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

Maternal diet may enhance immune systems of premature infants, study shows

Medical researchers have long understood that a pregnant mother's diet has a profound impact on her developing fetus's immune system and that babies -- especially those born prematurely -- who are fed breast milk have a more robust ability to fight disease, suggesting that even after childbirth, a mother's diet matters.

25 Feb 2021

Psychological variables account for anxiety and depression among pregnant women during COVID-19

Women who gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic report having felt greater stress in the delivery process, and rate lower the quality of care received.

17 Feb 2021

New strategy to optimize the efficacy of neuropeptides for therapeutic applications

Dimerization (Note: combination of two identical or different molecules) of the human neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin can produce new types of bioactive molecules.

10 Feb 2021

Study shows the impact of paid maternity leave on maternal health

A study of women who were new mothers in the late 1970s found that those who were given longer, paid maternity leave lived healthier lives as they entered middle age.

9 Feb 2021

Light pollution can increase the likelihood of preterm births

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers discovered that light pollution leads to more than just wasted energy and washed-out starlight--it can increase the likelihood of a preterm birth by almost 13%.

28 Jan 2021

Pregnancy complications can increase long-term mortality risks

A research team from the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM) has shown that women who have had serious complications during pregnancy are twice as likely to die up to three decades later.

27 Jan 2021

Women need to be educated about the warning signs and symptoms of preeclampsia

Each year, thousands of women and their babies die or get very sick from preeclampsia, a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that occurs during pregnancy and occasionally during the first few weeks following childbirth. High blood pressure during pregnancy is one of the warning signs.

26 Jan 2021

Essential coaching for mothers during COVID-19

Pregnancy and childbirth are especially high-risk periods for mental ill-health. The mobile health program called Essential Coaching for Every Mother (ECEM) was designed to meet the needs of mothers during this critical time, but its introduction was delayed because of the onset of the pandemic.

19 Jan 2021

New clinical practice guidelines on diagnosis, management of von Willebrand Disease

The American Society of Hematology (ASH), the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF), and World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) have developed joint clinical practice guidelines on the diagnosis and management of von Willebrand Disease (VWD), the world's most common inherited bleeding disorder. The guidelines were published today in Blood Advances.

13 Jan 2021

Study: Nausea and vomiting symptoms during pregnancy start within a three day timeframe

Researchers from the University of Warwick have narrowed the time frame that nausea and vomiting during pregnancy will potentially start to just three days for most women, opening up the possibility for scientists to identify a biological cause for the condition.

12 Jan 2021

New analysis finds no benefit in providing supplemental oxygen to mothers during childbirth

Babies who suffer oxygen deficiencies during birth are at risk of brain damage that can lead to developmental delays, cerebral palsy and even death.

4 Jan 2021

Study examines how obesity affected postpartum hemorrhage outcomes at a tertiary care center

Postpartum hemorrhage, or excessive bleeding after delivery, is still one of the leading causes of severe maternal injury and death in the United States. And the rise in obesity among pregnant women has been linked to increased rates of this potentially serious, largely preventable obstetric complication.

22 Dec 2020

WHO and HRP launch “Labour Care Guide” to improve women’s experience of childbirth

WHO and HRP launch the Labour Care Guide to improve every woman's experience of childbirth, and to help ensure the health and well-being of women and their babies.

15 Dec 2020

Study: Lack of water puts health care workers and patients at higher risk of COVID-19 infection

Around 1.8 billion people are at heightened risk of COVID-19 and other diseases because they use or work in health care facilities without basic water services, warn WHO and UNICEF.

14 Dec 2020

$20.6 billion to restore crumbling services for women, newborns, children and adolescents

The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening three decades of improvement in health and social services for women, newborns, children and adolescents.

10 Dec 2020

First time mothers and their infants could benefit from induction of labor at 41 weeks

There is growing evidence that pregnant women who go beyond term, especially first time mothers and their infants, will benefit from induction of labour at 41 weeks, instead of expectant management with subsequent induction of labour at 42 weeks if labour will not start spontaneously.

8 Dec 2020

Women with COVID-19 more likely to suffer acute stress during childbirth

Researchers in the United States and Israel have conducted a study showing that women who have coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are twice as likely to experience acute clinical stress while giving birth, compared with women giving birth who do not have the illness.

3 Dec 2020