Can I check my own cervix?

[catsofa]

In my NCT class the other day someone asked about checking your own cervix to see how far dilated you are. They got laughed at.

But now I'm wondering why one shouldn't be able to check one's own cervix, and am thinking that it must hurt much less if you do it yourself.

Is it actually impossible to reach when heavily pregnant (I do have quite long fingers)? And if it's not, is it possible to judge reasonably well how dilated you are without extensive training?

Probably impossible because you can't reach round your huge belly

I can only see one way to find out...

Hmm yeah I just had a go to see if I could reach and I couldn't. I'm 33 weeks but I'm not sure if it was really the bump in the way or not somehow - I just feel so much less flexible and bendy generally! I should be able to reach in when not pregnant though shouldn't I? Will have another go tomorrow when I'm less achey.

I did. I'm not trained but used to work in a maternity unit so knew a bit. Towards the end of my 2nd pregnancy I tried but couldn't find it. Tried again a couple of days later and the difference was huge! I felt it straight away, it was central and the head had clearly come down. Just make sure you have clean hands and maybe do it in the bath. It's your body, you don't need permission!

I used to do it to try and spot differences between periods to detect the fertile days. It didn't work well, and I preferred to rely on mucus and temperature combined.
But, yes, you should be able to reach it easily without a bump. Never tried with the bump, though.

Yes I did! Its hard to guess dilatation tho. It's a learned skill and you need plenty of practice.

Yep I don't think I would have in labour!

I did but it was far back and high until the day I went into labour - I spoke to an obstetrician friend when I was having random BH and she gave me instructions on the phone - I was about 5cm when i first checked then had my first proper contraction 5 minutes later and DD was born 38 minutes later. You do need gorilla arms and the ability to contort yourself. You won't be able to feel it until you are ready to go into labour. With DD1 not even the MW could find it at 40 week because it wasn't ready.

OK definitely sounds like something it'd be worth trying to do then - apparently the 10cm thing is quite arbitrary anyway and it can be anywhere from about 8 to 12 cm when you get to the pushing bit, so knowing how my own cervix is changing might be just as helpful as a stranger telling me my score on a scale of 1 - 10!

I'll have another go at cervix yoga later on

I can reach mine q easily. Just be careful you don't poke around too much. You don't want to accidentally do a membrane sweep and kick start labour.

I had been keeping a check on mine in a previous pregnancy and did check it in early labour. I stupidly hadn't realised that the pains I was getting we're contractions even though it was baby number 3 All I can say is ow! Touching your cervix mid-contraction is not something I'd recommend. The difference between 1ish and 3ish cm was quite shocking. My cervix had moved loads and I could feel my membranes bulging with waters during a contraction. I woke DH up pretty quickly after that.

Just don't do it till after 37 weeks, they use speculums rather than fingers when you are early to avoid setting off early labour.

When you are not labouring yet it feels like the end of your nose. Not kidding.