The History of the Early Labour Phase

Drawing on the expertise of a medical historian and a midwife, Chapter 3 answers the question: How did we get to where we are today? The authors outline the historical changes underlying the transition from speaking of “latent labour” to redefining this as the “early phase of labour”. They describe the evolution in thinking, including the five stages of labour. Efforts to quantify labour progress and risk are discussed, concerns which are still relevant today. What labour is, and the ways in which it is divided and tracked accordingly, has not been a static biological fact, but rather has been influenced by social circumstances and the types of tools and research questions employed over time.