how can midwife feel the head?

[Ladypug]

Please can someone explain to me how this works? 49 weeks pregnant and today midwife tried to do stretch and sweep but couldn't (unsure why) but she could feel the head with her hand! She said cervix is effacing but can't tell how dilated I am - if she can feel the head there must be some dilation, right? Otherwise how can she feel it? Am I being stupid? Don't understand :-(

40 weeks!!!! Not 49!!!

It won't be the actual head, it will be the shape of the head pressing against the vaginal wall i thin, although I may be wrong

No I asked that and she said she could actually feel the head (internal exam) and I could feel a sharp nervy pain when she pressed it

Glad you aren't 49weeks
I agree with the poster above, I believe they can feel the shape, rather than them touching the head itself if that makes sense? That sharp pain may have been the midwife having a feel of your cervix. I remember my sweeps well! I had three in a week - the last one did the trick!

Ah ok... what I'm trying to find out is does this mean I'm dilated at all or not necessarily?

I think that effacing means that it's thinning out... Which means it's moving in the right direction. In your maternity notes, has she given your cervix a score? I can't remember what the scores mean; but there might be a midwife on here who would?

Above posters are both right. Your cervix is probably still high or far back and she can't reach the os (opening) to tell whether you are dilated - if she could reach it a sweep isn't much more of a reach.

You can google the bishops score to see what criteria are used to try to predict how 'close' you are to spontaneous labour, but in reality you could go from 0-5cm very quickly.

Unfortunately there's no way to really predict when your little one will be here, hang in there i know it's frustrating and uncomfortable waiting!

Whatever happens, you'll be having a baby pretty soon!!
(Not much consolation when you're feeling a bit desperate... I went to 41 weeks and 4 days. Not pleasant!)

Thanks Grizzlebert - bishops score! That was going to bug me all night!

Thanks mouthful and grizzle, that's really helpful! Didn't know any of this, just couldn't figure out how she could feel the head but my cervix might be closed! Will check out my notes!

With my son the mw in maternity felt my tummy and declared the position of the baby and was 100% wrong. My baby was breeched and she turned red when I told her. Ds was positioned in a triangle and she said it is a good presentation. I asked for another mw.

Hi Rakuca, this was an internal examination and trust me, the position is pretty clear as the head is so low I can feel it when I move!