A _nullipara_ (0–para) is a woman who has not had children. A _primigravida_ is a woman who is pregnant for the first time. A _primipara_ (1–para) applies to a woman during her first labor and until the beginning of her second labor. _2–para_, _3–para_ and _4–para_ apply to women in succeeding labors which correspond to the numerals used. A _multipara_ is a woman who has had more than one child. There is also a terminology, with abbreviations, which is fairly generally used in this country and England to designate the position which the child, about to be born, occupies in relation to its mother’s body. A diagnosis of this position is, of course, absolutely necessary to a skilful management of labor, and the nurse should understand the meanings of the terms used, and also their distinctions and subdivisions. [Illustration: FIG. 53.—Attitude of fetus in vertex presentation. ] The _presentation of the fetus_ is the term which is employed to indicate the part of the baby’s body which is at the brim of the mother’s pelvis. Thus the part of the fetus which is lowermost is designated as the _presenting part_ and gives the presentation its name. If the breech is downward, therefore, it is a _breech_ presentation (Fig. 52), and if the head is the lower pole it is termed a _head_, or _cephalic_ presentation. (Fig. 53.) The head presentations are divided into two main groups, which are designated, respectively, as _face_ and _vertex_ presentations. For example, if the baby’s neck is so arched that the chin rests upon the chest, the crown of its head, or the vertex, is the part that is lowest in the birth canal and is the part that will be seen first at the vaginal outlet. Therefore, this is called a vertex, or occipital presentation. But if the neck is bent sharply backward, the face becomes the presenting part and we have a face presentation. The breech, face and vertex presentations are sometimes referred to as _longitudinal presentations_ since in these instances the long axes of the bodies of mother and child are parallel. In _transverse presentations_, however, the child lies across the uterus, with one side or the other at the pelvic brim. The transverse presentations are infrequent, occurring once in about 250 cases, and are regarded as abnormal because spontaneous delivery under such circumstances is extremely rare. They are more likely to be seen, when they do occur, among multiparæ and women who have contracted pelves.