What does cervical dilatation from 1 to 4 fingers mean?

Starting labor will not be frightening if a woman knows the essence of the processes occurring in her body, as well as the secret terminology of doctors and obstetricians who will be with her throughout the whole patrimonial period.

One of these incomprehensible terms is considered opening the neck to a certain number of fingers. In this article we will explain why disclosure is usually measured in the fingers, whose fingers are considered to be the standard, what this measure means and what the disclosure suggests that the baby is about to be born.

Before we talk about fingers and their use in assessing the state of the cervix, we need to clarify what is happening and when there is a need for the very assessment of the state of the cervix.

After about 36 weeks, the cervix begins to actively prepare for childbirth. Up to this point, she was obliged to keep the growing baby inside the uterus, to prevent it from leaving the womb prematurely. The neck is a tight round muscle, which is normal in the absence of a woman's pathologies tightly closed throughout the gestation period. It is she who stands in the way of the baby to the birth canal.

A few weeks before delivery, the length of the neck from the original 3 centimeters begins to shrink, the round muscle gradually softens and shortens. Before giving birth, a mature neck is 1-1.5 centimeters in length and slightly opens.

The fetus goes down, presses the head against the internal pharynx, and this pressure and weight of a fairly grown-up baby help the neck to shorten and soften faster.

When labor begins, rhythmic uterine contractions (contractions) gradually increase the opening of the cervix. From a tightly closed muscle, she must turn into an open gate so that the child can pass through them and start her way along the birth canal towards her mother.

When a woman begins to give birth, the expansion of the cervix is ​​gradual, and this is the longest period of labor. It may take up to 14 hours for a female pivot. With the first contractions, the circular muscle expands gradually, as the expansion progresses, the expansion intensity will be higher.

Initial contractions do not differ in severe pain, they are quite rare. Usually repeated with a frequency of once every half hour, each fight lasts no more than 20 seconds. In the hospital to go early, because there is a latent period. It can last up to 6 hours for multiparous and up to 10 hours for giving birth for the first time. The contractions become more frequent, stronger and longer.

Already in the hospital, the woman will enter the active phase of contractions, when the disclosure will be faster. In 3-5 hours of labor, the cervix can open up a few more centimeters. Usually, by the end of the period, doctors state disclosure up to 7 centimeters. The last gripe period is transitional. It lasts from half an hour to an hour and a half. These contractions are the longest and most painful, each can last for a minute and repeat after 1-2 minutes. The neck makes a "decisive jerk" and opens completely - up to 9-10-12 centimeters (it all depends on the size of the pelvis in a particular woman)

This is a full disclosure. After it, the woman who gives birth begins to feel an overwhelming desire to visit the toilet and to push. So begin the attempts during which the child will be born.

You can, of course, in the process of childbirth make a woman's vaginal ultrasound, to measure how many inches the cervix has already managed to open up. But time is expensive, but because midwives have come up with their easy and fast "manual" system of measures - they measure the opening in the fingers. Naturally, in their own.

This is how the complete picture of the degree of its disclosure and the rate of approaching the birth of a child.

With a manual assessment of the condition of the cervix, a woman may already face late pregnancy in a antenatal clinic. After 36 weeks of gestation, the doctor will evaluate the maturation processes of this circular muscle and its preparedness for the birth process.

At 39-40 weeks, an obstetrician-gynecologist usually reports that the disclosure is 1 finger or 1.5 fingers. This means that the cervix for childbirth is ready and the birth process can begin at any time.

By arriving at the maternity hospital with contractions that are repeated every 5 minutes, the disclosure is usually about 3 centimeters, and the obstetrician receiving at the receiving department can set the extension to 2 fingers or a little more using the manual assessment method.

By the end of active contractions, manual finger metering will allow you to set the disclosure to 3-3.5 fingers, sometimes up to 4 fingers. Disclosure in centimeters is 6-7 cm.

To attempts the neck is fully revealed. Full disclosure is more than 4 fingers. Neither 5 nor 6 in this case, even when opening up to 12 centimeters, is not voiced, since the obstetrician has the opportunity to enter only 4 fingers of one hand. If they enter freely, the head of the baby, ready to be born, is groped, the woman is transferred to the hospital room, where the laboring period of the birth takes place and the final stage is the birth of the placenta.

The woman can quite calculate the rest herself - such simple mathematical exercises in the process of childbirth will help to distract, switch a little, relax, and do not have to be distracted by doctors asking about how many inches in 3 fingers will be in centimeters.

