Yep, palpating your cervix yourself is a great way to feel 'in touch' with what's happening. During my first birth, my midwife encouraged me to have a little feel myself. I could feel the puckered skin of my baby's head - what an awesome moment! My first time to touch my baby! It made it all seem so real! The other thing was, I could feel myself that there was plenty of room for this baby, and that really boosted my confidence (a good thing because it was about another 6 hours before bub was earth-side).

We had a lovely moment at a recent birth (in a birth centre) I attended when instead of doing an internal, the lovely midwife said to my client, "How about you shut your eyes and visualise how dilated YOU think you are?"

My client did so, and said, "5cm." That is exactly what I was thinking to myself would've been my guess, going by her emotional signposts.

This angel midwife then said, "I think your instincts have been spot on so far, so let's go by that, then."

I nearly had tears in my eyes because of how affirming and encouraging this midwife was. She was very encouraging of my role, too: she said, "Do you doulas have a special dictionary that you use? I'm so impressed! Keep doing what you're doing!"

She then left us to it and noticed how energized and encouraged we both were to continue. Wow. I learned something about the dynamics of 'empowerment' that day.

I sure am glad we have midwives like her.

Sorry I've digressed a tad from the original question LOL!