I think that my cervix is broken...diagram inside.

[DoulaSarah]

So I have NEVER been able to feel my own cervix. It has always been out of reach, whether or not I am pregnant. I have three kids, two of which were posterior, one was posterior brow and was born vaginally. I think she broke my cervix.

It is very low, maybe 4 inches inside, and it feels....fallen, for lack of a better word. It does apparently go back up during intercourse, and when I push it up, it does go up. But it is RIGHT THERE when I check, and I can literally grab hold of both sides of it. I can reach way way behind it on the posterior side, almost can't even feel the back of it. It is about an inch to two inches thick.

What the heck is wrong with it!!??

I have no idea how I will get pregnant again, even when it does go up, I am not sure if it is far enough up to get the sperm...

Here is the diagram of my cervix, drawn by me (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y59/doulasarah/Cervix.jpg)

I really hope someone will tell me this is normal, or that at least they have heard of it.

Sarah

[Wugmama]

An RN I used to work with had her whole uterus start to come out. In fact, she realized it while we were at work. I would assume she felt her cervix lower. She ended up getting a hysterectomy. But she was much older than you - at least 60. Also, she had had some disease as a young person (polio?) and had a hunched back and was extemely short as a result. I think her problem with her uterus was related to that somehow. I wouldn't think you'd have that problem at your age. I don't understand your diagram, but then again am not that up on human anatomy.

~Tracy

[tinyshoes]

So sorry to hear you're worried about your cervix!

hmmmmmmm...

It's so hard to guess about things, online, esp. when my own cervical repetoire is very limited--but I wonder if you're appriciating two aspects of a mutliparus cervix. And I'm not trying to seem like a know-it-all...I'm just telling you all I do know, and maybe it applies...just to help you as you figure things out.

The first aspect is: once a baby squeezes through the cervix, it becomes stellate. I love that term...because it means star-shaped. The enterance/exit to the cervix, the cervical os, will never be a round little hole again, it's all puckered-looking. Could it be that your cervix is more puckery than some? Your drawings, esp the center mouth-lookin' one, remind me of the images of stellate cervixes (is that the plural?!?) I've seen...but more main straight-line-across, rather than several straight lines all around (in a starry shape.)

The second aspect is: being pregnant puts a LOT of stress and strain on a woman's body. Yes, we are made to do it...but here in the "civilized" West, where we drive everywhere, push a shopping cart to get our food, and sit at computer desks for work, our bodies are out of shape. And then we get pregnant, which separates the abs, which stresses the back, which stresses the quads on the tops of the thighs, on and on.....

...and after that first baby, second baby, the body's mechanics are in rough shape, and other muscle groups comensate, most notabley the pelvic floor. And add to that, after the first baby, you're carrying around the first and/or second babies WHILE PREGNANT.

This is ouchy for even a fit American mama's body...it is too easy to adopt and evolve poor posture, bad habits, carrying a toddler on the left hip (and overstretching and extending the ab muscles on the left side, to the point that they cannot strenghten the way the right side can...who knew this could happen?)

SO if the pelvic floor is relaxed and weakend, OR if the pelvic floor is overburdened (carrying you upright all day when your abs, back muscles aren't doing their pre-pregnancy jobs) your pelvic floor will sag....and your cervix will be handy and low.

So maybe you don't have a broken cervix: maybe you have an exaggerated stellate cervix, and a lack of tone in your pelvic floor, causing your cervix to be lower than it ever has.

The stellate nature of the cervix can't be fixed, obviously...a badge of motherhood. The saggy pelvic floor is "easily" fixed, because if you use a muscle it will get stronger and do it's job, but personally------after babe #2 I saw a physical therapist specializing in pelvic floor heath, and learned A LOT about what the pelvic floor does and cannot do, and why a thin, strong-looking woman like myself was actually a post-partum weakling using all the wrong muscles and not using some important muscles for everyday standing, walking, jumping.

But the happy news is once I got my glutes, hamsrtings, abs, back muscles to start working again, my pelvic floor perked up immidiately, and thererfore my cervix (and everything else, incl. bladder) has levetated to its proper locale.

I hope this helps.....either providing info you can use, or narrowing things down to what isn't going on with you.

And what about a good ol' fashioned visit to a woman-loving CNM? You can get out the mirror and look at your own cervix while you share your concerns with her? CNMs have seen a lot of bodies, and that conversation could be reassuring.

HTH!!

(Last note--kegels alone won't do it...proper kegels, in conjunction with proper body mechanics, will do it.)

[Village Mama]

Have you checked your cervix through your cycle? It may move down furthar and then up again through the cycle. The wider long " hole" in the cervix is normal for people who have birthed a child vaginally... like a smile! Anyhow... don't feel too nervous yet. Sometimes things take a while to get back in thier proper spots! I have had some anxious moments about my stuff being in places they werent suposed to be, but with time they healed themselves

[DoulaSarah]

I knew about the pucker being gone forever!! LOL!

I also knew that it would be more of a "smile", which mine definately is..there is a diagram of the smile...lol!

It is just the low location. I am going to be getting my period soon, so I would think that it would be a lot higher.

I think I will schedule a physical.

[CarrieMF]

You can find it 4inches inside right, that's the length of my fingers and perfectly normal to find it there. It is often low when AF is coming, high & unreachable when pg. I'm betting that if you check again after AF leaves it will be higher, at ovulation you may not be able to find it again. A cervix takes quite a journey through a woman's cycle.

[Undercover Hippie]

Is this a consistent observation over the time since your last birth, or is this a one-time observation today? That might help us figure it out.

