Labor & Birth

Labor starts with a contraction, and ends with birth. Your trip into labor and delivery will end with birth (unless you get sent home (which is a fine thing too if you are having irregular contractions and aren’t dilating).

Of course, packing that hospital bag is important too:

The definition of active labor is that your cervix is dilating (usually due to uterine contractions). However, there are a lot of signs of labor that signal that you are going to give birth. Things like losing your mucus plug, or when your amniotic fluid starts to come out

These posts talk about the stages of labor:

• Latent labor
• Active labor (those two make up the first stage of labor)
• Pushing
• Delivery of baby and placenta

Of course, childbirth never really goes according to one plan and many women think they can PLAN their labor. But labor and birth are difficult to plan. You CAN however make wishes or ideas of what you would like in a birth plan. Sadly, your uterus isn’t always on board with that.

Pain relief is a big part of learning about labor. Before you are fully dilated, you may have options like IV pain medication, an epidural, possibly nitrous oxide or natural pain management.

Yes, vaginal delivery is what a lot of people plan on, but sometimes a cesarean section is necessary. Sometimes your pelvis won’t let the baby fit through, or there is something else preventing the baby coming through your vagina.

And, there might be a reason to induce labor, and these posts below talk a LOT about induction. it’s important to know about that too as labor can be unpredictable.

I hope these posts help make you feel more at ease for your labor: