Stages of Labor
Posted by Healthfitline
On
Monday, October 22, 2012
In my previous article, I discussed about signs of labor (early, false and real signs of labor). In this post, I will look at different stages of labor and what a woman should expect in each stage.
Labor is usually divided into 4 main stages;
Labor is usually divided into 4 main stages;
- 1st Stage of Labor
- 2nd Stage of Labor
- 3rd Stage of Labor
- 4th Stage of Labor
The 1st Stage of Labor is divided into three phases: Latent, Active and Transition.
Latent Phase
- The latent phase of the first stage of labor begins from the time the woman start experiencing regular contractions until when there is presence of rapid cervical dilatation.
- The contractions are milder and shorter (each lasting for 20 to 40 seconds).
- Cervical dilatation from 0cm up to 3cm.
- This stage may last up to 6 hours or more for a woman who is giving birth for the first time. For women who have previously given birth, it may last for 4-5 hours.
- The woman can still move around at this stage.
- Women should avoid taking analgesia at this stage to avoid having a prolonged phase.
Active Phase
- The cervical dilatation continues to occur more rapidly from 4cm to 7cm.
- The contractions are more intense, last longer and occurs more often (lasting for 40 to 60 seconds and occuring every 3 or 5 minutes).
- The woman experiences serious discomfort at this phase and even if she is given some analgesics, they will have no effect on the progression of labor.
- This stage may last up to 3 hours for the first time mothers and up to 2 hours for mothers who have given birth, previously.
Transition Phase
- The contractions increases more in intensity, lasting for 60 to 90 seconds and occuring every 2 to 3 minutes.
- The cervix is fully dilated and effaced (cervix is softened enough for the child to pass through).
- The membrane ruptures at this stage if it had not ruptured.
- Woman at this stage experiences serious discomfort that may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting.
- The woman urge to push increases.
2nd Stage of Labor
- This is the stage from the time the cervix is fully dilated and effaced until the birth of the child.
- This stage takes around one hours in the absence of other complications.
- The woman urge to push or bear down further increases.
- The woman sweats as she bears down (pushes). You can easily see distended blood vessels on her neck.
- As the fetus head moves down, the perineum start bulging and it appears very tense. Woman may expel stool at this time.
- The fetal head pushes along the perineum wall and suddenly, fetal head appears in the opening of vagina (crowning).
3rd Stage of Labor
The third stage of labor occurs from the time the woman has given birth until when the placenta separates and it is expelled. This stage usually lasts for 15-30 minutes. Once the delivery of placenta occurs, the third stage of labor is over.
4th Stage of Labor
The final stage of labor is the recovery stage. The woman is taken to the recovery room and monitored for possible immediate post partum complications. If the woman has no other complications, she is monitored every 15 minutes for the first one hour, every 30 minutes for the next one hour and so on, until when she is completely stable or when she leaves the hospital.
Women who have given birth vaginally, with no other complications can go home after 1-2 days while women who had given birth by cesarean section are allowed to go home after 3-4 days.
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