Learning terms of labor can help you cope - Centimeters, pluses, minuses
and percentages: That's how a woman's progress in labor is measured.
Learning these terms can help you understand and cope with what's
happening to you before and during labor.
- Stay alert to the symptoms of preterm labor - Any woman can go into labor
prematurely, but certain factors make it more likely in some women than
- False labor: How can you tell? - It is often hard to tell the difference
between false and true labor. There are clues that can help you determine
which it is.
If your water breaks you'll be in labor soon - Generally, rupture of
membranes (water breaking) occurs when you go into labor. In reality,
few pregnant women experience ruptured membranes in a public place.
Induce labor for medical reasons only - Inducing labor should not be done
merely for convenience. There are risks involved. There are four ways
to induce labor.
Stage one labor: There's no telling how long it will last - Early labor
is often a time of waiting while your body prepares for the work of active
labor, which ends in the urge to push.
- Labor stages two and three: After a lot of work, prepare for joy - After
the active labor of the first stage, you will move into the second stage,
pushing baby out, and the third stage, expelling the placenta or the afterbirth.
Childbirth's last phase: The afterbirth - The placenta, which was so
key to your baby's health in utero, is expelled after the birth, signaling
the last phase of labor.