a labor grip mechanism on each side of a main frame of a birthing bed , each labor grip mechanism having a post with a free end and a hand grip mounted on the free end . a first mounting construction is provided for slidably supporting each post for simultaneous movement between a first position wherein the hand grip is stowed underneath the patient support and a second position wherein the hand grip is oriented wholly out from underneath the patient support . a second mounting construction is provided for supporting each post for simultaneous rotational movement between the second position wherein the hand grip is also oriented in a plane beneath the plane of the patient support and a third position wherein the hand grip is oriented in a plane above the plane of the patient support . a hand grip positioning device is provided for facilitating the rotational movement only when the posts are in the aforesaid second or third position .