Low Cervix

[mymary]

I was just thinking today about my low cervix. The midwife told me my cervix is low and it is. When I feel in there, its like 1/2" to 1" up, like not far from the opening of my vagina. Whats up with that?

Do you think thats abnormal? Or do you think thats because I have had 3 pregnancies since 2006? Could my uterus be on the verge of prolapse?

Anybody else have this?

[Astraia]

I think it means you're gonna have a baby soon

It's normal for your cervix to move up and down. Through the stages of your monthly cycle, it moves up and down- for me it's sometime VERY low, where I barely have to put my finger in to feel it, and sometimes it's so high I can't reach it at all.

During pregnancy (and before labour starts) it's normal for your cervix to move anterior.... IDK if moving anterior just makes it FEEL like it's more forward, or if it moves down lower while also moving anterior? Either way, I know my whole pregnancy with DD I couldn't even BEGIN to feel my cervix, and then 2-3 days before she was born it was RIGHT THERE.

[AfricanQueen99]

When I checked yesterday mine was right.there. and it just made me so happy as it was the first time this whole pregnancy that I could feel it. Come out, little one!!

[gabeyho]

Originally Posted by Astraia

I think it means you're gonna have a baby soon

It's normal for your cervix to move up and down. Through the stages of your monthly cycle, it moves up and down- for me it's sometime VERY low, where I barely have to put my finger in to feel it, and sometimes it's so high I can't reach it at all.

During pregnancy (and before labour starts) it's normal for your cervix to move anterior.... IDK if moving anterior just makes it FEEL like it's more forward, or if it moves down lower while also moving anterior? Either way, I know my whole pregnancy with DD I couldn't even BEGIN to feel my cervix, and then 2-3 days before she was born it was RIGHT THERE.

yeppers to that!

[mymary]

You guys, I dont know about having a baby soon. I really dont think so. My braxton hicks aren't even ramped up. Last pg I had many, many more of them and I had the feeling of sharp shooting pain in my cervix or pelvic floor every night!

Did anybody NOT have that many BH and have their baby soon? Or does everybody have to have an increase of BH leading up to their births?

Do I make any sense or am I going crazy?

[Astraia]

Soon is a relative term, sadly. To me, soon is in 4 weeks- holy Moses!

With my daughter i got a few BH's, but only when I was moving around (standing up from sitting, bending to get something off the floor, getting out of bed, etc). Never had a single BH's if I was just sitting there. They didn't increase at all the closer I got to my due date. She was born, regardless (40+2- no early birds here!)

It really is SO different for everyone. Some people have every sign in the book (like SIL- cramping, bloody show, consistent contractions 5 min apart, etc etc) for weeks before the baby is born. Some people never have a single sign, are checked and their cervixes are high and posterior and closed and firm, and wake up the next morning and have a baby.

FWIW, I have virtually no BH's this time around either- again, only if I'm up and active and moving around.

Try not to worry. Your baby WILL be born!

[remijo]

Please correct me if I'm wrong because this is really funny to me - it seems like I can feel my cervix - a hard kind of protrusion in the front (toward my bladder) but I can't feel the opening? Is the opening farther up or is this not my cervix at all and the pregnancy has made my vagina totally change shape?

ETA : Ok, I just did some googling and apparently this is what the uterus feels like in a posterior position? I just didn't think I would be able to feel the uterus that obviously without first encountering my cervical opening. ??

[StrawberryFields]

Originally Posted by mymary

You guys, I dont know about having a baby soon. I really dont think so. My braxton hicks aren't even ramped up. Last pg I had many, many more of them and I had the feeling of sharp shooting pain in my cervix or pelvic floor every night!

Did anybody NOT have that many BH and have their baby soon? Or does everybody have to have an increase of BH leading up to their births?

Do I make any sense or am I going crazy?

You know, I am going through the same thing and have the same questions! I am 37 + 1 today and I don't feel like I am having a baby any time soon. Last pregnancy by now I was having tons of BH (for weeks), bouts of prodromal labor, lots of downward pressure, etc., and I gave birth around 38 weeks (both pregnancies). I hardly have any BH this time, even when I am doing something super duper physical like pushing a loaded grocery cart across the parking lot, or how I just carried a desk up 2 flights of stairs (with dh).

Sounds like we are in the same boat wondering if it is even possible to have a baby soon without feeling very labor-ish.

[Astraia]

Originally Posted by remijo

Please correct me if I'm wrong because this is really funny to me - it seems like I can feel my cervix - a hard kind of protrusion in the front (toward my bladder) but I can't feel the opening? Is the opening farther up or is this not my cervix at all and the pregnancy has made my vagina totally change shape?

ETA : Ok, I just did some googling and apparently this is what the uterus feels like in a posterior position? I just didn't think I would be able to feel the uterus that obviously without first encountering my cervical opening. ??

Your cervix is posterior. Your uterus isn't moving around much (it's full of baby, it can't go anywhere!) but the cervical opening tips upwards towards your back usually until labour is closer, then moves down and forward (although sometimes it won't move until you're IN labour- it doesn't necessarily indicate that much).

I can feel a bumpy bit of cervix these days, but can't even begin to reach the opening. My fingers are just not long enough for that.

[paxye]

Originally Posted by StrawberryFields

You know, I am going through the same thing and have the same questions! I am 37 + 1 today and I don't feel like I am having a baby any time soon. Last pregnancy by now I was having tons of BH (for weeks), bouts of prodromal labor, lots of downward pressure, etc., and I gave birth around 38 weeks (both pregnancies). I hardly have any BH this time, even when I am doing something super duper physical like pushing a loaded grocery cart across the parking lot, or how I just carried a desk up 2 flights of stairs (with dh).

