina(episiotomy) if the perineum is too tight, it is done under local anaesthesia
Vacuum extractor is a suction device for the fetal scalp to facilitate delivery of fetal head. In Europe, it is referred to as VENTOUSE (from French, literally, soft cup). The prerequisites for vacuum application are
Relative contraindications for vacuum delivery include face or nonvertex presentations, extreme prematurity, fetal coagulopathies, fetal macrosomia
Complications with well selected cases are very few and rare e.g., scalp lacerations and cephalhaematomas. In general, it is a safe and effective technique to facilitate delivery of fetal head and shorten the second stage of labour.
