How to know how far dilated you are?

I know this might sound stupid. But how do you find out how far dilated you are? I know your career can tell you during an internal examination, but do you request for them to do one? I know with my first, I didn't have my first internal until after my waters had broken.
But I'm really curious to know what is going on down there. After having a early labour stopped at 32 weeks and told that I had started to dilate, I'm curious to know how far! In the last few weeks, I have been having alot of pre labour symptoms. I know this means nothing other than my body is getting ready to labour and that it could still be weeks off (preferrably at least another 1-2 at least), but I'm just want to know what my body is up to;)
Did anyone request an internal to see how far dilated they were? Or will the hospital staff only perform one if medically required.
I'm normally one to leave these sorts of things up to mother nature, and I'm still aware that bubs will come when ready, but I feel like I just NEED to know IYKWIM.
Thanks in advance:).

Curiosity go the better of me with #2&3. I did a bit of checking myself whist in the shower.

Anyway I suppose you can ask for an internal if you feel comfortable doing so. otherwise you can check yourself (make sure your hands are clean *of course* ;) ).

GL
Tanya

I can totally understand why you'd be wondering with all you've been through lately!

I had an internal after a bout of what turned out to be really really nasty BH's that lasted a full day when I was 32 weeks. Could've sworn it was the start of the real deal. After that OB's checked me and I was still closed.

I had another internal at 37 weeks to check how I was looking for my induction.
It's perfectly fine to ask them to check you if you want to - it's your body you have a right to know what's happening if you want to know ;)

I think you can request one.

But i wonder if it will make you more nervous. If they tell you you are 2cm... what does that mean you know? You can be 2cm for weeks and weeks so you arent really any closer to finding out.

I am tempted to ask at my appointment next week at 40weeks and ask for a s+s... seeing they have to be in there anyhow but i am still a little shy to ask people to have a feel around in there when it isnt for the reason i am in labour! :shhh:

I have heard of people doing it themselfs to see how many fingers they can fit in their cervix ( i am not sure how the measurements work) but i would be scared of causing damage or something or not being clean enough and bringing infection or something..

When do you see your dr again mummy mel? Will be interesting to see what they say.

Thanks Ladies,
I was hoping some of you had done one yourself. I have had a little feel, but I'm not 100% sure what I'm feeling for. I have felt what appears to be my cervix (kind of like ring with lips:redface:) But if that was it it felt really open about 3-4cm. That is why I was really curious to know for sure. Can someone give me some steps on how to feel for it incase I'm feeling for the wrong thing, as well as to tell how far it is. I'm just guessing the width is there a way to be more precise?
Thanks again ladies.

Am glad I saw this thread as it had never occurred to me to ask for an internal. Last pg the first internal I had was the day they booked me in for an induction (I was approx 10day overdue)

Am seeing ob next week at 38.5wks to discuss induction (many various reasons for travelling this path) - wonder if he'll do one, if not might ask............ I certianly don't trust myself to do an accurate one........wouldn't have a clue what I was poking around for!! :redface:

Mel,
I was quite a few cm's dialated with DD#3 at about 38 weeks but I wasn't effaced.

Your cervix during pregnancy usually faces toward you back and comes forward as you get closer to labour. It can be quite ling weeks before labour and shortens and thins (the rim will disappear) as you get closer to labour.

HTH's
Tanya

Hi Mummy Mel
Yes you can ask for an internal. (you can also refuse them)

Hey girls you are good. Some great descriptions there.

Thanks.
I have noticed that it has moved closer to the opening of my vagina since I had a feel at 32weeks (don't have to put the fingers in so far to be able to feel it IYKWIM), I definately can feel an opening that sticks out a little not like a nose more like raised a little maybe 1cm at most, it kind of feels like a very short volcano :redface: you know with a round opening that is around around 3-4cm wide.It's soft and squishy but feels thick soft and squishy if that makes sense, like it is swollen but soft. Is the part that will feel tigher once things are getting closer? Also how close will it come to the opening of my vagina once things are about the start happening?
Thanks so much for this ladies, you've been very helpful. I know if must feel funny to read me describe the inside of my fenny to you:redface:

Snap Alan!!
I'm loving the descriptions too:p, but it makes it alot easier for me to understand, they have been very helpful.
Hey Alan, do you normally perform them before a Due Date to see what is happening down there?

