What happens when you have an injection for the third stage of labour?
Women are usually offered an injection of syntometrine during the baby’s birth. This is a mixture of two drugs, syntocinon and ergometrine, both of which help the uterus to contract and so speed up the delivery of the placenta and membranes This is also thought to help prevent the risk of heavy bleeding. Having this injection means that the third stage of labour lasts about 10 to 15 minutes. If you have raised blood pressure you will be offered a slightly different injection – just the syntocinon – as ergometrine is known to stimulate a rise in blood pressure.
