cervix checkers

[lovebeingamomma]

curious for those who check their own cervix what it feels like at this stage.  I'm 33 weeks, it's high but I can reach it with 2 fingers, closed, as soft as the rest of the vaginal wall.  Posterior.  Feels like it's 1/2 cm long.  No one else is sticking their hands up their so I'm relying on my own knowledge to figure out what's going on..not that it predicts anything.  And yes I know proper hygiene.

[becca_howell]

About the same. Very high. Didn't have much time to check this morning. May try later.

[LacieD]

Mine is soft, high, and open about 2 fingers wide.  

[Jynuine]

Mine is soft and a tad effaced- Im probably about 1 cent dilated but that could be normal for me.

Have you ever checked out mybeautifulcrevix.com? It is a site a doula and midwife in training (I THINK she is a midwife now... cant remember) started by tracking pictures of her own cervix at different times of the month. Other people contribute now.

[onlyAngil]

I tried... but was unable to find it! :( Any tips?

Very odd to me because it is always right there when I "poke" for charting! LOL

[Nutter]

Pre-pregnancy I could always reach my cervix. Now though I can barely reach it. From what I can tell, it feels about the same as when I checked it in my second trimester.

[lovebeingamomma]

Interesting yesterday I checked it again, and I realized I had to go around the baby's head to get to it, so it's definately posterior. 

[lovebeingamomma]

When you are dilated, I remember my midwives saying they felt the head (previous pregnancies).  Wouldn't you just feel mucous with the plug still being there?  Or the amniotic sac?  Or can you feel through those?  Curious..

[littleteapot]

 Mine is very soft, short and a full wide open 2-3cm. No funnel at all: I can stick a finger straight through with almost enough tostretch for 2 fingers.

[penstamon]

I can't find mine.  It is way up high and I didn't fish around too much.  I did realize how low the baby's head really is though because I could feel the head on the side of the vaginal wall.  This babe is so low for 33+w!

[lovebeingamomma]

what do you mean by no funnel?
 

Originally Posted by littleteapot 

 Mine is very soft, short and a full wide open 2-3cm. No funnel at all: I can stick a finger straight through with almost enough tostretch for 2 fingers.

[littleteapot]

When your cervix is dilating, it has a funnel-like effect at first where the bottom part of it is more open than the top part. As you efface, and your cervix becomes thinner, this effect gradually disappears. When you're 100% effaced there's no "funnel" anymore: your cervix is practically paper thin. Mine's about 50% effaced or so, but my dilation goes straight through. Usually when you start to dilate before labour you'll be closed at the top, but open at the bottom.

[sharita]

 started checking mine around 38 39 weeks because curiosity got the better of me.  Then I started checking it too often I think.  Like every other day or anytime I felt crampy.  I even stripped my own membranes with steril gloved fingers coated in evening primrose oil. 

I woke up 40 weeks 3 days with a leak, then a gush a few hours later.  Labor didn't start for 36 hours.  I believe all the checking contributed to my PROM.  Or the membrane stripping. 

I wouldn't say checking is a bad thing I myself just got way too curious and over did it only to learn one thing:  I don't believe (especially in subsequent births) that cervical status is any real indication of labor readiness unless you are over 4 cm or something, lol.  At least for me, that is.  I stayed 3 for weeks with one of my pregnancies and swore I was slowly dilating more.  However, it wasn't until I woke up with actual contractions one morning and thought it was stomach trouble and decided to do a check (a few pregnancies ago) and found a tight bag with a head behind it that I knew for ssure.  I was about 4-5 cm then.

I am all for knowing ones own body and think its cool to be able to access these things.  I just have to not let my curiosity get the better of me this time.  Had I been having a hospital birth, they would have never let me go 36 hours without a single intervention after my water broke. 

As for the labor, it was awesome though.  Once the contractions did start, two hours and two pushes later, he was here!!!

I know I will check again this time but wont strip my membranes and will be careful not to check too much but just go by other signs.  However when you have as much prodromal labor as I do, those signs lie!!!!

[lovebeingamomma]

I won't strip my own membranes, good tip ;)

[L&K'smommie]

Originally Posted by sharita 

 started checking mine around 38 39 weeks because curiosity got the better of me.  Then I started checking it too often I think.  Like every other day or anytime I felt crampy.  I even stripped my own membranes with steril gloved fingers coated in evening primrose oil. 

I woke up 40 weeks 3 days with a leak, then a gush a few hours later.  Labor didn't start for 36 hours.  I believe all the checking contributed to my PROM.  Or the membrane stripping. 

I wouldn't say checking is a bad thing I myself just got way too curious and over did it only to learn one thing:  I don't believe (especially in subsequent births) that cervical status is any real indication of labor readiness unless you are over 4 cm or something, lol.  At least for me, that is.  I stayed 3 for weeks with one of my pregnancies and swore I was slowly dilating more.  However, it wasn't until I woke up with actual contractions one morning and thought it was stomach trouble and decided to do a check (a few pregnancies ago) and found a tight bag with a head behind it that I knew for ssure.  I was about 4-5 cm then.

I am all for knowing ones own body and think its cool to be able to access these things.  I just have to not let my curiosity get the better of me this time.  Had I been having a hospital birth, they would have never let me go 36 hours without a single intervention after my water broke. 

As for the labor, it was awesome though.  Once the contractions did start, two hours and two pushes later, he was here!!!

I know I will check again this time but wont strip my membranes and will be careful not to check too much but just go by other signs.  However when you have as much prodromal labor as I do, those signs lie!!!!

This is very true...even for FTM's.  With my 2nd I was 5cm dilated for a week(was 3cm all ready at 36 weeks) before he decided to be born on his due date.

That said, I have checked my cervix all ready and it's still so high I can hardly reach it...but this baby is still very high as well.

[SallyNichole]

Want to know how to freak out a first time dad?

text him that your doctor just told you that you were dilated to 1. He called me all panicked and wanting to know if that meant labor was starting.

:) hehe, I guess someone wasn't paying attention in class and when I talked about how you can walk around dilated to a 4-5 for weeks. It was sort of cute how worried about me he was and if nothing else I think this convinced him to get the pager from work today.

[elonwy]

LOL SallyNichole. Watching my husband learn all this stuff is sooooo cute. I am totally waiting for one of these moments to happen :P

[lovebeingamomma]

found this great post!  http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/568832/learning-your-cervix

[Almamiel]

lovebeingamomma - excellent post - thanks!

Had midwife check my cervix yesterday after the GBS test - mostly because I was curious about how accurate my own checks were! It also gave her apprentice a chance to do an exam, too, which I'm cool with.

So, about 1cm dilated, 25% effaced, -1 station- just what I thought! Yay, me ;)

I'm pretty much always like this after 30 weeks, and don't typically do much more until labor actually begins (though this is number 3, so all bets are off, I hear).

36 w 3 days today.

[HappyMamaBeth]

My apologies. Didn't mean any offense, was just stating why
I am not checking. I still enjoy reading about what others are doing/finding.
Edited by HappyMamaBeth - 4/7/11 at 11:34am