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What happens to your body during childbirth

Childbirth is challenging and complications occur, but women's bodies are designed to give birth. The shape of the pelvis, hormones, powerful muscles and more all work together to help you bring your baby into the world - before, during and after childbirth.

How your body prepares for labour

Here are some of the ways your body will prepare both you and your baby for the birth ahead.

Braxton Hicks contractions

In the weeks or days before you start having proper contractions, you may experience Braxton Hicks contractions. This is your uterus tightening then relaxing. These contractions don't usually hurt and are thought to help your uterus and cervix get ready for labour.

Braxton Hicks contractions may become more regular as you get closer to the time of birth, but unlike labour contractions, they don't change the shape of the cervix and are sometimes referred to as 'false labour'. Your midwife can tell you if you're experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions or if you are in labour by doing a vaginal examination to look at your cervix.

Changes to the cervix

As labour gets closer, your cervix softens and becomes thinner, getting ready for the dilation (widening) that will allow the baby to enter the vagina. You may also see a 'show', which is a pinkish plug of mucus, stained with blood.

Engagement

Your baby may move further down your pelvis as the head engages, or sits in place over your cervix, ready for the birth. Some women feel they have more room to breathe after the baby has moved down. This is called 'lightening'.

Rupture of the membranes, or 'waters breaking'

Some women find the sac of amniotic fluid containing the baby breaks before labour, contractions start and the fluid runs (or gushes) out of the vagina. This is referred to as rupture of the membranes, or 'waters breaking'.

Let your maternity team know when your waters have broken and take notice of the colour of the fluid. It is usually light yellow. If it is green or red, tell your maternity team since this could mean the baby is having problems.

If your waters have broken but you have not started having regular contractions within 24 hours, you may need your labour to be induced because there is a risk of infection. Your midwife or doctor will talk to you about this.

How will you know when labour has started?

Movies often show women suddenly being struck by painful contractions and rushing to hospital. In real life, many women are not sure if they have actually started their labour.

You may feel restless, have back pain or period-like pain, or stomach disturbances such as diarrhoea.

Labour officially begins with contractions, which start working to open up the cervix. You should phone your midwife when your contractions start, although you probably won't be encouraged to come to the hospital or birthing centre until your contractions are closer together.

How the pelvis is designed for childbirth

Your pelvis is located between your hip bones. Women typically have wider, flatter pelvises than men, as well as a wider pelvic cavity (hole) to allow a baby to pass through.

The organs sitting in a woman's pelvis include the uterus, cervix and vagina, which are held together by a group of muscles. During childbirth, the muscles at the top of your uterus press down on the baby's bottom. Your baby's head then presses on your cervix which, along with the release of the hormone oxytocin (see 'How hormones help you give birth', below), brings on contractions. Your cervix should dilate so your baby can pass through it.

Your pelvis has bones and ligaments that move or stretch as the baby travels into the vagina. Your baby also has spaces between the skull bones called 'sutures', and the gaps where the sutures meet on the skull are called fontanelles. This allows for the baby's head to mould as the skull bones meet or overlap, allowing it to fit more easily as it travels through your pelvis.

How hormones help you give birth

Your body produces hormones that trigger changes in your body before, during and after childbirth. Here's how they work to help you deliver your baby.

• Prostaglandin Before childbirth, a higher level of prostaglandin will help open the cervix and make your body more receptive to another important hormone, oxytocin.

• Oxytocin This hormone causes contractions during labour, as well as the contractions that deliver the placenta after the baby is born. These post-birth contractions, including more that can occur during breastfeeding, help your uterus shrink back to its normal size. Oxytocin and prolactin are the two main hormones that produce and let down breast milk for your baby. Skin-to-skin contact between a mother and baby helps to release more of these hormones.

• Relaxin The hormone relaxin helps soften and stretch the cervix for birth, while helping your waters break and stretching the ligaments in your pelvis to allow the baby to come through.

• Beta-endorphins During childbirth, this type of endorphin helps with pain relief and can cause you to feel joyful or euphoric.

• 'Baby blues' After birth, your hormone balance can change again, and this is believed to cause the ‘baby blues’ in some women. You may feel teary, anxious and irritable and your mood can go up and down.

When childbirth doesn’t go to plan

Sometimes, complications can occur before or during childbirth that mean things don’t go as expected.

