Which happens during labor

This sac will almost always rupture before the baby is born, though in some cases it remains intact until delivery. In most cases, your water will break before you go into labor or at the very beginning of labor. Most women experience their water breaking as a gush of fluid. Contractions are the tightening and releasing of your uterus.

These motions will eventually help your baby push through the cervix. Contractions can feel like heavy cramping or pressure that begins in your back and moves to the front.

You might already have felt Braxton-Hicks contractions , which may have started as early as your second trimester. The cervix is the lowest part of the uterus that opens into the vagina. The cervix is a tubular structure approximately 3 to 4 centimeters in length with a passage that connects the uterine cavity to the vagina. During labor, the role of the cervix must change from maintaining the pregnancy by keeping the uterus closed to facilitating delivery of the baby by dilating, or opening, enough to allow the baby through.

The fundamental changes that occur near the end of the pregnancy result in a softening of the cervical tissue and thinning of the cervix, both of which help prepare the cervix. True, active labor is considered to be underway when the cervix is dilated 3 centimeters or more.

Eventually, the cervical canal must open until the cervical opening itself has reached 10 centimeters in diameter and the baby is able to pass into the birth canal. As the baby enters the vagina, your skin and muscles stretch. The labia and perineum the area between the vagina and the rectum eventually reach a point of maximum stretching.

At this time, your healthcare provider may decide to perform an episiotomy. The placenta and the amniotic sac that supported and protected the baby for nine months are still in the uterus after the delivery. These need to be delivered, and this can happen spontaneously or it may take as long as half an hour. Your midwife or doctor may rub your abdomen below your belly button to help tighten the uterus and loosen the placenta. Your uterus is now about the size of a large grapefruit. You may need to push to help deliver the placenta.

You may feel some pressure as the placenta is expelled but not nearly as much pressure as when the baby was born. Classes and birth plans. What do things look like inside? The bones and muscles of the pelvis provide support for the growing uterus and baby, and provide a passage through which your baby emerges during birth.

The uterus surrounds the baby, growing as the baby grows. The cervix is actually a part of the uterus, but made up of different tissue. During pregnancy, the cervix is thick and closed.

As you approach the time of birth, your contractions draw the cervix up into the body of the uterus, and it becomes thinner called effacement and opens called dilation.

When the cervix is fully dilated about ten centimeters , contractions help the baby begin to move from the uterus into the vagina. The vagina leads from the cervix to the outside of your body. The inside of your vagina has many folds, called rugae, which unfold as the baby passes through.

Your body's preparation for labor. Hormones work to soften the ligaments between the bones in your pelvis. Softening the ligaments gives your pelvis additional room for birth. Other hormones begin to soften your cervix. Your baby may begin moving lower in the pelvis. You may experience the passage of stringy, perhaps blood-tinged mucous.

Your water may break. You may experience pre-labor contractions. Two women's stories Ginny Ginny's baby started moving lower in her pelvis about three weeks before her due date. Lorinda Lorinda began to notice a pattern of contractions every evening about a week before her due date. Their providers' advice Ginny's doctor and Lorinda's midwife both assured these women that everything was normal, and that when things were normal, it was best to wait to go into labor and to use measures such as massage, hydrotherapy, warm packs, and Reiki to make themselves as comfortable as possible while they waited.

What can I expect emotionally? For example, if you fear a cesarean section, you might say: "I am afraid that I won't be able to give birth vaginally. For example, "I am strong and healthy, and I am well-designed to give birth. I am strong, and I can too. During your "worry time," repeat each affirmation several times and then tell yourself that worry time is over.

For the remainder of the day , if you find worries creeping in, repeat the positive endings to the affirmations. Try the guided relaxation exercise, focusing on positive mental preparation for birth. What are the stages of labor?

There are three stages of labor, excluding the preparatory changes discussed above. You have contractions that work to open your cervix. You have contractions that bring your baby down into the vagina and out into the world. You assist this process by pushing. You continue to have contractions that free the attachment of the placenta, and you push the placenta out. What influences the progression of labor?

Childbirth professionals often refer to the following factors influencing labor progression as the "Four Ps" of labor: Passenger your baby Passage the pelvic bones, your cervix and vagina, and the muscles in your pelvis Power your contractions Psyche your emotions. The dilation stage What happens in the dilation stage? What happens in the dilation stage? The dilation stage can be further subdivided into phases of early labor and active labor.

What can I do during the dilation stage? Here are some additional suggestions: Try to promote a feeling of wellbeing and rest at the start of labor. A warm bath or shower, warm beverage, and a progressive relaxation exercise can help with this. Stay well hydrated. A general rule of thumb is to have at least 8 oz. Liquids with calories such as juice, sweetened tea, or sports beverages may help provide energy for the work that you are doing. Eat lightly during early labor. When you have contractions, your digestive system naturally moves more slowly and you may find that you become nauseated.

