Birth and Physical Development during the First Three Years

CHAPTER Four Birth and Physical Development during the First Three Years

The Birth Process

Labor is an apt term for the process of giving birth. Birth is hard work for both mother and baby. What brings on labor is a series of uterine, cervical, and other changes called parturition.

Parturition is the act or process of giving birth, and it typically begins about two weeks before delivery, when sharply rising estrogen levels stimulate the uterus to contract and the cervix to become more flexible.

A woman may have felt false contractions (known as Braxton-Hicks contractions)

Stages of Childbirth

Stage One: Dilation of the Cervix. The first stage, dilation of the cervix, is the longest, typically lasting twelve to fourteen hours for a woman having her first child. In subsequent births, the first stage tends to be shorter. During this stage, regular and increasingly frequent uterine contractions-eleven to fifteen minutes apart at first-cause the cervix to shorten and dilate, or widen, in preparation for delivery.

Stage Two: Descent and Emergence of the Baby. The second stage, descent and emergence of the baby, typically lasts up to an hour or two. It begins when the baby's head begins to move through the cervix into the vaginal canal, and it ends when the baby emerges completely from the mother's body. If this stage lasts longer than two hours, signaling that the baby may need help, a doctor may grasp the baby's head with forceps or, more often, use vacuum extraction with a suction cup to pull the baby out of the mother's body.

Stage Three: Expulsion of the Placenta. The third stage, expulsion of the placenta, lasts between ten minutes and one hour. During this stage, the placenta and the remainder of the umbilical cord are expelled from the mother.

Electronic Fetal Monitoring - a mechanical monitoring of fetal heartbeat during labor and delivery.