Sometimes, labour needs to be induced or started. There are a few ways to induce labour, including the mother being offered synthetic prostaglandin. This is inserted into the vagina to soften the cervix and start contractions.

If contractions slow down or stop during labour, the mother may be offered synthetic oxytocin from a drip to increase the contractions. In both these cases contractions can come on strongly and more pain relief may be needed. Your maternity team should explain the benefits and risks of this with you before you agree to it.

The baby could be in a posterior or breech position, not ideally placed above the cervix before the birth. Your maternity team may need to use forceps or a vacuum to help turn the baby or help the baby travel out of the vagina. Sometimes a caesarean is needed.

In rare cases, a mother may experience cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD), which is when the baby’s head is too big to fit through the pelvis. A diagnosis of CPD is usually made when labour hasn’t progressed and synthetic oxytocin has not helped. A caesarean is usually the next step.

More information

If you have any questions about childbirth or pregnancy, you can call Pregnancy, Birth and Baby on 1800 882 436, 7 days a week, to speak to a maternal health nurse.

Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content.

“(Not) young mother”: to give birth after 40

131 633

To parents Older generation

Those who decide to give birth at the end of childbearing age are poetically called “late mothers” – apparently, by analogy with late children. This definition is more beautiful than the repulsive "old-timers." However, twenty years ago they said so about everyone who gave birth after 25 years. Nowadays, neither at 45 nor at 55, there is no question of old age.

And yet these "young mothers" are older than the average age at which we usually become mothers. And it changes something in their experience of motherhood.

"Why don't you ever race me like Katya's mom?" 5-year-old Nina's innocent question took 48-year-old Christina by surprise. “I never liked sports and didn’t run in my 20s or 30s,” she says. “But, seeing with what envy the daughter looks at the young mother of her girlfriend, she involuntarily felt guilty...”

This feeling is familiar to many of those who have given birth to a child after 40 years. Can I be a good mother at this age? Am I careful enough? Am I overprotective of my child?

First of all, let us remind you that there are no perfect mothers, just as there is no ideal age to raise a child.

“Those who wonder, 'Am I a good mother?' would probably be thinking the same thing even if they were ten years younger,” smiles child psychotherapist Marcel Rufault. “Then they would have found other reasons for concern.”

Mother does not race, does not play on all fours with a child on the floor? "So what? — the psychologist Stefan Klerzhe is perplexed. “Of course, it’s good to play with a child when we want to. But it's nice and easy to watch him play. This is even more important for its development. The role of parents is primarily to be present and attentive, and not to be a playmate.

“Now I have a different outlook on life and different priorities than I had at 25,” says 55-year-old Anna, mother of 9-year-old Aglaya. “Now I would rather spend the evening with my daughter, take a walk or read with her, rather than run to the movies, visit or sit up at work.”

“Women who become mothers after forty are, in a sense, freer than young women,” comments Elena Shuvarikova, a psychologist. “They have already achieved a lot and can devote themselves to a child to a much greater extent. Often they are more attentive to children than 30-year-old mothers.

“I feel like a mother and grandmother at once”

Henrietta, 46 years old, daughter of Victoria 1 year 8 months

“I had my first child when I was in my early 20s, and I wanted a second, but it turned out only in a new marriage. The birth of a daughter almost two years ago, of course, is incomparable. You live and live, everything is stable with you, your son is already an adult, a student, and suddenly life turns upside down - such a small miracle appears, around which everything revolves now!

At my age, a child's perception is much broader. It seems to me that in terms of the degree of involvement, I am now something between a mother and a grandmother. At 20, I did not forget about myself, but now I am completely focused on my daughter. I understand her moods better, I know what she wants. I spoil her more: after all, a girl, you need to be softer with her. Sometimes I imagine: now she will be 20, and I am already 64.

If only I had enough strength and time to guide her through all the stages of growing up, to be with her as long as possible! So, I need to do everything to keep a good shape. And that's how life goes. It is not given to us to foresee what will happen and how. Theoretically, I can become a grandmother in a few years. I don't mind at all! The son sometimes works with the baby, plays with her. I think this experience will be useful to him in the future.”

“I feel sidelong glances from my parents”

Children see their parents' age in the eyes of their peers. “While the child is small, he is simply surprised,” Stefan Klerge reassures, “he is curious. And this moment is perfect for telling your son or daughter the story of his birth. Explain, for example, that he was born as a result of IVF, talk about the moment of his adoption, or simply emphasize: “I have been waiting for a meeting with your dad for a long time.” There is no need to make excuses or encourage him to make excuses by talking at school about the life of his parents. Your words are intended for him alone, and he can remember them to create his family romance.

