“So no two women dilate the same”
My 4th baby was delivered at 9cm actually, when my midwife checked me I felt a tad overwhelmed and then she said no honey your body can deliver at this stage its all good.
“You can imagine my relief as I had the urge to push/breath my baby out already”
Did you know? your cervix will dilate open for your baby’s head size, amazing right! just enough to allow your babies head to move through actually.
So this basically means If your baby is little or a wee bit early, it may only need to dilate to 8/9cm before he/she can come through gently.
If your baby is on the little larger side, your cervix will dilate to accommodate this, I my self have observed a number of vaginal examinations that are fare from accurate, if your a larger lady I dare say a very well trained midwife will need to be dong this exam on you, Its truly a dying art form. and one that can make or break a mothers spirit if she’s not given the an accurate exam.
Did you know your care provider is unable to see the actually size of your cervix so its done by feel, by using their fingers to measure length, width and softness, this is how its done, Often Ive witnessed a couple of care providers do an examine seconds apart and not get the same dilation.
Best advice I can give is communicating with your caregiver about any concerns, don’t over think whats happening in your body, relax let go and providing you and your baby are doing well, please know the surges don’t last forever and go with your bodies progress, no two women dilate the same so just allow yours to do what it needs to do, don’t hurry it up.. This is a recipe for success from my point of view.
Look at life through your Childs eyes
Gabriella
