When a pregnant woman is in labor, the wait for "10" — the number of centimeters the cervix must be dilated before the baby can be born without intervention — can feel like forever. In reality, the ...

Labor is the process by which the baby and placenta leave the uterus, or womb. This process normally begins on its own around the 40th week of pregnancy. In some cases, however, medical intervention ...

The Friedman curve, the gold standard for rates of cervical dilation and fetal descent during active labor, was developed almost 50 years ago. To define a modern curve for normal labor, these ...

Women with low-risk pregnancies should be allowed to spend more time in labor, to reduce the risk of having an unnecessary C-section, the nation's obstetricians say. The new guidelines on reducing ...

A passing glance at the August jobs report released today by the US Labor Department would suggest an economy headed in the wrong direction. After all, the unemployment rate shot up to 3.8% from 3.5% ...

Using epidurals for pain relief during a baby's delivery may prolong labor more than previously thought, a new study finds. In the study, the researchers looked at more than 42,000 women in California ...