Obstetrical Nursing / A Text-Book on the Nursing Care of the Expectant Mother, the Woman in Labor, the Young Mother and Her Baby

by Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom

Fig. 65.

Fig. 66.

Figs. 63, 64, 65, and 66 are diagrams showing stages of dilatation and obliteration of cervix during labor.

In the course of this stretching process, the cervix sustains many tiny lesions, from which blood oozes and tinges the vaginal discharge. This blood-stained secretion is often called the “show” and usually appears toward the end of the first stage.

Fig. 67.—Characteristic position which patient often assumes during pains in first stage.

As a rule, when the cervix is fully dilated the membranes rupture and there is a sudden gush of that part of the fluid which was below the fetus in the amniotic sac, but the rupture of the membranes does not necessarily mark the end of the first stage. In some instances they rupture before the cervix is fully dilated; in others, though not often, before the patient goes into labor, thus producing what is known as a “dry” labor.

The abdominal muscles do not contract very forcibly during the first stage, the expulsive force in this period coming almost entirely from the uterine contractions. The patient’s cries at this time are sharp and complaining in contrast to the groans and grunts which accompany the second stage.