Help understanding cervix details

[Mandykeen81]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to this so please bear with me...

I was due on 15/11/13, with first baby, but LO decided not to make an appearance. However, midwife gave me a sweep (never again) and in my notes she put "cx posterior, 1.5 cm long, medium, admits 1 fingertip".

Can someone please explain this to me in English...

Much appreciated :-)

Basically, you're getting there.
All of those things contribute towards your Bishops score, which assesses how close you are to labour. My notes looked very much like yours at 41 weeks, and after two sweeps I had a natural birth at 40+11.

During my sweep, the midwife tried to make my cervix come forward, so it was less posterior. Changes can happen in your cervix very quickly, so don't worry if you feel like you're not 'ready' enough yet - I went from where you are to baby in three days. Good luck!

Cervix position can be posterior, mid or anterior. The further forward it is, the closer to birth you are. You would expect it to be posterior for a sweep.

Length - the shorter your cervix, the closer to baby. Cervix start at approx 3cm long, so your body is starting to do work to shorten it down. The cervix shortens down as well as dilating in the early stages. Again, 1.5cm is pretty standard for a sweep.

Medium means the consistency of your cervix...how it is to labour. It goes from firm, to medium to soft. Again, your cervix is pretty much where it's expected to be by being medium.

Admits a fingertip is your dilatation. You go from closed up to 10cm which is fully dilated. Admitting a fingertip manga that your cervix is not completely closed, but isn't quite 1cm yet.

Basically your examination shows that your body is starting to do the background work to get you in to labour at some point in the next coupe of weeks! You're not very far down the path yet, but you've started the long slow journey.

Best of luck!