2.7 Labour and Delivery

Lesson Objectives:

• What are the stages of birth?
• What are the strategies used in childbirth?
• What are some of the complications that can arise in labour and delivery?
• What is the father's role in the labour and delivery process?

What are the stages of birth?
The birth process occurs in three stages: 

• For a woman having her first child, the first stage, the longest, lasts an average of 12 to 24 hours.  Uterine contractions are 15 to 20 minutes apart at the beginning and last up to a minute.  These contractions cause the woman’s cervix to stretch and open.  As the first stage progresses, the contractions come closer together appearing every two to five minutes.  Their intensity increases too.  By the end of the first birth stage these contractions dilate the cervix to an opening of about 8 to 10 centimetres.  This allows the baby to move from the uterus to the birth canal.
• The second stage begins when the baby’s head starts to move through the cervix and the birth canal.  It terminates when the baby completely emerges from the mother’s body.  This stage lasts approximately 1.5 hours.  With each contraction the mother bears down hard to push the baby out of her body.  By the time the baby’s head is out of the mother’s body the contractions come almost every minute and last for about a minute.
• Afterbirth is the third stage, at which time the placenta, umbilical cord, and other membranes are detached and expelled.  This final stage is the shortest of the three birth stages lasting only minutes (Santrock, 1999, p. 104).

What are the strategies used in childbirth?
In the standard childbirth procedure the expectant mother is taken to a hospital where a doctor is responsible for the baby’s delivery.
The Leboyer method intends to make the birth process less stressful for infants.  Leboyer vehemently objects to holding newborns upside down and slapping them, putting silver nitrate in their eyes, separating them immediately from their mothers, and scaring them with bright lights and harsh noises in the delivery room.  In the Leboyer method the baby is placed on the mother’s stomach immediately after birth so the mother can caress the infant.  Then the infant is placed in a bath of warm water to relax.
The Lamaze method has become a widely used childbirth strategy.  It involves helping the expectant mother to cope actively with the pain of childbirth through relaxation and breathing techniques and to avoid or reduce medication.
A caesarian section is the surgical removal of the baby from the uterus.  A caesarian section is usually performed if the baby is in a breech position, if it is lying crosswise in the uterus, if the baby’s head is too large to pass through the mother’s pelvis, if the baby develops complications, or if the mother is bleeding vaginally (Santrock, 1999, p. 106).
What are some of the complications that can arise in labour and delivery?
Complications can accompany the baby’s delivery:

• Precipitate delivery is a form of delivery that takes place too rapidly.  A precipitate delivery is one in which the baby takes less than 10 minutes to be squeezed through the birth canal.  This deviation in delivery can disturb the infant’s normal flow of blood and the pressure on the infant’s head can cause hemorrhaging.
• Anoxia is insufficient supply of oxygen to the infant and can develop if the delivery takes too long.  Anoxia can cause brain damage.
• The breech position is the baby’s position in the uterus that causes the buttocks to be the first part to emerge from the vagina.  Normally the crown of the baby’s head comes first (Santrock, 1999, p. 105).

What is the father’s role in the labour and delivery process? 

• See Ages and Stages “Labour and Delivery” for more information on the father’s role in labour and delivery.

http://www.babycenter.ca/video/labour-and-birth/labor-birth/

http://www.babycenter.ca/video/labour-and-birth/water-birth/

http://www.babycenter.ca/video/labour-and-birth/c-section/