Childbirth (also called labour, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman’s uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and birth of the infant, and birth of the placenta. In some cases, childbirth is achieved through caesarean section, the removal of the neonate through a surgical incision in the abdomen, rather than...

Recto-vaginal medical examination

Physical exam by a urologist including kidney, testicular and prostate exam.

At one time, women who had delivered by cesarean section in the past would usually have another cesarean section for any future pregnancies. The rationale was that if allowed to labor, many of these women with a scar in their uterus would rupture the uterus along the weakness of the old scar.

Over time, a number of observations have become apparent:

Most women with a previous cesarean section can labor and deliver vaginally without rupturing their uterus.

Some women who try this will, in fact, ruptu...