Many people refer to being in labour from the moment they begin to get regular contractions. Labour can be a long and drawn out process which can have many stops and starts.

Established labour means that labour has started in ernest and will continue until the birth of the baby. The technical definition of established labour is commonly held to mean that you are between 3 and 9 cm dilated and contractions are regular, happening roughly every five minutes and lasting between 30 and 45 seconds each time.

No going back now!