Learn the ABCs of L&D

Labor and delivery are experiences unlike any other. As such, there's quite a bit of terminology surrounding them that you wouldn't know about unless you're, you know, giving birth. When you're at the hospital or birthing center, you're likely to hear your medical team throwing around quite a lot of vocabulary that, unless you've prepared yourself, will go right over your laboring head.

Familiarizing yourself with the basics will go a long way toward assuaging your fears regarding the process. You don't need flashcards, though, and you certainly shouldn't stress yourself out by researching every possible complication. Just use this simple guide as a primer, and you'll go from feeling clueless to confident faster than you can say "posterior presentation."