Sounds like we are in the same boat wondering if it is even possible to have a baby soon without feeling very labor-ish.

I have had two 42 weekers with weeks of prodromal labour... BUT, when I was pregnant with my second I sat down at the computer one day at 38 weeks and heard a pop and my water broke... he was born the next day... I didn't have any contractions before that and even after my water broke it took a while for labour to start (he was posterior)...

So yes, very possible

[mrsfrenchy]

Originally Posted by Astraia

Your cervix is posterior. Your uterus isn't moving around much (it's full of baby, it can't go anywhere!) but the cervical opening tips upwards towards your back usually until labour is closer, then moves down and forward (although sometimes it won't move until you're IN labour- it doesn't necessarily indicate that much).

I can feel a bumpy bit of cervix these days, but can't even begin to reach the opening. My fingers are just not long enough for that.

This confuses me. The cervix is the opening, right? Can you elaborate more Astraia (or someone else who is also well-versed in what your cervix is supposed to be like)


Plus, I thought I had found my cervix last night (and can still feel what I felt when I checked tonight), but it feels like the end of my nose and all the websites I've read say that when you're pregnant, it should feel more like puckered lips. . I'm so confused.

[Astraia]

I've just been assuming that everything you can reach in your vaginal opening IS the cervix, but maybe technically it's a bit of your uterus? Not really sure on that.

But from what I can tell, for me at least, my cervix is like... say, an inch long. So when I reach in I can't feel up high enough to reach the cervical opening, but I can touch the side of my cervix (that long part) and my finger can almost touch the opening, I can feel the bumpy edge (ever since DD was born, my cervix has been bumpy around the opening). I'm assuming that as your cervix effaces that the side of it gets shorter, but I've never checked that.

A few weeks ago, when I could reach my cervical opening (it moves around with baby's position, as far as I can tell) it didn't feel like my nose OR like a puckered mouth. I don't really know what it felt like. Like a mushy funnel- slowly getting smaller as my finger goes in? Not sure. Hard to explain. So I'm a little bit dilated (not much, maybe 1-2 cm) and soft but effacement baffles the heck out of me.


If you're touching the opening of your cervix- like you can definitely feel the little dimple in the center- and it's like the end of your nose, it sounds like you're not soft. If the dimple is firmly closed, then you're not dilated at all. That's what mine feels like when I'm not pregnant and not ovulating- firm, tightly closed. For me the side of my cervix feels like the end of my nose, but it's not supposed to be doing anything (I don't think?)

Hope that helps!

[paxye]

Originally Posted by Astraia

I've just been assuming that everything you can reach in your vaginal opening IS the cervix, but maybe technically it's a bit of your uterus? Not really sure on that.

No, the cervix is a specific part, it is the opening of the Uterus.

http://www.reshealth.org/images/greystone/em_0259.gif

In normal times it feels like a little doughnut shaped that is either soft or hard depending on when you are feeling it... when it is closed and not effaced you can feel just the edges of it... In ovulation that opening opens a bit allowing sperm to go in, then it closes again and then opens for menstration.

to see pics of what a cervix looks like this is a great (but graphic) site http://www.beautifulcervix.com/

In pregnancy the cervix, or opening of the uterus is long and is plugged with mucous. (so yes, you can feel the walls being long and then becoming shorter, but you will feel the cervical opening before you feel the walls of it) When it effaces the passage shortens and then the cervix dilates... here are few diagrams of that

http://www.mayoclinic.com/images/ima...effacement.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/pregnancy/1/0/E...h_COG12024.jpg

The cervix can be really high up, so it is normal if you can't feel it right now, and also, because it could be really soft, effaced a bit, and dialated, if you are not sure what you are looking for that might make it hard also...

[AfricanQueen99]

Originally Posted by mymary

Did anybody NOT have that many BH and have their baby soon? Or does everybody have to have an increase of BH leading up to their births?

I never had BH with my daughter (went into labor on my EDD). And this kid is still without BH. For me, I don't see them as mandatory...the kid still comes out.

[Astraia]

paxye- what i'm thinking of is if your cervix is very posterior then you hit a ... hmm, a bump? You know, the side of your cervix. You need to feel up around the side of that (towards your back) to get to the cervical opening itself.

I was right in assuming it's all cervix- it's supposed to have some length to it (because it needs to efface, yes?) so if it's very posterior you should be able to feel the outside of it, depending on how high it is, before you can check dilation. I know for some it seems like cervix is ONLY the opening part, and that's what they feel for. But you can still feel cervix without actually getting your finger on the os.

I know I've heard in explanations of what "effacement" means that you can gauge effacement from the outside, without actually having your finger inside. But again, effacement baffles me. Might make more sense if I can check it myself during labour or just pre-labour.... hmmm, experimenting

I've seen the Beautiful Cervix link before- I've always found it really interesting

[mrsfrenchy]

uh, yeah this discussion has just confused me even more. Anyone want to come over and find my cervix for me?

So...maybe I'm not feeling my cervix at all--or maybe only part of it. What I'm feeling is a little nub-type thing that couldn't be any bigger than the end of my pinkie finger. Is that it? Or part of it? ...this really is quite confusing.

[Usually Curious]

That Beautiful Cervix site is very interesting - thanks for the link.

[Astraia]

Originally Posted by mrsfrenchy

uh, yeah this discussion has just confused me even more. Anyone want to come over and find my cervix for me?

So...maybe I'm not feeling my cervix at all--or maybe only part of it. What I'm feeling is a little nub-type thing that couldn't be any bigger than the end of my pinkie finger. Is that it? Or part of it? ...this really is quite confusing.

Hrm. Mine is probably 2-3 finger widths across, from what I can recall.... So you're probably just feeling a part of it...?