As a teenager, a child - even if he never admits it to his parents - will find in the richer past of his "old people" a reason for pride: "My mother was a witness to historical events", "My father traveled all over Africa". ..

However, mature mothers worry not only because of the evaluating glance of other people's children.

“The attitude of other parents and teachers is what hurts me! Christina exclaims. - Now, older mothers seem to be not so rare. But for some reason, not in our school: there are only three or four of us, such “old women”. I feel the sidelong glances of my parents. And teachers, many of whom are younger than me, feel awkward with me. It’s unpleasant for me to come to school, every time I experience real stress.”

Of course, the situation depends on personal qualities, but “when you are 15 years older and also have a high professional status, you make other mothers shy,” says 48-year-old Larisa, mother of seven-year-old Artem, with regret. - Relations seem to be friendly, but the distance is felt. I am not for them."

At the same time, a late child gives the mother a feeling of omnipotence, as if turning back time. At the age when peers become grandmothers, she is a “young mother”, which means she is a young woman again. For her, everything is just beginning - what old age there is!

“The appearance of a child changes the inner perspective,” says child psychologist Galiya Nigmetzhanova, “and life does not seem as ruthless as to other 40-year-old women who feel the beginning of withering.”

“I didn't expect such constant fatigue”

All the late mothers with whom we spoke talked about this. Pregnancy, as a rule, did not leave bad memories, the most difficult began after the birth of the child. In the first months - a dream in fits and starts, which they cannot make up for in any way, then the eternal rush - to children's classes, sections or school excursions.

“A child is pure happiness, and I don't regret anything,” exclaims 48-year-old Laura, mother of six-year-old Sasha. “But I didn’t expect such constant fatigue ... Probably, ten years earlier it would have been much easier to cope.”

Indeed, vitality is decreasing, notes Galiya Nigmetzhanova: “This is physiology: everyone's vitality and endurance become less with age. ”

All mothers feel physical fatigue, but in women over forty it is aggravated by anxiety about the future: will there be enough strength to raise him, will I be able to give him everything he needs - not only financially, but also psychologically. And finally, will I live long enough?

“Late mothers are more flexible and wiser than young ones”

“Late mothers” and their children are separated not by one, but by two generations. “There are 40 or even more years between them – during such a period, colossal changes are taking place in the modern world,” Elena Shuvarikova notes. “The world in which these women grew up and the world in which their children grow up are completely different. The older the child, the more difficult it is for them to understand each other. Games, interests, technique, music are very different.”

But it is the "late mothers" who often try to keep up with the times and their children. Most of them are easily oriented on the Internet and gadgets, get tattoos and can flaunt youth slang.

Yes, someone stubbornly adheres to the educational principles learned from parents from the generation of the 1940s: unquestioning obedience, a ban on participation in adult conversations. But others willingly accept modern democratic methods of education.

Their flexibility and openness are largely a property of their age, Galiya Nigmetzhanova believes. “40-year-olds are somewhat similar to 20-year-olds,” notes the psychologist. “It’s time for a new self-determination for them. And they give up dogmatic parental attitudes, open up to new ideas, can think about and discuss them. And therefore, by the way, they willingly enter into a dialogue with psychologists. "Late mothers" are more plastic and wiser than young ones. They are ready to just be close to the child, to see his uniqueness and enjoy it.”

“I don’t feel like a black sheep”

Marina, 53 years old, son Timofey, 6 years old

“When I gave birth to Timofey, people around me reacted as if I were a heroine: my first child at 46! I was embarrassed by this general admiration. The magic happened without any effort on my part. Of course, life has changed dramatically. I used to belong to myself, now everything is geared towards the child.

Before it appeared, for ten or fifteen years I was engaged in decorating, painting at various objects, usually far from the city. Now I can't leave. My husband is at work all the time, my mother, unfortunately, is no longer there, and there is no one to help me. And I do not dare to entrust the child to the nanny.

I can't say that I gave up my job with a light heart. I miss this outlet, and I'm trying to do something little by little. A child, it seems to me, is only a part of our life.

