by Unwirklich VinZant

Created on: June 24, 2010   Last Updated: June 26, 2010

The cervix is a tunnel like passageway that leads from the vaginal canal into the uterus. Before pregnancy this canal is open and allows the lining of the uterus to pass during menstruation, it also produces cervical mucus which aids in safe union of sperm with egg. Once pregnant the cervix is blocked off by a mucous plug to prevent infection from reaching the baby or babies inside.

During the final weeks of pregnancy, this mucous plug may begin to loosen slowly or fall out all at once as a result of cervical dilation. While the loss of a mucous plug does indicate cervix dilation it does not necessarily mean labor is imminent. Some women lose their mucous plugs weeks before their labor, others hours before.

Dilation is the process in which the cervix thins and opens to allow the baby to be born. Active labor will begin when your cervix has reached 10 cm dilated and is 100% effaced or thinned. Many women begin to dilate before their labor by sometimes even weeks. Labor is not considered “begun” until the cervix is dilated to at least 4 cm.

Regardless most prenatal care providers will begin checking your cervix for dilation at about 36 weeks to try to get a slightly less rough estimate of delivery time than the due date offers.  If you wish to check your cervix yourself perhaps inbetween appointments to chart your progress, or to avoid going to the hospital too early to help avoid a c-section, this guide on how to check your cervix for dilation should be of help.

Locating the Cervix:

The first step in checking for dilation in your cervix for dilation is to understand where and what the cervix is.

If you feel to the very back of your vagina, (comfortable positions will be covered in the next step) and you are early in pregnancy or not pregnant and have never had a baby before, you will fill a small dimple similar to the top of your nose. This is your cervix. If you have had a baby before your cervix may feel closer to a chin or puckered lips as pregnancy forever changes the cervix. Your cervix may also feel this way if you are later in pregnancy and it has begun to dilate.

Also, note that the cervix does move. For instance, before pregnancy your cervix will rise higher and become softer when you are fertile, it will be lower and open during menstruation, and low and closed in any other time.  During pregnancy most women find their cervix is high and posterior or pointing away from the birth canal until later in pregnancy as it moves forward

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