ACOG’s 2014 bulletin on “The Safe Prevention of the Primary Cesarean” summarized research into when in the typical labor process labor usually speeds up, and offered new guidelines on what should (and should not) be considered an arrest of labor. A key point it makes is that
… cesarean delivery for active phase arrest … should be reserved for women at or beyond 6 cm of dilation with ruptured membranes who fail to progress despite 4 hours of adequate uterine activity, or at least 6 hours of oxytocin administration with inadequate uterine activity and no cervical change.
I worked with some of my colleagues from the Great Starts’ program at Parent Trust for Washington Children on an article about how childbirth educators should incorporate these new guidelines. Read our article at: www.scienceandsensibility.org/blog/teaching-6-is-the-new-4
