Human fetal breathing movements were measured during the first stage of electively induced labor in 20 healthy term pregnancies. Fetuses made breathing movements 25.6% of the time during a 1 hour control period and breathing decreased significantly to 8.3% during latent-phase labor and further decreased to 0.8% during active labor (P less than 0.001). Patterns of increased fetal breathing activity accompanied by increased gross fetal body movements and increased fetal heart rate variability for periods of 20 to 60 minutes out of every 1.0 to 1.5 hours were observed, and the intermittent patterns of increased body movement and heart rate variability continued throughout the first stage of labor despite the decrease in fetal breathing activity during latent- and active-phase labor. It will be important to account for rest activity patterns when interpreting variability of heart rate during labor. The absence of fetal breathing activity during electively induced labor at term is not a clinical indicator of fetal ill health.