Labor
Signs of labor include strong and regular contractions, pain in your belly
and lower back, a bloody mucus discharge and your water breaking. If you
think you're in labor, call your health care provider. Not all contractions
mean you're in true labor.
- If your water breaks you'll be in labor soon. Generally, rupture of membranes
(water breaking) occurs when you go into labor, but in some cases, a woman
may have her water broken in the hospital.
- Stage one labor: There's no telling how long it will last. This is where
childbirth preparation classes pay off. Breathing techniques and others
methods of coping with pain are important now.
- Labor stages two and three: After a lot of work, prepare for joy. After
the active labor of the first stage, you will move into the second stage,
pushing baby out, and the third stage, expelling the placenta or the afterbirth.
- Childbirth's last phase: The afterbirth - The placenta, which was so key
to your baby's health in utero, is expelled after the birth, signaling
the last phase of labor.