Cervix and early dilation question

[dagny.galt]

Some background first:

I'm 23w4d pg with my second.

I charted for a year while TTC, including cervical position and texture, so I'm pretty intimately acquainted with how my cervix "usually" felt pre-pregnancy.

My first pregnancy ended with a c-section birth for failed "big baby" induction at 38 weeks. I fully dilated, but he never descended after an hour of pushing. and they sent me to surgery.

I'm seeing a homebirth midwife for this pregnancy, but if I go early/before 37w0d (or gods forbid, premature!!) she will not attend or be with me in any role and I will have to transfer care. If I do transfer care, I will end up with another c-section at the only hospital I can go to (for insurance reasons).


Anyway, last night, I checked my cervix and it was rather mushy-soft and also more open than it ever was while TTC, even on my fertile days. I could insert the tip of my middle finger in it without really trying. It was also lower than I expected, being forward-ish and fairly easily reachable (I have shortish fingers, and my "high" cervix on fertile days used to be a bit of a stretch to reach.)

I know that supposedly dilation can occur earlier in subsequent pregnancies, but this seems a bit early, kwim? I'm not super-freak-out-worried, but I am concerned because I've been under some extreme stress for the last month or so and haven't paid the kind of attention to my body and its signals that I should have been. I know I've been having BH for a while, and I've occasionally felt crampy, but I haven't kept track of when.

So I guess, all that to say, is this something I should be at all concerned about, or is it just another variation of normal?


ETA: I have a midwife appointment later this week, and I'll be bringing this up with her then. I'm also not planning on doing any more self-checks.

[LittleOne03]

I know, after having my first baby, that my cervix is always sightly open (about a fingertip). My midwife told me that this is completely normal that your cervix doesn't go back as tightly closed as it once was. I know, for me, the opening was always a fingertip dilated at the opening, but that didn't mean that my entire cervix was dilated, if that makes sense.

[dagny.galt]

Yes, I understand that the cervix is always slightly more open after a prior birth than before...I'm talking about it being more open even than that. During TTC, I couldn't get a fingertip in if I tried, even when my cervix was at its softest and most open.

[mommy2two babes]

I don't mean to concern you but that happened to me when I was PG with my DD. I tried to tell The OB I was seeing that it felt soft and mushy but he brushed me off. A couple of weeks later I went for my 20 wk ultrasound where they found that I was dialating and my BOW was bulging. I started having light ( not painful) contractions not long after that. I ended up having a cerclage put in and ended up on bedrest.
I must say though I wonder if the cerclage was really neccesary or if that is just my body. For me though not worth the risk to find out.

[LittleOne03]

Well, I would go with what you know is normal for you. A fingertip is normal for me, but if if it's not for you talk to your HCP!

[munkeesmama]

Sounds like a typical multip cervix to me. Have you checked your cervix at all during the pregnancy other than this? Mine was pretty much like you described until recently. It's move further posterior now, but it still very very mushy, about 50% effaced and fingertip to a good one cm. dilated.