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.

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

What is the risk of Omicron infection in pregnant women?

In a new study, researchers evaluated the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women during the Omicron predominance period in the United Kingdom

30 Sep 2022

Early pregnancy glycemia predicts postpartum diabetes

Researchers determine which women with GDM are most likely to test positive for this condition postpartum in an effort to prevent persistent DM.

28 Sep 2022

Pregnancy-specific anxiety associated with shorter gestation times and earlier births

A new UCLA study has found anxiety specific to pregnancy and childbirth is associated with shorter gestation times and earlier births.

26 Sep 2022

Anxiety during pregnancy associated with earlier births

Women who experience anxiety about their pregnancies give birth earlier on average than those who don't, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

26 Sep 2022

Research on the antimicrobial effects of human milk oligosaccharides

In a recent review published in the journal Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, researchers discussed the latest advances in the antimicrobial properties of human milk.

9 Sep 2022

Researchers review role of melatonin in pregnancies complicated by placental insufficiency

A new study explores the role of melatonin in pregnancy.

8 Sep 2022

In the rush to curtail abortion, states adopt a jumbled stew of definitions for human life

As life-preserving medical technology advanced in the second half of the 20th century, doctors and families were faced with a thorny decision, one with weighty legal and moral implications: How should we define when life ends? Cardiopulmonary bypass machines could keep the blood pumping and ventilators could maintain breathing long after a patient's natural ability to perform those vital functions had ceased.

6 Sep 2022

How is the COVID pandemic affecting perinatal mental health?

Researchers discuss the adverse effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on perinatal mental health.

22 Aug 2022

Study: Sexual enjoyment after childbirth is unaffected by different modes of delivery

Sexual enjoyment in the years following childbirth is unaffected by the way in which the baby is delivered, according to new research.

22 Aug 2022

Haunted for 13 years by debt from childbirth, then rescued by a nonprofit

Two months ahead of her due date with her second daughter, Terri Logan felt weighed down by stress. She was a high school math teacher in Union City, Georgia, and was ending her relationship with the baby's father.

18 Aug 2022

Study determines the impact of withholding nitrous oxide for labor analgesia

Birthing women denied nitrous oxide ('laughing gas') to relieve labor pain during the COVID-19 pandemic have turned to opioids instead, without any adverse outcomes for mother or child, according to a new study by Australian clinicians.

16 Aug 2022

Women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy more likely to develop dementia

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) — conditions of high blood pressure including chronic/gestational hypertension and preeclampsia — have been strongly linked to heart disease in later life, but, before today, little research has connected these disorders with cognition.

3 Aug 2022

Gene mutation responsible for hereditary hemochromatosis may be a risk factor for movement disorders

A disorder called hereditary hemochromatosis, caused by a gene mutation, results in the body absorbing too much iron, leading to tissue damage and conditions like liver disease, heart problems and diabetes.

1 Aug 2022

Winners of NIH Technology Accelerator Challenge for Maternal Health announced

The National Institutes of Health today announced the winners of its NIH Technology Accelerator Challenge (NTAC) for Maternal Health, a prize competition for developers of diagnostic technologies to help improve maternal health around the world.

28 Jul 2022

Study results encourage SARS-CoV-2–infected mothers breastfeed to protect infants from COVID

A new study examines the strength of protection against COVID-19 using antibody concentrations at birth and after six months in mothers and children.

17 Jul 2022

Increased risk of maternal morbidity is associated with maternal age, obesity, and previous C-section

New research from Scotland published in Anaesthesia (a journal of the Association of Anaesthetists) shows the increased risk of severe maternal sickness/complications (morbidity) is associated with a range of risk factors including increasing maternal age and levels of obesity, and also previous Cesarean section.

13 Jul 2022