Shortened Cervix

Are you in the UAE? I have been there...if you are then...Marhabah.

Cervical change is good if you are due in April!!! I congratulate your body on doing just what it is supposed to do!!

There is a thing called the Bishops Score (named after a male doctor, as there is only one obstetrical procedure, test, maneuver named after a female, and also the only one named after a midwife...The Gaskin Manouver {as in the beloved Ina May Gaskin} ..but I am side tracking).

Anyway this is a way of measuring the 'inducibility' that should be taken with many granules of salt. Though I am sure this is not what your midwife is checking for, it is just an example of what she is checking when she does a vaginal exam.

Some people check it when you are getting close to your dates, though it gives very limited information in the sense that the cervix changes in its own time, some fast and some slow and just because it is checked does not really mean it remains the same. Or sometimes when checked and not what you wanted it to be after a good while of labor then bam, you are psyched out, when you could have been on the 'transition' road. In my practice I mostly do not do these kinds of exams.

Here's the Bishops list...

Position of Cervix (anterior - i.e. close to symph. pubis, midline, or posterior)
Dilation of Cervix (1 to 10 centimeters)
Feel of Cervix (Soft, med, hard)
Position (of baby's presenting part in relation to the pelvic ishial spines, i.e. -1 is just above, or +2 is 2cms below ishial spines, etc.)
Thinness of cervix (0% -same like normal cvx, 50% - half way thinned, etc)

Hope that helps to answer your question...I am thinking short cvx means you have thinned. You should call her and ask...you don't have to wait for the next appointment...I think most practitioners like to teach about their work, I hope. )

All the best, Salaam, Paige

Quote:
Paige, CPM I really appreciate your answer and yes I am in Abu Dhabi, UAE and marhabah to u too ...but she could have said effaced - did she have to use a foreign term -- don't they usually tell u how much effaced u r....oh well, I will have to call her.
courtenay_e I hope its sooner rather than later - I am sooo anxious this time to get it over with!

I actually just went in to the Corniche hospital (if ur familiar with it) for LFM and got a CTG which was rather cool to see and I could have asked them about the "shortened cervix" thing but I forgot!!!!!!!!!! Anyways, fetal movement is okay and I am having lots of contractions that I can't feel yet...I am glad for that.

Here they don't usually check for dialation but I usually have precipitous birth and I have moved about 45 minutes from the hospital (thats how long dd took in labor after my first contraction) so wanted to get an idea if I would have to jump in the car after the first contraction or not...get what I mean

thanks again for ur responses!

Here's the thing, you can check yourself, easily (and with clean hands, it's perfectly safe, I don't care what the triage nurse says). Find out from the MW HOW much shorter than your baseline you are, then check yourself, so you know what you're feeling. I learned because I practiced the sympto-thermal method of Natural Family Planning, and checked my cervix every day. I came to know how it felt normally, so that, when it came time to know whether my cervix was changing, I didn't have to rely on docs or mw's telling me. I was familliar with my body and checked myself. This seems like a very VERY safe thing for you to do, especially with fast births! Better to know what you're body is doing than to be caught with an unplanned homebirth or worse, an unplanned CAR birth! Many women I explain the procedure to balk at this, but in my opinion, it's no worse than feeling your nose...it's just another part of your body. Sitting on the toilet or squatting with your heels flat on the floor is a great way to check. And, you can also feel dilation...check now for baseline and then you'll know, even if you don't know "numbers", that you're dilating when the time comes...it gave me, and gives some of my clients, a greater sense of what is going on. Not that I checked every hour when I was in labor...when I got into active labor I didn't need to check anymore. But I had prodromal labor for WEEKS before both of my kids' births, and it was nice to check every week or so, just to know that all the work was actually doing something...I know, I know, people are going to respond to that by saying that some things are going on that can't be measured with numbers, but, especially with quick births, I found it nice to be on alert, because I was fully effaced...then when I felt the first "active" contraction, I knew to hightail it to the practitioner!