I was also wondering about this the other week and did a google search. I had been inserting EPO capsules and it had never occured to me that you would be able to feel your cervix. I had wondered what on earth I was feeling that had a hole I could insert a couple of fingers into. I found this in my search and since this is my second PG I assume I have been a couple of cm's dilated for the last couple of weeks.

Learning Your Cervix
- by Barbara E. Herrera, Navelgazing Midwife

Interestingly, women who want no one else to check their cervices (plural for cervix), invariably ask me how to check their own. I have described it for years, but finally wrote the process out for one of my on-line groups and it was well-received and understood for something that is 100% tactile as opposed to intellectual. I hope the information is helpful to those that want to know.

Note #1: I utilize several food analogies below that might offend some who feel I am not seeing the woman for her Self. Please know that isn't so at all, but I am trying to find common items we can touch and experience. I am not objectifying the woman. I promise.

Note #2: When I speak of "we" throughout, I am speaking as a midwife. As a mom, I never did self vaginal exams because I was too fat to reach, so reading over this, it sounds like midwives have exclusive domain over these learned skills. I don't imply that at all and am actually writing this so folks not only know what we are doing (when they are done), but so they can do them themselves if they want to.

Learning to do vaginal exams 101/201/301. No test given, ask any questions when they come up!

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PARTNERS: When putting fingers inside the vagina, washing hands is a given, but we have found that the index and middle finger are easiest to maneuver inside a vagina. Just watch that thumb! It, all too often, finds the clitoris... please be aware of your thumb and keep it to the side.

DILATION:

We (midwives, I can't speak for docs) start by measuring our forefingers and middle fingers as they are stretched apart. Mine are 8 centimeters (cm) apart. Then, we begin guess-timating objects: drinking glasses, soda cans, salt shaker's bottoms; anything in a circle, small and large. We guess, then measure; first with the tape measure, then our fingers to verify, then, when we are guessing correctly more than not, we switch that order... fingers, guess, then measure.

When I first went into a vagina to find a cervix, it was mush. I was lost in the terrain. Mind you, I had been lesbian for many years and had assisted Certified Nurse-Midwives and Labor & Delivery nurses for a long time so knew what cervices looked like with speculums, but finding one with my fingers was a whole 'nother story! Non-pregnant cervices feel like the tip of your nose. Pregnant cervices feel like your soft, gooshy lips. Being slow and gentle and patient helps you or your partner find your cervix (and can be foreplay for some).

I can tell when someone looking for a cervix finds it. They get an Ah-HA lightbulb over their head because, even in the gooshy terrain, there is a distinct difference once the cervix is felt.

Many descriptions abound: a soft, full donut is the most common... the "hole" of the donut (the "os" of the cervix) closed and tight when not dilated... warm and open and varying in size as dilation begins and progresses.

EFFACEMENT:

The length of the cervix is now actually measured when women are having pre-term labor issues... their finding that the length of the cervix can be indicative of early labor (along with the fetal fibronectin test, but that is another story).

From Babycentre:

A vaginal scan is the best way to measure your cervix because it can be seen much more clearly this way. The cervix looks like a tube on the scan, between 3 and 5 cms in length, with one end at the top of the vagina (the external os), and the other end inside the womb (the internal os). It is the internal os that can begin to open first, and this will look like a V shape on the scan. As the os opens further it becomes U shaped. This is called funneling. (2) If the closed part of the cervix measures less than 2.5 cms, a stitch will be put in to stop the cervix opening further. <my note: that is cerclage>

<end quote>

But, in normal labors, cervical effacement (as the shortening is called) can occur weeks ahead (not uncommon) or not until labor begins (not usual). Judging effacement again begins with measuring your (or your partner's) middle finger and finding where 4 cm is... touch that... feel where that is on your finger. 4 cm is a bit long to me, especially as we move closer to birth, so maybe finding where 4 cm and below would be better.


What is measured during that early ultrasound (if one is performed) is the distance from external os to internal os. Measuring with fingers is different since we aren’t putting a finger inside the os, so instead, we feel the cervix from the outside... feeling the os, and then running our finger up the outer portion… up to the upper vaginal wall and guess there. And it is a guess.

Of course, to make things more confusing, we don't guess in centimeters, we guess in percentages effaced (gone/shortened).

And, with practice, we needn’t have felt a woman’s cervix at all in pregnancy to know what the effacement is in labor; either... it is an intuition... a "feeling" of where that cervix was/is.

