What happens if you are 10cm dilated but do not have contractions???

Question

My cousin is in the hospital and she is 10cm dilated but is NOT contracting? What will happen next? Can she give regular birth or will she need a c section?

Answer

They can force the body into having regular contractions with Pitocin/Syntocinon. In my experience, we used to encourage a woman to wait an hour before pushing after being diagnosed as being 10cm dilated. Especially if she had an epidural, the baby had not come down very far, or her contractions were erratic. 
Many women go through what we call the "Rest and be Thankful" Stage. When a woman is fully dilated, often her body will respond by giving her a rest (I have seen women fall asleep, even without an epidural), he contractions may become less frequent or stop altogether. At that point, you look at mum and baby as a whole, e.g. is baby's heart rate shoeing them to be stable, is mum comfortable, is there any immediate or possible future concerns that need to be addressed. If a mum and baby are well, trying to force a baby out if a woman's body isn't ready or the baby is not low enough, usually results in an instrumental delivery (ventouse or forceps) or a c-section for maternal exhaustion or fetal distress. However, nobody can accurately predict anything with birth, you have to rely on the best evidence, the current picture, the history of the pregnancy, hospital guidelines, and sometimes your gut and experience.
I wish her all the best, hopefully you'll be there to support her whatever her journey 😊

Answer

Contractions cause you to dialate and bring the baby down. They’d have to see how the baby is positioned and then decide