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Many tasks can be tackled more quickly now than 50 years ago, but delivering a baby naturally it seems is not one of them, according to a US government study.
Compared with the 1960s, US women have in recent years spent two to three hours longer in labor, according to researchers at the US National Institutes of Health, who said the findings suggest doctors may need to rethink the definition of "normal" labor. The extra time is spent in the first stage of labor - the longest part of the process, before the "pushing" stage, according to findings published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