So, remembering that the cervix is the uterus can help with visualizing what you are feeling. The uterus uses her muscles to pull up in preparation for pushing down of second stage. The cervix (the actual donut part if we go back to that analogy) thins as the uterus pulls those muscles up. From thick like rigatoni (10% effaced)... gooshier than rigatoni... like rigatoni filled with jello or pudding, maybe... to thin like over-cooked fettuccini (80% effaced), but wider... not as wide as lasagna noodles, though, and no more pudding... just flat and soft.

When the cervix is 100% effaced, then it is unable to be felt at all... called "paper thin" because the cervix is flush with the baby's head... barely a perception of change between vaginal wall and baby's head... a fraction of an elevation... like when you put your hand on a sheet of paper lying on your desk and slide your finger off the paper onto the desk with your eyes closed... like that.

The rigatoni to fettuccini stages are subjective since they are done in percentages... and I don't put too much stock in effacement since it happens with dilation anyway. If the cervix is 1-2 cm long, that's about 50% effaced. Less than that, 75%-100%... not usually 100% until 10 cm (and without a cervical lip!). However, women do have 100% effacement pre-labor. I know to run to their home (or have them run to the birth center/hospital if that is where they are delivering) when labor begins... 100% effacement is a pretty darn good gauge of a quick labor in the making.

The only time I do internals is
If mum asks
Before giving pethadine
And on the odd occasion that I am not sure what is going on

Well all this talk had my curious so i tried to give it a go.
And i have no idea what is up there! lol
I could feel this hard firm large mass as i scale the vag wall ( i am assuming this is bub??? HELP ALAN! lol)
But i could reach any further... so no lips, no fetticine nothing!

Ohh I am happy I found this thread. As a first time mum that knows absolutely nothing!! Its great reading this sort of stuff...

I have to admit that last night I had a little feel around :redface: as I was curious as to what is happening with my body. Obviously at 33 wks I wouldnt be able to reach the cervix, is this correct??? Pretty much I couldnt feel the cervix but could feel that is was heading towards the back. I am kinda familiar with my cervix as I was checking it while TTC. I guess as the weeks go by I will check on checking and try to understand what my body is doing!

At how many weeks would a first time mum feel the cervix? Or is there no point in checking with the first one as the body has not been through the process before??

Princessmya
You may not be able to reach your cervix. It is often difficult for me to reach them and my belly does not impede me.
If you can reach it then you should be able to feel something the shape of a small doughnut that is not as soft as everything you can feel in there. Early in pregnancy it will feel about as hard as the tip of your nose. Later when BH starts to do its job it will feel as soft as your ear lobe.

Ngala
You may not be able to feel your cervix until you are well into labour. For some women the cervix does not move to the front until they are well into their labour

Are internals not done normally during the last few weeks? With my girls, I was checked from about 37 weeks on, or so. That was with a GP. This time, I have a midwife, and I have no idea what she'll be doing. I just assumed that internals were standard during the last few weeks of pregnancy, and I could refuse if I wanted, but that they would be done otherwise. It sounds weird, I guess, but I kind of looked forward to it, (not the naked part :redface:) but knowing if things were progressing down there!
As far as effacing and dilating goes - I think I was 1-2 cm dilated, and 50% effaced when I went in to labour with both girls.

No-one (except me) went anywhere near my insides until i was 39+6 and that was because i BEGGED for a S&S. THey only start doing internals at term in UK. I only had one during labour as when i lay down for the 2nd one DD slid out :)

I gave myself a few in my 42nd week (DD was born on 41+4) and another thing i noticed was the inside of my cervix (i was 25% thinned and 1-2cm dilated, enough to get a finger with room to move) felt like a tight rubber band. Pushing against that part (gently of course) felt sort of hot and burny, though not agonising or anything! A bit like my labour pains - like a chinese burn.

Bec

Does anyone know if you can feel bubs head through your cervix? When I had a feel last night, I swear I could feel bubs head, didn't know what it was at first, so have a couple of little pokes, then I could feel it move around, I was amazed and sure it was his head. It felt really hard like bone. It wasn't that far (maybe 1cm) in from the opening of my cervix (it's lips) and if it was, there didn't feel to be much between my finger and him. Could it be him?

Also, if it is his head I can feel, does that mean that my cervix is approximately 1cm long now or really thin and the lips of my cervix are still 1cm? I know I can't know for sure, but just curious again to know what you all think I'm feeling.