I don't feel like a black sheep, we have a few older mothers in our kindergarten group. The difficulty is that my son and I are not only from different generations, but from different eras. It is already felt that we are looking at everything from different points of view. Young mothers, I think, need to get used to the child less. I already foresee what will happen in his 13-16 years ... But still I try to worry in moderation.

“Less effort to get out of a merging relationship”

Children are a reminder of our aging, because with their birth we move up a step on the ladder of generations. Those who become parents in adulthood feel this change more acutely.

“In fact, they are in the last years of good physical shape,” reminds Elena Shuvarikova. “But they will spend these years raising a child. Their peers, whose children have already grown up, will finally be able to devote time to themselves: enjoy life, travel, engage in hobbies or self-education, making up for what they did not have time in their younger years.

There is another side. “A 55-year-old mother facing menopause as her daughter enters puberty and shines with femininity may feel as if she herself is rapidly fading,” says Stefan Klerge.

On the other hand, there are undoubted advantages for the daughter in this situation: her mother is less tempted to unconsciously enter into a relationship of rivalry.

“It will take less effort for a girl to get out of a merging relationship and assert herself, and perhaps her adolescence will not be marked by the desire for risky experiments,” emphasizes Stefan Klerge.

“The child may feel anxious”

“Are you going to die soon?” Sasha asked, seeing a gray strand suddenly appear on his mother. And Laura remembered that she herself once asked this question ... to her grandmother. Sasha was born when his grandparents and one grandfather were no longer alive. It is not uncommon for parents to be elderly.

“At the age when children begin to realize that they are mortal, grandparents symbolically become for them a screen that shields them from death,” explains Marcel Rufo. “But if they are not alive, the child may feel anxiety.”

Every child thinks one day that his parents might die. And in a late child, other questions are sometimes added to this question.

Nine-year-old Aglaya wonders if her mother will see her children. 17-year-old Sergei worries about whether after graduation he will be able to financially support his mother, who will be 70 by then. However, so far she is working enthusiastically, skiing and not at all going to grow old.

Although children's concern is understandable, the age of old age is being pushed back before our very eyes. Today and at 70, many remain active, especially when they take care of themselves.

This is doubly characteristic of late mothers. Many of them consciously lead a healthy lifestyle. Become a burden on your child? It's out of the question!

Text: Galina Chermenskaya Photo Source: Getty Images, Timur Artamonov

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At what age do Russian women give birth

Artem Ivolgin

Author profile

About 1. 4 million children are born in Russia every year.

Rosstat takes into account not only fertility statistics, but also related data: for example, at what age do Russian women give birth. Such information has been collected annually since the early sixties. We looked at how the situation has changed over the past decades and how different regions of the country differ from each other in this regard.

When are the first and subsequent children born more often

In total, 1,436,514 children were born in Russia then. Three were born to mothers under the age of 13, 363 were born from women over 50. The birth rate among minors is declining, and among older Russian women it is growing, but such situations are still rare. Interestingly, scientists are not interested in the age of the fathers: it is more difficult to establish reliably, plus it is not so important for the demographics of the country.

The average age of a woman at birth was 28 years and 7 months. It is important that this is the average age of all mothers, without division into those who gave birth for the first time, for the second, third or subsequent times: the media is sometimes confused about these indicators. In two out of three cases, newborn Russians already had an older brother or sister by mother.

/platnie-rodi/

How much does it cost to give birth in Moscow

Russian women most often give birth to their firstborn at the age of 24-25. The mean age was 25.9of the year. This is later than in the ideal scenario of the Russians: according to opinion polls, the Russians consider the optimal age for the birth of the first child to be 25 years old. But men believe that it is better to have the first child when the partner is 19-24 years old, and women say that the optimal age for this is 25-29 years.

Birth rates by mother's age and birth order, Center for Demographic Research

The second child is born at an average of 32 years, the third at 34. This does not mean that the average mother gives birth to two children in three years: women who decide to have a third child give birth to their first child 2.6 years earlier.

What influences the age at which children were born

In the distant past, the age at which the first child was born was almost entirely determined by the age of marriage: in traditional societies, sex was approved only after the formalization of the relationship. Now the “wedding night” rarely becomes the first really: 67% of Russians consider sex before marriage to be normal.

Among citizens of "marriage" age - from 18 to 34 years - there are even more of them: 84%. Perhaps that is why the average age of marriage has increased since the mid-nineties of the last century: from 19up to 25 years - in women, from 23 to 27 - in men.

