Chapter 16, Problem 39CT

Summary Introduction

To analyze: The woman is in severe pain and the water has broken. The baby’s head is also visible.

Determine the stage of labor of woman.

Whether the woman have time to make it to the hospital 60 miles away.

Introduction:

Labor is defined as a series of events occurring in a woman’s body to push the baby out of the uterus. Labor is divided into three phases: the dilation phase, the expulsion phase, and the placental phase. Hormones that are involved in the inducement of labor are prostaglandins and oxytocin.