What Labor is REALLY Like

The two most common questions women have about labor are, when will it start? and, how much will it hurt? The answer to both: Who knows? Fortunately, there are plenty of answers to other questions we all have but are afraid to ask because they seem silly, scary, or downright gross. "There's an awful lot about childbirth that is, shall we say, visually unfriendly," says Margaret Buxton, M.S.N, C.N.M., a certified nurse-midwife with the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, Tennessee, and a mother of two little girls. From placentas to mucous plugs to bodily fluids galore, here's what you always wanted to know about childbirth but were too mortified to mention.

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