Also, visit a healthcare professional about your period if: 1  You havenât gotten your first period by age 15. 2  You donât menstruate for more than 90 days. 3  Your periods start to be very irregular after having previously been regular. 4  Your period lasts for more than seven days. 5  Your menstrual flow is more heavy than usual.
What's going on: Your baby is moving down the birth canal. Contractions continue to be strong, lasting for about 60 seconds and coming 3 to 5 minutes apart. You will likely feel a strong urge to push. How long it lasts: 1 to 2 hours for a first labor; 15 to 30 minutes for subsequent labors. If your baby is in distress at this point, or if she doesn't seem to be making her way through the birth canal, your doctor may decide to deliver her by c-section or use forceps to help her out.
Itâs generally estimated that the cervix will dilate one centimeter during each hour of labor, but this cannot be generalized for every woman or every pregnancy. 0-4 centimeters dilation is considered early labor, and itâs not uncommon for a woman to be up to 2 centimeters dilated several weeks before giving birth. Dilation of 4-7 centimeters occurs during active labor. 7-10 centimeters is the transition phase (shift from active labor to the final phase, delivery), and when your cervix is at 10 centimeters (about the size of a newbornâs head), itâs considered fully dilated and youâre ready to give birth. Average: