Childbirth, also known as
labour,
delivery,
birth,
partus, or
parturition, is the culmination of a period of
pregnancy with the expulsion of one or more newborn
infants from a woman's
uterus. The process of normal childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and
dilation of the
cervix, descent and birth of the
infant, and the expulsion of the
placenta.