Unfortunately, in the process of childbirth, there is no other system for evaluating disclosure, except for such a thing as “obstetric finger”. But before birth, the maturity of the cervix is ​​not only determined by whether the cervix is ​​missing the doctor's fingers. Effective and informative is the so-called Bishop scale. It allows you to give a score in points. Therefore, having heard from the doctor before the birth, that the neck is ready for 3 points, you should not be surprised. How to understand this, we will tell more.

In the Bishop evaluation system, there are several criteria that can characterize the state of the circular muscle, closing the exit of the uterus.

• Density. For vaginal examination, the consistency is determined manually. The dense and rigid neck is awarded 0 points. Softened at the edges, but dense inside - 1 point, soft - 2 points. The softer the neck, the better it will behave in childbirth, disclosure will be less painful, more quickly, the likelihood of rupture of the neck and injuries to the head of the fetus will be considered insignificant.
• Length. A long neck over 2 centimeters is 0 points. An organ whose length is from 1 to 2 centimeters - 1 point. Shorter less than a centimeter - 2 points.
• Bandwidth. If during the examination the neck is tightly closed and does not miss a single finger of the obstetrician, put 0 points.If the cervical canal located inside the cervix is ​​slightly widened up to the borders of the internal pharynx, 1 point is put. If the neck misses 1-2 fingers, a well-deserved 2 points are awarded.
• Location The neck, which is bent back, is considered unprepared - 0 points on the specified scale. If the entrance hole neck "looks" forward - 1 point. The neck is best prepared, which is clearly in the middle - 2 points.

The doctor's conclusion that the maturity of the cervix is ​​5-8 points means that childbirth can begin at any time, the woman's body is quite ready for them. A score of 3-4 points means insufficient maturity, and less than 3 points according to Bishop - not being ready for childbirth, which may require medical intervention.

Preparation in this case will be engaged in the hospital. A woman will be prescribed antispasmodic drugs to relax the round muscle, hormones, and the introduction of kelp, which, swelling in the cervical canal, will lead to a gradual mechanical expansion of the cervix.

The process of cervical dilatation does not always proceed as described by obstetric benefits and medical encyclopedias. Each birth is largely individual. Therefore, different problems may arise at different stages.

If in the process of childbirth the cervix begins to unfold too quickly, it is fraught with rapid delivery - dangerous for both women and babies. This usually occurs in women with weak uterine musculature - multiparous, pregnant twins or triplets, with a diagnosis of isthmic-cervical insufficiency established during the gestation period. Abnormally intense disclosure can be observed in women who give birth prematurely, as well as in women who were induction (stimulation) of childbirth. The mechanism for the development of rapid labor is complex and modern medicine may not always explain it.

The woman is given drugs that artificially slow down contractions so that her body can “catch” the desired pace and there is no rapid birth.

If the contractions are intense, and the disclosure does not correspond to the stage, they also speak of discoordination and primary weakness of the tribal forces. In other words, the neck is opening too slowly. In this case, use drugs that enhance contractions - oxytocin and prostaglandin drugs, as well as antispasmodic drugs to relax the muscles. If such drug stimulation does not cause the cervix to expand to the desired parameters, a cesarean section is performed on an emergency basis.

Also, such a complication of childbirth is more common in primiparous women, in women who have had several abortions in the past, with reproductive health problems, and women with endocrine disorders.

Correct preparation of the cervix for childbirth will help to avoid negative complications during labor. A pregnant woman, of course, cannot influence internal factors - the level of hormones necessary for softening and smoothing, willpower is not regulated. But simple actions at home will help the process of maturation.

First of all, any movements are useful - walks, yoga, household chores. The main thing is not to overdo it, not to tire yourself with excessive loads. When moving, the baby quickly goes down and begins to put pressure on the neck from the inside, which necessarily affects its maturity.

It is important to avoid constipation or diarrhea. To do this, food must be balanced, correct. You can add to the diet a decoction of crimson leaves - he has long been considered the best "assistant" preparing for childbirth. Slight stimulation of the nipples of the mammary glands will also be beneficial, as are the Kegel exercises for strengthening the pelvic floor muscles.

Sex is useful if the mucus plug has not moved yet, there is no leakage of amniotic fluid. Orgasm has a positive effect on the psychological state of the pregnant woman, and prostaglandins in the composition of the sperm - an excellent hormonal adjuvant therapy for the neck not ready for childbirth.

For more information about cervical dilatation, see a specialist in the video below.