Childbirth

When you are ready to have your baby, you'll go through labor. Contractions let you know labor is starting. When contractions are five minutes apart, your body is ready to push the baby out. During the first stage of labor, your cervix slowly opens, or dilates, to about 4 inches wide. At the same time, it becomes thinner. This is called effacement. You shouldn't push until your uterus is fully effaced and dilated. When it is, the baby delivery stage starts. Crowning is when your baby's scalp comes into view. Shortly afterward, your baby is born. The placenta that nourished the baby follows.

Breeched Birth: Caesarean Section or Vaginal Delivery?

Breech presentation is common in about 15% of pregnancies at 29 to 32 weeks. Although breech position is common in the first two trimesters of pregnancy when the baby is more mobile, it is considered abnormal during late pregnancy.

Natural Childbirth

What is a Transverse Baby?

Anal Sphincter Injury During Childbirth

Active management of the third stage of labor

Heel Prick Test / Guthrie Test

Lithotomy Positioning

Evidence for Having a Water Birth

Water Birth Safety

What Happens When your Waters Break?

Assisted Birth: Forceps or Vacuum Delivery

Benefits and Risks of Forceps (Ventouse) Delivery

See more featured articles »

What do Contractions Feel Like?

Signs Labor Has Begun

Complications of the third stage of labor

Making a Birth Plan

How to Relieve Pain During Labor

The External Cephalic Version Process

Latest Childbirth News and Research

Women treated with fertility-sparing surgery for ovarian tumors could become pregnant

Women receiving fertility-sparing surgery for treatment of borderline ovarian tumors were able to have children, a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in Fertility & Sterility shows.

25 Sep 2020

Conflict, climate instability, and COVID-19 are affecting the health of women and children

Fragile gains made to advance women and children's health are threatened by conflict, the climate crisis and COVID-19, according to a new report from Every Woman Every Child.

25 Sep 2020

Study finds no link between SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy and complications in neonates

In a new study published in the esteemed journal JAMA researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital have examined the association between a positive SARS-CoV-2 test during pregnancy and complications in mothers and their newborn babies.

23 Sep 2020

Neuroscientist assesses the efficacy of different coping strategies of pain

Is the heat still bearable, or should I take my hand off the hotplate? Before the brain can react appropriately to pain, it must evaluate and integrate sensory, cognitive and emotional factors that modulate the perception and processing of the sensation itself.

22 Sep 2020

Cory Gardner’s bill has as much to do with politics as preexisting conditions

Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican running in a tight race for reelection in Colorado, says he wants to protect people with medical conditions.

18 Sep 2020

Black women turn to midwives to avoid COVID and ‘feel cared for’

From the moment she learned she was pregnant late last year, TaNefer Camara knew she didn't want to have her baby in a hospital bed.

17 Sep 2020

Seropositive partners increase risk of COVID-19 but not obstetric complications in pregnant women

While earlier studies have shown the significance of serological testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in pregnant women, their partners have largely been excluded. Now, a new Danish study published on the preprint server medRxiv in September 2020 reports the impact of serologic testing in both pregnant women and their partners, as well as their newborns.

17 Sep 2020

Mathematical model to show how to prevent fistulas in women during childbirth

It is better to invest in measures that make it easier for women to visit a doctor during pregnancy than measures to repair birth injuries.

16 Sep 2020

COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to child and maternal health services, show surveys

With the number of under-five deaths at an all-time recorded low of 5.2 million in 2019, disruptions in child and maternal health services due to the COVID-19 pandemic are putting millions of additional lives at stake

9 Sep 2020

COVID-19 in pregnancy doubles odds of preterm delivery

The COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to cause huge social, economic, and health-related costs throughout the world, especially in Spain. Clinicians are still coming to terms with the range of health conditions wrought by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in September 2020 shows that this infection results in fetal and maternal complications.

9 Sep 2020

Research highlights the effects of confinement due to COVID-19 among pregnant women

Researchers of Medicine and Physical Therapy at the CEU Cardenal Herrera University of Valencia and of the Italian University of Catania, have published the results of the first study on the effects of confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic among pregnant Spanish women.

8 Sep 2020

New research sheds light on the risks of COVID-19 for pregnant women and their babies

New research findings published today in the BMJ helps to shed light on the risks of COVID-19 for pregnant women and their babies.

1 Sep 2020

Study track changes in symptoms and quality of life before and after labiaplasty

For patients with elongated labia, vague terms like "vaginal rejuvenation" and "designer vagina" can undermine the seriousness of the condition, which includes a variety of functional concerns.

26 Aug 2020

Painless magnetic stimulation dramatically reduces episodes of fecal incontinence

Painless magnetic stimulation of nerves that regulate muscles in the anus and rectum appears to improve their function and dramatically reduce episodes of fecal incontinence, a debilitating problem affecting about 10% of the population, investigators report.

25 Aug 2020

Girls with anorexia nervosa can have stunted growth

Girls with anorexia nervosa can have stunted growth and may not reach their full height potential, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

20 Aug 2020

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Kamala Harris on health

California Sen. Kamala Harris, the newly named running mate for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, doesn't have a lot of background in health policy.

13 Aug 2020

Researchers explore association of malaria, HIV with anemia during pregnancy

Pregnant women from sub-Saharan Africa with malaria and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have a higher prevalence of anemia than pregnant women without infections according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

12 Aug 2020

Women often prescribed excessive opioids after childbirth, research reveals

Excessive opioid prescriptions following childbirth may lead to higher rates of addiction within communities, according to a new report in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.

12 Aug 2020

Oxytocin can aid in the control and prevention of osteoporosis

Oxytocin, produced by the hypothalamus and sometimes known as the "love hormone" for its involvement in pair bonding and orgasm, can be a strong ally in the control and prevention of osteoporosis, according to a study by scientists at São Paulo State University in Brazil.

10 Aug 2020