Childbirth

Childbirth (also called labour, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the expulsion of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and birth of the infant, and birth of the placenta. In many cases, with increasing frequency, childbirth is achieved through caesarean section, the removal of the neonate through a surgical incision in the abdomen, rather than through vaginal birth. In the U.S. and Canada it represents nearly 1 in 3 (31.8%) of all childbirths. More than 22% of women undergo induction of labor and childbirth in the United States, doubling the rate in 2006 from 1990. Medical professional policy makers find that induced births and elective cesarean can be harmful to the fetus and neonate as well as harmful or without benefit to the mother, and have established strict guidelines for non-medically indicated induced births and elective cesarean before 39 weeks.

Famous quotes containing the word childbirth:

“We in the West do not refrain from childbirth because we are concerned about the population explosion or because we feel we cannot afford children, but because we do not like children.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)

“The frequency of personal questions grows in direct proportion to your increasing girth. . . . No one would ask a man such a personally invasive question as “Is your wife having natural childbirth or is she planning to be knocked out?” But someone might ask that of you. No matter how much you wish for privacy, your pregnancy is a public event to which everyone feels invited.”
—Jean Marzollo (20th century)