Cervixes Don’t Predict the Future

Your cervix certainly is magical, but it will NOT predict future labor progress!

Your cervix is a miraculous band of elastic muscle fibers that will thin (efface) and open (dilate) up to 10 cm wide to allow the passage of the baby into the birth canal and out into the world. 

When you are in labor, your cervix can be “checked” by your medical practitioner to assess current progress. 

Although your doctor/midwife/nurse will be able to estimate approximately how dilated and effaced your cervix is by this exam, that is where their information ends. The cervix will never be able to tell you about future progress, and does not show how long it will take for further progress to be made.

Every labor and birth are unique, and progress at their own unique rates. A woman can be fully effaced and 9 cm dilated and still need 3 hours until the birth of her baby; while another woman can be 0% effaced and 0 cm dilated and give birth to her baby in 2 hours. You just never know and should never let your CURRENT estimate of “progress” worry you about future progress.

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