Illustration of a section through a female pelvis showing labour, or childbirth. The foetus is in the normal head down, facing down, birth position. The cervix (neck of the womb) has dilated and the head has moved into the birth canal (vagina). Contractions of the uterus (womb) and voluntary abdominal contractions by the mother, will push the foetus along and out of the vagina. From An Improved System of Midwifery, by Wooster Beach (1794-1868), published in 1851.