The idea of labor and delivery can bring a great deal of anticipation to any new mom because the stages of labor can vary widely for each person. While no two labor and deliveries will be alike, childbirth educators and practitioners do agree that labor can be broken down into three distinct stages. And although the length and intensity of these stages will be different for each woman, it's best to be informed on what your body is experiencing through each phase to help your labor go as smoothly as possible.

"Just because common wisdom (or medical professionals) say something about birthing does not mean it's true for you," says Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, a San Jose, Calif., mother who gave birth to her daughter using hypnobirthing techniques. "Perhaps the average woman takes 10 hours to birth her first child, but that's just an average. You may take 30 minutes. You may not feel any pain. No experience is the same for every woman."

An OB/GYN, childbirth educator and moms who have experienced their own unique labor and deliveries share their tips for a smoother labor and delivery.

"The first stage of labor begins when the mother is having contractions every five minutes for greater than one hour and her cervix begins to dilate," says Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway, a board-certified OB/GYN and author of The Smart Mother's Guide to a Better Pregnancy: How to Minimize Risks, Avoid Complications and Have a Healthy Baby (Red Flags Publishing, 2008).

According to Dr. Burke-Galloway, the first stage of labor can actually be broken down further into three phases:

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