Having Your Baby: Labor And Birth

I already want Raymond out of me, but giving birth is the scariest part. In chapter 5 in the book I'm reading it mentions everything about labor and birth. It talks about contractions and how they come and go during labor. It compares contractions to a wave, saying "Each contraction is like a wave: It's weak at the beginning, it builds to a peak; and then gradually goes away." Just thinking I'm going to have to go through the pain of labor makes me regret getting pregnant. As far as I've heard its the worst pain ever. In the book it says how everything that the mother does during her pregnancy it can affect her labor. Like if she smokes, has an infection, uses street drugs or has a lot of stress it can cause early labor. Which is not good because then the baby wont be a full-term baby and might not be fully developed. But as long as the mother stays healthy then you will have a healthy full-term baby and be able to take him home sooner, and leave the scary hospital faster. When the cervix is dilated it means its fully open which is 10 cm dilated. So the baby is suppose to fit through your 10 cm uterus, which is still pretty small.