Childbirth

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Treatments and Therapies

Learn More

• Related Issues
• Specifics

See, Play and Learn

• Images
• Videos and Tutorials

Research

• Statistics and Research
• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

• Patient Handouts

Summary

When you are ready to have your baby, you'll go through labor. Labor is the process of giving birth. Signs that you might be going into labor include

• Contractions that are regular then start to come closer together
• Leaking fluid or bleeding from the vagina
• Low, dull backache
• Abdominal cramps

Call your health care provider if you have any of these signs, even if it is before your due date. Preterm labor can start before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy.

Labor happens in three stages. The first stage begins with contractions. It continues until your cervix has become thinner and dilated (stretched) to about 4 inches wide. The second stage is the active stage, in which you begin to push downward. Crowning is when your baby's scalp comes into view. Shortly afterward, your baby is born. In the third stage, you deliver the placenta. The placenta is the organ that supplied food and oxygen to your baby during pregnancy.

Mothers and babies are monitored closely during labor. Most women are able to have a baby through normal vaginal delivery. If there are complications, the baby may need to be delivered surgically by a Cesarean section.

NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Start Here

• Labor and Birth (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish
• Stages of Labor (March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation) Also in Spanish
• What Is Labor? (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Contractions (March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation)
• Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring during Labor (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - PDF Also in Spanish
• How to Tell When Labor Begins (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - PDF
• Signs of Labor (March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation)
• Water Breaking: Understand This Sign of Labor (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• Dealing with Pain during Childbirth (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Medications for Pain Relief during Labor and Delivery (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - PDF Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Apgar Scores (American Academy of Pediatrics) Also in Spanish
• Birth Plans (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Birthing Centers and Hospital Maternity Services (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Birthing Classes (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
• Cord-Blood Banking (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Elective Delivery Before 39 Weeks (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - PDF
• Let Baby Set the Delivery Date: Wait Until 39 Weeks if You Can (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish
• Perineal Massage in Pregnancy (American College of Nurse-Midwives) - PDF
• What Is Full Term? (March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation)

Specifics

• Assisted Vaginal Delivery (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) Also in Spanish
• Back Labor: Childbirth Myth or Reality? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Cesarean Section: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Episiotomy: When It's Needed, When It's Not (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
• Home Birth: Know the Pros and Cons (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Labor Induction (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - PDF
• Natural Childbirth (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Delivery: Deciding on a Trial of Labor After a Cesarean Delivery (TOLAC) (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) - PDF Also in Spanish

Images

• Epidural - slideshow (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Episiotomy - slideshow (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Vaginal birth - slideshow (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Videos and Tutorials

• At Least 39 Weeks (March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation)

Statistics and Research

• FastStats: Births -- Method of Delivery (National Center for Health Statistics)
• PeriStats: Perinatal Statistics (March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Delivery, Obstetric (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Labor, Obstetric (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Prophylactic antibiotics in the prevention of infection after operative vaginal delivery...
• Article: Harmonizing scientific rigor with political urgency: policy learnings for identifying accelerators...
• Article: Operative vaginal delivery and post-partum infection.
• Childbirth -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• womenshealth.gov (Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Am I in labor? (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Assisted delivery with forceps (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Delivery presentations (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Delivery presentations (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Epidural block (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Episiotomy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Questions to ask your doctor about labor and delivery (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Spinal and epidural anesthesia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• What you should bring to your labor and delivery (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish