Often women in the latter part of the firststage of labor show lowered response to their environment, and lowered awareness, their entire bodies relaxed as if they were sleeping.
In order to elucidate this phenomenon, we investigated 196 women in labor, selectd accoding to our own standerd. Sleepiness was confirmed 68% of the subjects and was observed at various times, not particulaly at night. 3 hours before delivery, sleepiness was observed, and continued about 1 hour. After the sleepiness, their cervix was delated completely. The women who had sleepiness had a long duration of labor. And the use of medication was predominantly less performed, in the case of multipara having sleepiness.

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Recently the amenity has become the issue in the delivery. A study was made of the sounds heard at the site of the delivery and the pregnant women's responses to them to exercise the environment of the delivery with special reference to sounds.
The subjects are five pregnant women in the hospital and five in the maternityhome. The measurement of the sounds, the observation of the pregnant women's responses (the kind of sounds heard by them, their state anxiety, etc.), and the investigation of the characteristics of the pregnant women (their anxiety during the period of pregnancy and on admission, the degree of stress in their living (sound) environment, etc.) were carried out. Comparisons were made of the results among the stages of labor and between the types of the institution.
The sounds heard by the pregnant women at each site of delivery showed characteristic features. The responces to the voice of the medical staff and the sounds due to manipulating apparatus, and the change of state anxiety differed according to the type of the institution.
The incidence and the intensity of sounds, and the degree of the pregnant women's responses and the change of their anxiety indicate that the maternityhomes produce more relaxing conditions concerning the sound environment.

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A childbirth is an experience in which the wife feels not only joy but also various pains. Every man percepts an incident happening to him with his own sensory perception, then judges it and acts. This process, after having been leaned as a new way of his perception, begin to have influences on what he dose there after. In the cases of wives who had delivery experience before, what kind of influence could it have on their another delivery at this time. I interviewed 27 wives who had had childbirth experience by semi-stractured interview, and classified and analyzed the results according to the seven following items; 1. self-control, 2. control of physical functions, 3. function of childbirth, 4. labor and other physical pains, 5. giving supports, 6. expectations to the newborn babies, and 7. preconceptions. As a result, we knew that a wife who had childbirth experience before felt fear and anxiety, when she cames upon a phenomenon which was different from what she had experienced before, or when she found herself again in the same kind of situation where she had had some negative experience before. And we also knew that, relation to her fomer experience, she was trying to give birth to a baby by making efforts to better her earlier faults.

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It can be considered that maternal confidence after the delivery of high-risk infant is acquired through recovering from crisis after the delivery, accepting the handicapped conditions of the infant, gaining self-reliance in child-care, and developing the maternity.
In this report we examined the factors influencing the establishment of maternal confidence after the delivery of high-risk infant.
The sample was composed of 77 mothers whose infants were hospitalized in the NICU. The result of this study was as follows;
1. It was proved that maternal confidence was influenced by four factors; hospitalization for less than one month, no lowbirth weight infant, no anxiety after discharge, and no problem on nursing care.
2. Maternal confidence to delay in short of the above factors.
3. The periods required for maternal confidence were different among mothers with high-risk infants in spite of similarity of their factors. Mothers, that is, who cognized the handicapped conditions of their infants, expressed the feeling of anxiety, moderated the relationship with their infants, and were provided with available social support at an earlier stage, could be independent earlier.
We think it is important to provide the mothers with social support at an earlier stage on account of developing maternal confidence after delivery of high-risk infant.

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Two matched groups of self-selected women who delivered in self-regulatory upright position (n=59) and a fixed supine position (n=105) were compared to evaluate the physical and emotional effects of maternal delivery positions. Data from recorded partograms were retrospectively analyzed on several variables. An open questionnaire was answered by the women and their partners in the self-regulatory upright group to assess the emotional effects.
Results showed no significant differences in the amount of bleeding, the duration of the first and third stage of labor, the number of women with first degree lacerations, Apgar scores, and the birth weights of the new bornes in both primiparas and multiparas. In primiparas, the durations of the second stage and the total durations of first to third stage of labor were significantly shorter in the self-regulatory upright group women.
Birth experiences were satisfactory for the self-regulatory upright group as women felt that the naturally adopted birthing positions were relaxing and comfortable.
Freeing the women from a fixed delivery position had physical and emotional effects of facilitating the progresses of labors while no adverse effects were found.

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