6cm is the new 4cm

Labor Research finally catches up with 20th Century!

6cm is the new 4cm!  Important NEW research for any pregnant woman hoping for a vaginal delivery in a hospital.  The OLD (1950’s) way of judging the progress of labor once the cervix dilates to 4 cm may be a major contributing factor to the our ridiculously high C-Section rate. Knowing that the body doesn’t enter the active phase of labor until 6cm significantly changes many OLD recommendations.  For instance, when to head to the hospital, when to start an epidural or if pitocin is necessary to “speed” a labor.  40% of women who end up in a C-section are only 4cm dilated and have been told their labor has “Arrested”.  According to this new study, 4cm is still the latent phase or slow phase of labor.  Which means the labor is expected to be slow at 4 cm as baby is still getting in proper alignment!  Check the research for yourself here.