Labor, Delivery and Birth

Labor is the first stage before child delivery and birth. Your cervix will be fully dilated and effaced. Your contractions will not be between 3 and 5 minutes and last about 1 to 1.5 minutes. This is the time when doctors will tell you "PUSH!".

Should you feel like you are ready and want to push baby out, don't do it until you inform the doctor, this is because they need to be prepared. The doctor or nurse will then tell you to push. Pushing stage can be really quick and it may take up to 2 hours. Usually the time decreases with the number of children you have.

Your doctor will inform you when to stop pushing when baby comes through the birth canal. Then they will clean baby's airways and cut the umbilical cord.

The placenta usually comes out after baby and contractions may continue. The nurse may press on your abdimen to help push out the placenta. You may hove to push again to get it out.