Delivering Your Baby

The momentous day has finally arrived. You are about to give birth to a baby, the culmination of exciting, anxious, and somewhat discomforting stages of pregnancy. On the eventful day when your baby is about to be born, you will be taken to a labor or delivery room. You will be here until you deliver the baby and then maybe for some more time before being transferred into the postpartum area.

It is comforting to know that modern medical care has eliminated practically all risks associated with childbirth. Your doctor will monitor you constantly, and specially trained nurses will assist him during those final moments. If you so desire, you can even allow your husband or support person to be beside you to provide that reassuring moral and emotional support.

Here is some basic information about the four stages of normal human birth.

Latent Phase

This is the first phase of labor. During this time, you may very well be figuring whether you are experiencing true labor or Braxton Hicks contractions. Cervical effacement or cervical dilation occurs during the closing weeks of pregnancy and is usually complete. Effacement of the cervix is the shortening or thinning of the tissue before or during early labor.