So I did my own internal exam...

[BirthFree]

and I could TOTALLY feel baby's head if I pushed up just 1cm - it was SO freaking cool! It didn't matter if you felt toward the back or the front, the head was solidly there - that was so cool, I'm still freaking out about it. I never even tried before I don't think so I was just blown away...
That's all!

~Julie

[kat85]

Whoa!!!!!

[ColoradoMama]

oooo - I never thought about doing that! I bet I could feel Little Bean's head!

[veganf]

Neato!! I've never had the guts to try it (or the desire to cut my fingernails short enough to do it ).

[Fluffyblueberry]

might be a stupid question....but dare I ask how exactly you do your own internal exam? I mean, how far up there do you have to go? What do you have to do? :

[veganf]

My midwife says the few times she checked herself she just squatted down low and then she could reach pretty easily.
Personally, I wouldn't even know what I'd be feeling for!

[BirthFree]

Well I did Natural Family Planning so I'm a bit used to feeling for my cervix area. Basically you wash your hands reallllllly well, sit on the toilet (that's a good place, that or the shower where you can lift a leg) and put your finger in (I obviously use the longest one) and feel toward your bum. In pg your cervix faces your bum and then it swings mid-line and then anterior (toward the front) for delivery/in labor. So when you feel an opening, gently push up toward your tummy and see if you feel something that feels like super solid bone - that'd be the baby's head.

Don't know if that helps a lot... but that's how I did it. I'm about always a cm dilated (ha ha, the way of the multipara) but I'm too chicken to put my fingers inside - I do NOT want to break any bag of water or cause a leak or ANYthing.
~Julie

[Fluffyblueberry]

wow ok.... I may give that a go! If I'm not too chicken...

[ambotchka]

I just did it! I was in the shower, so I squatted down and reached up with my longest finger, and bam! there was the head! I think the kid and I both went "whoa, what is that?" at the same time. I was only two knuckles in. I guess the cervix is right there too, but I couldn't tell. I felt a little ridge, but it was nearly flat, so I really don't have a clue. The head was undeniable though, and AWESOME!

[BirthFree]

Cool Amber! Lol about your reaction (and baby's reaction). I can imagine that's what I'd say if someone touched my head too like that.

You might have felt the cervix opening (or did you mean baby's head ridge?)... it kind of seems like lips (the opening can be a slit (mine is) or round or all sorts of other shapes). If you feel past the place where the opening is, you should kind of "fall off" a ridge (that'd be the end of your cervix) if it's facing back at all. I don't think that sounds like a very helpful description but ah well.
Neat!
~Julie

[AmieV]

I'm familiar with my cervix too from FAM but for some reason am just terrified to feel up there while pg. Maybe I'll get over it before the end of this pg. that sounds so cool!

[selena_ski]

i usually have DH check me when we are intimate or when he is doing perineum streches, he felt the baby's head last night and was just so giddy. i can't wait to see him come into the daddy role.