{"id":116,"date":"2024-04-08T10:51:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T09:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aandelaak.nl\/voorbereidingsfase-en-actieve-fase\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:03:17","slug":"preparatory-phase-and-active-phase","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aandelaak.nl\/en\/voorbereidingsfase-en-actieve-fase\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparatory Phase and Active Phase"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"header is-page\" data-block=\"header\" data-animation=\"block\">\n        <div class=\"container\">\n            <div class=\"header-inner\" data-animation=\"fade-in\">\n                    <nav class=\"breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb Trail\" typeof=\"Breadcrumblist\" vocab=\"https:\/\/schema.org\">\n                    <ol class=\"breadcrumbs__list\">\n                <li class=\"home\"><span property=\"itemListElement\" typeof=\"ListItem\"><a property=\"item\" typeof=\"WebPage\" title=\"Go to Aandelaak.\" href=\"https:\/\/aandelaak.nl\/en\" class=\"home\" aria-current=\"page\"><span property=\"name\">Share Purchase<\/span><\/a><meta property=\"position\" content=\"1\"><\/span><\/li>\n            <\/ol>\n            <\/nav>\n    <h1>Preparatory Phase and Active Phase<\/h1>                <div class=\"btn-container\">\n                                    <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"img-box\">\n        <figure class=\"trsn-image-wrapper\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1024\/683;\">\n            <img width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/aandelaak.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MG_8759.jpg\" class=\"trsn-image trsn-object-cover trsn-ifp-has-focus\" alt=\"Preparatory Phase and Active Phase\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, (max-width: 1200px) 80vw, 1200px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aandelaak.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MG_8759.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/aandelaak.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MG_8759-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aandelaak.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MG_8759-768x512.jpg 768w\" style=\"object-position:50% 50%;\" \/>                    <\/figure>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n\n<section class=\"video video--default\" data-block=\"video\" data-animation=\"block\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col large-10 large-offset-1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"video__embed\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<iframe\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/922015779\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\twidth=\"640\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\theight=\"360\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tframeborder=\"0\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tallow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tallowfullscreen\n\t\t\t\t\t><\/iframe>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<section class=\"text-only\" data-block=\"text-only\" data-animation=\"block\">\n    <div class=\"container\">\n        <div class=\"row\">\n            <div class=\"col large-offset-2 large-8\">\n                <div class=\"text left\">\n                    <h2>Would you like to read through the text one more time?<\/h2><h2>You can do that below! <\/h2>\n<p>If you go to the <strong>structure<\/strong> When looking at the labor process, you can divide labor into different stages. The preparatory stage, or<strong> latent phase<\/strong> is the first stage. This is the stage during which your body mainly does the preparatory work for childbirth. During this stage, your cervix shortens and softens, and you begin to dilate by 1\u20133 cm. This stage does not always progress to active labor; sometimes the contractions eventually subside completely, and it can take several hours, days, or even longer for labor to truly begin. Once this stage begins and the contractions build in intensity and continue, it lasts an average of 4\u201318 hours. You can recognize the preparatory phase by the following: the contractions last less than 1 minute; the breaks between contractions are 5 minutes or longer; and in many cases, the contractions are not yet very strong during this phase. Sometimes, for example, you may still be able to keep talking or continue what you were doing during a contraction.<\/p>\n<p>During the latent phase, your body often still reacts strongly to what\u2019s happening around you: someone walks in, the kids wake up\u2026 this can cause your contractions to (temporarily) subside. It can be helpful to take a warm shower during this phase. Warmth helps you relax: if you\u2019re actually in labor, relaxation helps your body produce more oxytocin, which has a positive effect on your contractions\u2014they become stronger and increase in duration and frequency. If they\u2019re false labor contractions, the warmth and relaxation can actually cause your contractions to subside a bit. If your contractions do indeed subside, you haven\u2019t missed your chance to give birth\u2014your body simply wasn\u2019t ready yet to let the contractions continue all the way through to actual labor.<\/p>\n<p>The phase that follows the preparatory phase is the <strong>active phase<\/strong>. You can recognize this stage by the following: the contractions in this stage often last 60 seconds or longer; your contractions come regularly; your contractions are strong. For a first-time birth, we assume you\u2019re in the active phase if you\u2019ve been having contractions every 3 minutes for one hour. Your contractions last one minute, followed by a 2\u20133-minute break until the next contraction begins. For subsequent births, we assume you\u2019re in the active phase if you\u2019ve been having contractions every 5 minutes for an hour. Each contraction lasts one minute, followed by a 4-minute break until the next one begins.<\/p>\n<p>During the active phase, the cervix continues to dilate. Dilation progresses from about 3 centimeters to full dilation. If this is your first birth, the average time required for dilation is 12 to 14 hours. In subsequent births, dilation usually progresses more quickly. We\u2019ve noticed that the first 5 centimeters, in particular, tend to take the longest. Once dilation reaches 5 centimeters, it often speeds up, and we generally expect you to dilate about one centimeter per hour. Keep in mind that all the times we mention are averages; your labor may progress more quickly or may take longer. During labor, we\u2019ll monitor how the baby is doing, how you\u2019re doing, and whether labor is progressing. This allows us to assess your needs as labor progresses and, if\u2014for example\u2014your dilation takes longer than expected, to develop a plan in a timely manner to ensure the best possible care for you and your baby.<\/p>\n<p>The limit in terms of exclusion is <strong>full access<\/strong>. We refer to full dilation when the cervix is dilated to about 10 centimeters and the cervix can no longer be felt during an internal exam. Imagine the progression of dilation and the intensity of your contractions as a mountain you\u2019re climbing: at first, the climb is easier, but the closer you get to the top, the steeper the path becomes. In other words: the further along your labor progresses, the stronger your contractions become. But it also means you\u2019re getting closer to the birth of your baby and the end of labor! The reason your contractions are getting stronger is that your body is not only creating dilation but also moving the baby deeper into your pelvis. We call this the baby descending. The path the baby takes through the pelvis is a bit like a slide with a curve at the bottom. During the active phase, the baby goes down the \u2018slide.\u2019 The baby navigates the curve while you\u2019re pushing, but we\u2019ll discuss that in another video. You\u2019ll often feel the baby dropping yourself, either because the pain from the contraction feels different or because you feel a lot of pressure in a specific spot. When a baby descends, you\u2019ll first feel it in your lower back and later near your tailbone. Toward the end, you\u2019ll feel it in your buttocks and around your anal sphincter; you may even feel like you need to go to the bathroom to have a bowel movement\u2014even before you feel the urge to push. During the dilation contractions, that pressure can be very intense, but you can still breathe through it. During pushing contractions, the urge to have a bowel movement becomes unbearable, and your abdomen will push along with it. We discuss what the urge to push is and how to recognize it in the video about the urge to push and pushing.<\/p>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-116","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Voorbereidingsfase en actieve fase - Aandelaak<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aandelaak.nl\/en\/preparatory-phase-and-active-phase\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Voorbereidingsfase en actieve fase - 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