Choose foods with this in mind. Some easily digested foods include fruits, yogurt, or toast. You might want to avoid foods with a higher fat content, such as meat, because they digest slowly. Choose positions of comfort. You might find that your body almost instinctively moves to certain positions during contractions, almost as if it knows what will help encourage the movement of the baby through the pelvis.

Slow swaying movements could also help during contractions. Standing also helps your body and your baby work with gravity, and encourages the downward movement of your baby through the pelvis. Consider using massage, bodywork , music, and hot or cold packs. Try out any breathing techniques with your contractions during early labor to get an idea of how to work with the ebb and flow of a contraction.

But don't use them for every contraction until you need to. Consider using visualization techniques. You might choose a very literal visualization, where you picture your cervix opening around the baby's head, or a representative visualization, where you picture something else that opens, such as a flower unfolding.

Try using vocalization to relax the muscles of your pelvis and your abdomen. Try this exercise ahead of time: Make a high-pitched noise, like "Eeekk!

Do you feel them tighten? Now make a slow, long, low-pitched deep noise like "Oooohhhhh. The same thing happens during labor.

Low, slow, deep moaning helps to relax the muscles of the pelvic floor and abdomen, and screaming has the opposite effect. Your labor companion or companions can help remind you of this as you vocalize during labor. As your contractions become closer and stronger, begin to gather your support people so that they can help you. When should I go to the hospital?

Most women wonder when to notify their midwife or doctor and when to go to the hospital. If you are still feeling excitement and are able to talk or smile through contractions, it might be too soon to go. If you go into hospital or your midwifery unit before your labour has become established, they may suggest you go home again for a while.

Once labour is established, your midwife will check on you from time to time to see how you're progressing and offer you support, including pain relief if you need it. Your midwife will offer you regular vaginal examinations to see how your labour is progressing. If you do not want to have these, you do not have to — your midwife can discuss with you why she's offering them. Your cervix needs to open about 10cm for your baby to pass through it.

This is what's called being fully dilated. In a 1st labour, the time from the start of established labour to being fully dilated is usually 8 to 12 hours. It's often quicker around 5 hours , in a 2nd or 3rd pregnancy. Your midwife will monitor you and your baby during labour to make sure you're both coping well. This will include using a small handheld device to listen to your baby's heart every 15 minutes.

You'll be free to move around as much as you want. Your midwife may suggest electronic monitoring if there are any concerns about you or your baby, or if you choose to have an epidural.

Electronic monitoring involves strapping 2 pads to your bump. One pad is used to monitor your contractions and the other is used to monitor your baby's heartbeat. These pads are attached to a monitor that shows your baby's heartbeat and your contractions.

Sometimes a clip called a foetal heart monitor can be attached to the baby's head instead. This can give a more accurate measurement of your baby's heartbeat. You can ask to be monitored electronically even if there are no concerns.

Having electronic monitoring can sometimes restrict how much you can move around. If you have electronic monitoring with pads on your bump because there are concerns about your baby's heartbeat, you can take the monitor off if your baby's heartbeat is shown to be normal. Labour can sometimes be slower than expected. This can happen if your contractions are not coming often enough, are not strong enough, or if your baby is in an awkward position.

If this is the case, your doctor or midwife may talk to you about 2 ways to speed up your labour: breaking your waters or an oxytocin drip. Breaking the membrane that contains the fluid around your baby your waters is often enough to make contractions stronger and more regular.

This is also known as artificial rupture of the membranes ARM. Your midwife or doctor can do this by making a small break in the membrane during a vaginal examination. This may make your contractions feel stronger and more painful, so your midwife will talk to you about pain relief.

If breaking your waters does not work, your doctor or midwife may suggest using a drug called oxytocin also known as syntocinon to make your contractions stronger. This is given through a drip that goes into a vein, usually in your wrist or arm. Your uterus will keep contracting, although less intensely than it did before. This separates the placenta from the uterine wall and helps stop the bleeding where it detached.

Within 30 minutes — and sometimes with one more requested push — your placenta easily slips out. This is called the afterbirth.

In the following hours after giving birth, you may also feel your body shaking from the adrenaline and various birth hormones circulating within your body. This is completely normal and will settle down as your emotions and body do. Sometimes your baby needs to be delivered using a surgical procedure called a caesarean section , known most commonly as a C-section. Sometimes a C-section is planned in advance, like if your baby never makes it into that heads-down position and ends up feet down instead, something called a breech position.

Once everything is prepped, your OB-GYN will make a cut in your abdomen and torso and then pull the baby out, followed by the placenta. It can take only about 10 minutes from when this process starts to when your baby is born.

From there, the doctor will repair your muscles and stitch the incision closed. According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics , 8.

By comparison, Sometimes one or both twins can be delivered vaginally because both are in the heads-down position, but there are times when one twin or both are breech and need to be delivered via C-section.

Usually, triplets or more multiples must be born using a C-section for their safety.