If you don't check your cervix often, I will reassure you that during the infertile parts of my cycle, my cervix sounds exactly like yours. :) Your cervix should start out each cycle very low, then move upward until you can barely find it when you ovulate, then move down again until your period. So, maybe checking your cervix often throughout the next cycle will reassure you that it is moving like it should be?

However, if it's like this all the time, there certainly could be some pelvic floor issues going on due to your last birth, and talking to a woman-friendly care provider would be a great idea. It could be an issue that needs to be dealt with or it could be the new normal for you but either way they can reassure you.

And also, I would think that as long as it moves up during intercourse (which it seems to be, and if it wasn't I'd think you would notice significant discomfort) I don't think it would interfere with getting PG again. As long as it opens and you have fertile CM, I bet the sperm can get where they need to go. :)

Good luck!

[DoulaSarah]

You can find it 4inches inside right, that's the length of my fingers and perfectly normal to find it there. It is often low when AF is coming, high & unreachable when pg. I'm betting that if you check again after AF leaves it will be higher, at ovulation you may not be able to find it again. A cervix takes quite a journey through a woman's cycle.


That is exactly where it is. Low and to the right. I am just about to get my period. I have felt it there for about three days now.

[DoulaSarah]

Is this a consistent observation over the time since your last birth, or is this a one-time observation today? That might help us figure it out.

If you don't check your cervix often, I will reassure you that during the infertile parts of my cycle, my cervix sounds exactly like yours. :) Your cervix should start out each cycle very low, then move upward until you can barely find it when you ovulate, then move down again until your period. So, maybe checking your cervix often throughout the next cycle will reassure you that it is moving like it should be?

However, if it's like this all the time, there certainly could be some pelvic floor issues going on due to your last birth, and talking to a woman-friendly care provider would be a great idea. It could be an issue that needs to be dealt with or it could be the new normal for you but either way they can reassure you.

And also, I would think that as long as it moves up during intercourse (which it seems to be, and if it wasn't I'd think you would notice significant discomfort) I don't think it would interfere with getting PG again. As long as it opens and you have fertile CM, I bet the sperm can get where they need to go. :)

Good luck!

I did make an appointment to have a pap, which I have needed to do anyway for over a year now. So I can get two things at once this way! I have tried to feel my cervix for years, and have never been able to, although I don't think that I have ever tried to close to menstrating. I have always tried either pregnant, or when I am ovulating, so it makes sense that I wouldn't have been able to feel it!

I am starting to feel a lot better about my broken cervix! I really would love a boy baby, so getting the sperm as close to the opening as possible is a goal for the next try (in a couple of years that is) and I don't want all of those little girl swimmers making it there first!!

[stafl]

If it's not hanging out of your vaginal opening, it's likely nothing to worry about. During my last pregnancy, mine was sometimes as low as just two or three inches inside me, and as i am accustomed to checking it daily, I worried about it and asked my doc. He said it was nothing to worry about.

[tinyshoes]

I did make an appointment to have a pap, which I have needed to do anyway for over a year now. So I can get two things at once this way!

Would you wish to share your info with us on this thread? I know am interested in what delightful insight your care provider would have to share--and your diagram was so nice...I take all things cervial seriously!

Despite having read Toni Wexler, mdc ladies, I find it very interesting to learn from ya'll again how important time of the month is to location of cervix. It just seems wierd that the cervix is hip-hoppin' all over the neighborhood, but I guess it really does! I guess I need to visit my neighborhood more often, LOL!

[DoulaSarah]

I will let you know. My traditional midwife wants me to check it out again about a week after my period.

[annakiss]

Moved to Family Planning...

[eminer]

I know this is veering onto a side topic, but tinyshoes, do you have any links, book recs, or even just comments to post on the body mechanics to which you refer? I feel that there has been something off with me since about the 3rd trimester with dd2. For one thing, the kids feel way heavier and I get tired sooner when carrying them. (I admit I've never alternated shoulders with the rebozo like I should -- I know, I know -- but actually at the time the funniness started, I'd been carrying dd1 quite ergonomically on my back, not my hip...) I tried doing the Tupler exercise for awhile but didn't notice any improvement. Maybe my body is digesting its own muscle because I don't eat enough calories to provide sole nutrition to a 4 year old. :irked:

[pfamilygal]

It can also depend on how your uterus is positioned. Mine is usually retroflexed, and mine is very low (about 1 1/2 inches up). I still got pg (again and again and again - :lol). At about 10 weeks mine popped back up. Now it's way up in there.

[tinyshoes]

Gee whiz, I'm so sorry to say that I don't have a good "get from the library" kind of reference to offer, eminer!

As I said, I learned my info from a physical therapist. Sure, I was given photocopied hand-outs with various exercises to perform to strengthen certain areas, but I never learned of a book that would explain it all.

The best I could hope to suggest is complain to your family doc about feeling tired carrying your kids. That's not normal--you've got a sports injury, if you will! Then perhaps you can get a referreal to a physical therapist, and begin to undo the mystery.

Those PTs have all kinds of little tricks to check range-of-motion, strength, etc., so you can see what the problem is.

One image my PT described to me was this one: if you walk around all day, carrying a heavy phonebook in your hand (like with your elbow bent, holding book up) how could you really strenghten the bicep muscle? That muscle needs to RELAX, and then lift the weight, and relax again. The perma-mostly flexed muscle all day long is not a good thing.

She said that's why my pelvic floor was doing, being perma-flexed all day, and doing someone else's job.

Good luck! Maybe there is a book or link or something besides a PT--I just don't know. So sorry!