Midwife Katie replies:Cutting the umbilical cord is very easy and most midwives will encourage the baby’s father to do it. However, the few minutes after the baby’s birth are an emotional time and the cord can be clamped and cut sometimes before

Midwife Nikki replies: Quick or ‘precipitate' births as they're also known, last an hour or less, progressing rapidly from ‘no contractions' to the delivery. It may seem better as it's over swiftly, but there are drawbacks. Longer labours allow your

early or you began having contractions. The doctors need to attempt to delay your labour to allow these injections to be given, as the steroids work to help mature your baby's lungs after birth, giving her a better chance of survival. The lungs of a full

it on your birth plan. Mobile epidurals allow you to remain as upright as possible, so are quite popular as a method of pain relief. Of course, as an epidural has to be administered by an anaesthetist, it's dependent on an anaesthetist being available. Most

Midwife Katie says:There's a whole host of reasons why this might have happened. A retained placenta occurs in about 2% of all births and statistics show that if it has happened to you before, there's a higher risk it could occur again. It's a good