And many Russians have a child without formalizing the relationship at the registry office: in 2020, 21.6% of Russian babies were born to unmarried women. But half of these children were registered "on a joint application of the father and mother", that is, the parents, most likely, maintained a relationship.

/prava/grazhdanskiy-brak/

Rights in civil marriage

In today's society, the age of marriage still has a strong influence on the timing of the birth of the first child. However, with the spread of contraceptives, the desires and plans of women themselves became more important. One of the main factors today is how many children a woman wants to have in principle. If she plans to be a mother of many children, she starts giving birth earlier. Therefore, in regions where traditionally large families and the highest birth rate - for example, in Chechnya and Tuva - the first children are born early, on average at 23.4 and 23.7 years, respectively.

They also give birth early in Dagestan: at 23.5 years. In terms of the birth rate, this region is only in eighth place in Russia, and demographers explain the early age of birth here by cultural norms. But traditions and the spread of having many children in the environment where a person lives are very important: according to Rosstat polls, the more brothers and sisters a woman has, the more children she wants to have herself.

Petersburg, Moscow and Sevastopol give birth later: the average age of birth of the first child here is 28.1, 27.8 and 26.9years respectively. In these regions, other traditions play a particularly important role.

According to demographers, in the cities young women devote most of their time to work - voluntarily or forcedly. To find a good job, they must be educated. Women with higher education marry later and, accordingly, have children later. They also have more time between marriage and the birth of a child: 17.2 months versus 8.8 for women with a secondary education.

/gender-gap/

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How did the average age of birth in 60 years

From 1960 to 1994 in the USSR and Russia, as well as in other countries of the Soviet bloc, the average age of birth of the first child was constantly decreasing, mothers were getting younger. At the same time, there was a different trend in the West.

Russian economists explain this by economic factors: under the socialist system, families with children received free apartments faster than those without children, and women who did not belong to the nomenklatura saw no reason to put off having children for the sake of education or work, because they often had no career prospects.

Since 1994, when mothers were at a record young age of 22.53 years at the birth of their first child, the average birth age in Russia has begun to increase. The level of 1960 was surpassed in 2008.

The age of the mother at the birth of the first child, a study by the sociological center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow State University and the Research Institute of Health Organization and Medical Management

This is a global trend that scientists call the demographic transition. To put it in simple terms, with an increase in life expectancy and its quality, young women prefer not to give birth, but to study, have fun and earn money. Including in order to provide better conditions for their future children. They also have affordable contraceptives and, in principle, do not plan to have more than two children.

In most developed countries, the average age of a primiparous woman is now approaching 30 years. They give birth later in Spain and Switzerland: at 31. 2 and 31.1 years, respectively. Russia is still far from this mark, especially since, according to preliminary data from domestic demographers, the average age of mothers in Russia has not been growing in recent years.

What doctors say about the optimal age for having a first child

Olga Kashubina

medical editor T—F

Author profile

from 19 to 30 years old.

During this period, the eggs, as a rule, have a minimum number of genetic defects, and the expectant mother herself is more likely not to have acquired serious chronic diseases that can interfere with the successful conception and bearing of a child. This is also evidenced by the statistics of reproductologists: after 35 years, the chance to give birth to a child without assistive technologies is halved compared to 25-year-olds.

At the same time, a lot of other factors are superimposed on abstract recommendations about the optimal age of motherhood: many women under 30 are not ready for pregnancy for various reasons - and this is normal. The structure of modern society here comes into conflict with biology: an attempt to meet the "biological" recommendations for reproduction can mean an early unsuccessful marriage, an abandoned education, a failed career, financial problems and, as a result, severe stress from parenthood.

Again, the health status of some women may improve with age due to a more conscious attitude to nutrition, the rejection of bad habits, and, conversely, the inclusion of physical education in the weekly routine.

At the same time, modern reproductive technologies are developing year by year - they are becoming safer, more efficient, more affordable, including through government funding.

Therefore, I would advise readers whose reproductive plan is at odds with the recommendations of conservative doctors not to be nervous because of the notorious "ticking clock". It may be useful for you at this stage to undergo a full gynecological examination and discuss with the doctor the possibility of preserving oocytes - this will allow you to save good quality eggs for the future, for the moment when pregnancy becomes truly desirable.

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