Definition and Pathophysiology
A detailed summary of the anatomy and physiology of labour can be found by going here.
For the purposes of this article, we will divide the mechanism of labour into 3 stages as outlined by NICE3:
Learning bites
- Labour can be divided into 3 main stages based on cervical changes and contractions.
- Delivery of the baby will occur during the active second stage of labour
- Preparations for patient transfer/delivery should take this into consideration depending on the stage of labour.