Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The amount of pain felt during labor and delivery is different for every woman. The level of pain depends on many factors, including the size and position of the baby, the woman's level of comfort with the process, and the strength of her contractions. There are two general ways to relieve pain during labor and delivery: using medications and using "natural" methods (no medications). Some ...
If labor is not progressing, a health care provider may give the woman medications to increase contractions and speed up labor, or the woman may need a cesarean delivery. 3; Perineal tears. A woman's vagina and the surrounding tissues are likely to tear during the delivery process. Sometimes these tears heal on their own.
A spinal block is an injection of a much smaller amount of the drug into the sac of spinal fluid around the spine. The drug starts working right away, but it lasts for only 1 to 2 hours. Usually, a spinal block is given only once during labor, to help with pain during delivery. Anesthetics. Anesthetics block all feeling, including pain.
"Labor" and "delivery" describe the process of childbirth. Contractions of the uterus and changes in the cervix (the opening of the uterus) prepare a woman's body to give birth. Then the baby is born, and the placenta follows. NICHD studies many aspects of labor and delivery: their basic biology, childbirth practices, and management of related problems. A separate topic covers preterm labor ...
Delivering the fetus can help resolve preeclampsia and eclampsia, but symptoms can continue even after delivery, and some of them can be serious. Treatment decisions for preeclampsia, eclampsia, and HELLP syndrome need to take into account how severe the condition is, the potential for maternal complications, how far along the pregnancy is, and the potential risks to the fetus. Ideally, the ...
For most women, labor begins sometime between week 37 and week 42 of pregnancy. Labor that occurs before 37 weeks of pregnancy is considered premature, or preterm.1 Just as pregnancy is different for every woman, the start of labor, the signs of labor, and the length of time it takes to go through labor vary from woman to woman and even from pregnancy to pregnancy.
Contrary to what had previously been reported, epidural analgesia, used to relieve women's pain during labor, does not appear to increase a woman's chances of having a Cesarean section, according to an analysis of hospital records by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and Tripler Army Medical Center, in Hawaii.
It is usually not present between 24 and 34 weeks of pregnancy (5½ to 8½ months). If fFN is detected during this time, it may be a sign that the woman may be at risk of preterm labor and birth. In most cases, the fFN test is performed on women who are showing signs of preterm labor.
Women who have delivered preterm before, or who have experienced preterm labor before, are considered to be at high risk for preterm labor and birth. 1 Being pregnant with twins, triplets, or more (called "multiple gestations") or the use of assisted reproductive technology is associated with a higher risk of preterm labor and birth.
The first stage of labor happens in two phases: early labor and active labor. Typically, it is the longest stage of the process. During early labor: The opening of the uterus, called the cervix, starts to thin and open wider, or dilate. Contractions get stronger, last 30 to 60 seconds, and come every 5 to 20 minutes.