Health & Pregnancy

Women Have Longer Labors Now

Longer Labors: Perspective continued...

While the study did not look at anxiety levels of the women, Cabbad speculates that could play a role. "Talk to a woman today who is pregnant and about to have a baby," he says. "She gets on the Internet [to research pregnancy and childbirth]."

"This amount of communication and understanding about the birth process is not where it was 50 years ago," Cabbad says. "People were more relaxed about labor and the process of childbirth 50 years ago."

On the other hand, the technology has produced safer labors, he says.

His best advice? "Find an [ob-gyn] you feel comfortable with, that you can communicate with, and that you feel safe with. That relaxes the psyche, so maybe labor will be a little better."