Question

Fun Fact # 3 : Did you know there are 3 stages in labor?

Answer 1

When a child is about to be born, we often say that the mom is in labor. There are actually 3 stages of labor that a woman can be in.

The first stage of labor begins at the onset of contractions and ends when the woman's cervix is dilated to 10 cm. For women delivering vaginally for the first time, their cervix will dilate at an average of 3 cm per hour. Any less than 1.2 cm of dilation per hour is cause for investigation.

The second stage of labor refers to the interval of when the cervix is fully dilated and the delivery of the infant. This is when the infant traverses the mom's pelvis and is expelled out of the vagina.

The third stage of labor is the time between the expulsion of the fetus to the expulsion of the placenta. It can take up to 30 minutes for a placenta to be naturally released from the mother's uterus. Any longer than that requires investigation.

Although labor is a continuous process, we use these three stages of labor to assist us in clinical management.