Physiology of Birth

"We'd like to talk about induction." Six words that send most pregnant people straight to Google at 11pm. And what they find there is usually a jumble of horror stories, outdated information, and forum posts that leave them more confused than when they started. Induction of labor — the process of starting labor artificially before it begins on its own — is one of the most common obstetric interventions in the United States. More than 30% of births now involve some form of ind

I n 2018, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine quietly shifted the landscape of obstetric care in the United States. The study was called the ARRIVE trial — A Randomized Trial of Induction Versus Expectant Management — and its headline finding was striking: elective induction of labor at 39 weeks in low-risk, first-time pregnant people resulted in a lower cesarean rate than waiting for labor to begin on its own. That finding landed in a health system that

There is a moment in almost every birth - sometimes early, sometimes not until transition - when a laboring person looks up and says some version of: I can't do this. What they usually mean is: I don't understand what's happening to me (and I'm tired as hell). That's not weakness. That's a knowledge gap. And knowledge gaps are fixable. Understanding what your body is actually doing during labor - the hormones, the mechanics, the cascade of events that unfolds over hours - doe