Baby Friendly Hospitals
In 1991 the WHO launched a global program, the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), that encourages birthing centers and hospitals to institute procedures  that  encourage mother/baby bonding  and breastfeeding. The Johns Hopkins Hospital  describes the process of receiving the Baby Friendly designation:

It involves changing long-standing policies, protocols and behaviors. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative includes a very rigorous credentialing process that includes a two-day site visit, where assessors evaluate policies, community partnerships and education plans, as well as interview patients, physicians and staff members. Every major health organization, such as the CDC, supports the BFHI. As of 2019, 28% of hospitals in the US have been accredited by the WHO. Medication
The use of pain medication in labour has been a controversial issue for hundreds of years. A Scottish woman was burned at the stake in 1591 for requesting pain relief in the delivery of twins. Medication became more acceptable in 1852, when Queen Victoria used chloroform as pain relief during labour. The use of morphine and scopolamine, also known as "twilight sleep", was first used in Germany and popularised by German physicians Bernard Kronig and Karl Gauss. This concoction offered minor pain relief but mostly allowed women to completely forget the entire delivery process. Under twilight sleep, mothers were often blindfolded and restrained as they experienced the immense pain of childbirth. The cocktail came with severe side effects, such as decreased uterine contractions and altered mental state. Additionally, babies delivered with the use of childbirth drugs often experienced temporarily-ceased breathing.
At least three painful regular uterine contractions during a 10-minute period, each lasting more than 45 seconds.Many women are known to experience what has been termed the "nesting instinct". Women report a spurt of energy shortly before going into labour. Common signs that labour is about to begin may include what is known as lightening, which is the process of the baby moving down from the rib cage with the head of the baby engaging deep in the pelvis. The pregnant woman may then find breathing easier, since her lungs have more room for expansion, but pressure on her bladder may cause more frequent need to void (urinate). Lightening may occur a few weeks or a few hours before labour begins, or even not until labour has begun. Some women also experience an increase in vaginal discharge several days before labour begins when the "mucus plug", a thick plug of mucus that blocks the opening to the uterus, is pushed out into the vagina. The mucus plug may become dislodged days before labour begins or not until the start of labour.While inside the uterus the baby is enclosed in a fluid-filled membrane called the amniotic sac. Shortly before, at the beginning of, or during labour the sac ruptures.