Ambulation and delayed amniotomy in the first stage of labor

Our purpose was to study the feasibility and results of encouraging ambulation during the first stage of labor in routine obstetric practice. Six-hundred and thirty low risk mothers with intact membranes were randomized into an ambulant and a control group. The results in the ambulant group were not better than in the control group. Our study suggests that, in principle ambulation may be beneficial, but that the concomitant changes in practice should be different from those in our study.