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Prolonged labor is the inability of a woman to proceed with childbirth upon going into labor. [1] Prolonged labor typically lasts over 20 hours for first time mothers, and over 14 hours for women that have already had children. [1] Failure to progress can take place during two different phases; the latent phase and active phase of labor. [1]
Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. [7] In 2019, there were about 140.11 million human births globally. [9]
The management of labor and delivery may vary depending on the gestational age. It is common to encounter the following terms when describing different time periods of pregnancy. [4] Postterm – ≥ 42 weeks + 0 days of gestation (> 293 days from the first day of last menstrual period, or > 13 days from the estimated due date)
The postpartum period can be divided into three distinct stages; the initial or acute phase, 8–19 hours after childbirth; subacute postpartum period, which lasts two to six weeks, and the delayed postpartum period, which can last up to six months. [5] In the subacute postpartum period, 87% to 94% of women report at least one health problem.
Long-term complications for the mother include obstetrical fistula. [2] Obstructed labour is said to result in prolonged labour, when the active phase of labour is longer than 12 hours. [2] The main causes of obstructed labour include a large or abnormally positioned baby, a small pelvis, and problems with the birth canal. [2]
The mean pregnancy length has been estimated to be 283.4 days of gestational age as timed from the first day of the last menstrual period and 280.6 days when retrospectively estimated by obstetric ultrasound measurement of the fetal biparietal diameter (BPD) in the second trimester. [12]
Precipitate delivery (also called rapid labor) refers to childbirth after an unusually rapid labor. It is typically defined expulsion of the infant within 3 hours of regular contractions starting, although some providers consider anything less than 5 hours to be precipitous. In contrast, typical labor lasts between 6 and 18 hours on average.
When lying-in was a more common term, it was used in the names of several maternity hospitals, for example the General Lying-In Hospital in London. Until the 1970s, standard NHS postpartum care involved 10 days in hospital, with the newborns taken to the nursery overnight, ensuring the mothers were well rested by the time they returned home.