13/11/2025
⏰ As midwives, we are taught that placentas should be out within an hour of the birth of the baby. There can be an increased risk of postpartum haemorrhage (heavy bleeding after birth) where a placenta is truly retained and postpartum haemorrhage can be serious, or even fatal if not spotted or managed.
✨ But when you get to witness physiological birth at home, away from restrictive hospital policies, you see there are huge varieties in the length of time it takes to birth a placenta. And a placenta staying in for longer than an hour doesn’t always equal a problem.
🤔 But how do we tell the difference between what’s normal and what’s not? Well, we’ve got to know you really well during your pregnancy, so we can tell when you’re feeling okay and when you’re not quite yourself, we unobtrusively observe your blood loss after birth, we offer observations and to gently palpate your uterus to add to the picture of your overall wellbeing. We listen to what you’re saying. And if there is a problem, we act.
If all is well, we wait for you to tell us when you’re ready to birth your placenta - that might be because you feel the urge to push it out, or because you’re fed up of having it in there still!
🩸 None of these women experienced a postpartum haemorrhage. That doesn’t mean that a physiological placental birth is going to the right or safe choice for all women, but it’s helpful to see this variation in normal. And, what was key for all these women - in addition to having straightforward births - was that they had continuity of carer - a midwife they knew, who they had trusted, who they had a positive relationship with.
How long did your placenta take to be born? Tell us below!
