BACKGROUND It is argued that the total Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) score likely overestimates depression in pregnant women given the overlap between depressive and somatic symptoms during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to explore the structure and the intensity of depression symptoms during pregnancy and two months postpartum. In populations with high incidence of somatic compla...

Most of the nearly 4 million births in the United States annually are normal spontaneous vaginal deliveries. In the first stage of labor, normal birth outcomes can be improved by encouraging the patient to walk and stay in upright positions, waiting until at least 6 cm dilation to diagnose active stage arrest, providing continuous labor support, using intermittent auscultation in low-risk deliv...

One strategy for reducing the primary cesarean surgery rate and length of labor is using a peanut-shaped exercise ball for women laboring under epidural analgesia. A randomized, controlled study was conducted to determine whether use of a "peanut ball" decreased length of labor and increased the rate of vaginal birth. Women who used the peanut ball (n = 107) versus those who did not (n = 91) de...

Mothers given an epidural rather than parenteral opioid labor analgesia report less pain and are more satisfied with their pain relief. Analgesic method does not affect fetal oxygenation, neonatal pH, or 5-minute Apgar scores; however, neonates whose mothers received parenteral opioids require naloxone and have low 1-minute Apgar scores more frequently than do neonates whose mothers received ep...

This paper develops a growth model aimed at understanding the potential effects of globalization of production on rate of innovation, distribution of skilled labor income between the North and South, and welfare of skilled workers in both regions. We adopt a dynamic general equilibrium productcycle model, assuming that the North specializes in innovation and the South specializes in imitation. ...

One strategy for reducing the primary cesarean surgery rate and length of labor is using a peanut-shaped exercise ball for women laboring under epidural analgesia. A randomized, controlled study was conducted to determine whether use of a “peanut ball” decreased length of labor and increased the rate of vaginal birth. Women who used the peanut ball (n 5 107) versus those who did not (n 5 91) de...

BACKGROUND During the second stage of labor, the progression of the fetal expulsion depends on many factors related to maternal and fetal parameters, including the voluntary abdominal pushing. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to correlate the maternal and fetal parameters that may influence the voluntary maternal pushes during the second stage of labor by using surface electromyography. METHODS ...

This study assessed the relation between perineal body length and the risk of perineal laceration extending into the anal sphincter during vaginal delivery in primigravid patients at an institution with a low utilization of episiotomy. This was a prospective study of primigravid patients in active labor. Primigravid women with singleton pregnancies who were in the first stage of labor at 37 wee...

It may, depending on the stage of labor and whether the woman has given birth previously. routine amniotomy doesn’t significantly reduce the duration of first-stage labor in either primiparous or multiparous women (strength of recommendation [sOr]: A, systematic review of several randomized, controlled trials [rCTs]); it slightly shortens secondstage labor in primiparous women only (sOr: A, sys...