No one wants to think of their uterus in terms of being uncoordinated, but scientifically speaking, latent labor (also commonly referred to as early labor) is the phase when your body is adjusting and developing its own, unique labor pattern. While we all encourage families to head to the hospital whenever they feel ready (and whenever their care providers have advised them to do so), knowing how to manage latent labor before going in can help avoid long triage wait times and lots of hospital hallway walking. What isn’t explored often enough is what exactly is happening in the body between going about your daily life during pregnancy, and that elusive moment contractions become a predictable, measurable pattern.Īs doulas, one thing many of us at Doulas of Baltimore have seen happen time and again is clients feeling confused about this ambiguous period of time and then heading to the hospital very early simply because they aren’t sure. Many of us are familiar with ‘stages’ of labor (as in 1st stage, 2nd stage, 3rd stage), or even the phrase ‘active labor’. The truth is, latent labor is not a term thrown around very often. Sounds straightforward enough, right? Or perhaps, you’re sitting there thinking to yourself, “Latent labor? What the heck?” In the latent phase, contractions become progressively more coordinated and the cervix dilates to 4 cm (approximately 1.5 inches) Latent Labor: The first stage of labor is divided into two phases: the latent phase and the active phase.
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