Cervix question?

[TesalynsMommy04]

Have any of you mama's been doing self checks on your cervix? If so, how can you tell if it's "thinning" out or getting soft? I want to have my dh check since I don't think I'm that flexable, heck I can barely bend over to tie my shoes , but was just curious as to what it's supposed to normally feel like as opposed to what it should feel like at 38 weeks with my second child?

[autumn_faune]

I've been checking mine (how in tarnation I manage to reach it I'll never know).

I'm not sure about the effacement and how to tell that, but I know it's a pregnant cervix- up until 3rd trimester it was pretty firm like the end of my nose, and now it's just a puddle of mush. 2 fingers fit in easy, which would be probably 2-3 cm. But of course, all of that means absolutely diddlysquat. Because baby will come when it's ready, and my cervix before it's ready isn't going to let it out.

[LizaBear]

I've been *trying* to reach mine, but I can't this time - not yet.

[sophiamama]

Yeah, I've been checking mine.....it's not easy! Easiest way for me is on the toilet, I tried in the shower, but I'm just not that limber. Mine is soft, about a fingertip dialated. I'm not positive about how to tell effacement....I read that normally it would be about 4 cm, so if it's shorter than that, then you have effaced, make sense? I can feel the baby's head behind my cervix, which is fairly short and soft.

[prettypixels]

I can't usually reach my cervix, I did try a few times! Maybe I should try again... I wanna know what's going on up there! Even though it doesn't mean anything.

[juliansmom]

My OB has checked mine a few times, and it felt that even she had to really push to get up there, so I figure it would be impossible for me to do it right. At my last appointment (37 weeks), she told me that she could get one finger into the cervix (it had thinned but was completely closed the week before.)

[Harmony96]

I've tried twice in the past week or so to check mine (I'm 38 weeks today) and I can't reach it. This is baffling to me because when we were TTCing and I was charting, I could ALWAYS reach it, no matter where I was in my cycle. Now all I feel is the soft mushiness of my vaginal walls.

At my last appointment on Tuesday, my dr (while feeling of my belly, not my cervix) said that the baby is "starting" to drop... when it drops farther, do you think that will make my cervix easier to find? I really would like to know that eventually I can reach it, so that I don't go to the hospital too early (i.e. feeling nice good hard-to-talk-through contractions for several hours and then still be just 1 cm dilated).

[sophiamama]

The other problem with trying to locate your cervix is that when you are pregnant often times your cervix is posterior, which means it kinda migrates towards the back to "protect" it. When you get closer to having the baby it moves forward to align with the birth canal. I know that a couple of weeks ago I couldn't find it for anything, but now its much closer to the front, making it easier to locate. I talked to my midwife about this a bunch when she did a cervical check 2 weeks ago. She was extremely informative!