CP's with a tilted uterus, it's always within reach, how can I tell if low/medium/high??

sweetyjenj

Help! I've been trying to track my CM and CP this month (1st month of tracking so far), but I am confused. I have a tilted uterus, so my cervix faces my stomach and it is on the back wall (so it's retroverted, I believe). Every time I feel it, it's not very high and I can reach it easily every time, though occasionally it's not as obvious that it's there, which I think is when it's soft. Since it doesn't seem to go "up" very much, how can I know if it's in high/medium/low? I know it's common to have a tilted uterus, so those of you out there, do you have any insight as to the positions? What should I be looking for? Thanks so much!

P.S., I did a search for this answer, but so far everyone's questions about tilted uterus's is not about the cervical position, but on their ability to get pregnant. I'm sorry if this is a duplicate question, but I haven't been able to find a post that answers my question. 

PensiveCrayon

THANK YOU FOR THIS. I found out I possibly have a retroverted uterus when I went for my Pap smear in December and the doctor was having trouble reaching it. Later that month I decided to whip out TCOYF in preparation for TTC, read up, got excited, tried to find my cervix, and...nothing.

And you're right. People just don't talk about it on forums!

So here's what I generally do. (Sorry, lots of TMI here.) There are some days when I actually can reach it. That's when I call it a "low" on my chart. Some days I can barely reach it with my middle finger. I mark that as "medium". And the days when I can't even get to it with my middle finger, I mark it as high.

Is it correct? Well, I'm not sure. It seems like it moves around an awful lot in there, and that's frustrating. I stopped marking down firmness altogether, because how am I supposed to know, if I can't even reach it? That said, I'm satisfied with checking my CM and my BBT. I feel like I can get a pretty good feel for my cycle without the cervix checking, unfortunate as it is that I've had to let it go.

In any case, in TCOYF she says the cervix check is optional. Good luck! And feel free to chart stalk (but keep in mind that this is my first month, so it might not be entirely accurate).

ETA: I talked with another member about this privately, before I was able to post in the forums. I don't want to call her out just in case, but yes--there are definitely other people who struggle with this.

ETA also: Clearly I'm not too good at reading and this doesn't answer your question at ALL. (Hides face shamefully.)

NamelessAria

I was informed by my doctor a couple of years back that I have a tilted (retroverted) uterus also.

I've been tracking my cervical position every day for several months now and here is what I've noticed (obviously, TMI to follow so...):

• My cervix is usually much lower at night. Regardless of how high it was in the morning at night/very early morning it's pretty much always low.

• I do occasionally get a low cervix when I check in the morning. I know to mark low because it's barely any way at all into my vagina.

• The days where it's "high" are the days where it's difficult to reach or unreachable with bearing down. Which, by the way, if you're ever unable to reach a high cervix just sit on the toilet and bear down like you're trying to poop. It brings the cervix much lower so you can check if it's firm/med/soft and open/med/closed.

• My cervix isn't always centered in my vaginal canal. Some days it's more off to one side for whatever reason.

As far as how you should mark high/med/low in regards to your own cervix my advice would be to mark whatever you think it might be first the first month. It's really all relative and if you have nothing to compare with then it's going to be hard to know what to mark. As you start to learn what all is normal for you and you start to see the variations you'll start to become more comfortable saying "while that is still low it's definitely higher than usual." or "it's usually low but today it is exceptionally low." The same goes for firm/med/soft. The first month I went off the descriptions of "firm= tip of your nose, med = your chin and soft = pursed lips." I did so much of checking my cervix then poking my chin (with my other, clean hand) then cervix, chin, cervix chin as I sat there being like "...hmm yeah I think that's basically the same. So... medium?"

After all this time I can just check my cervix quickly and go "oh that's firm" or "yep today is soft" or whatever. But it took me awhile to get familiar with the differences. It's probably just going to take you some time and that's okay.

Also, for what it's worth, a lot of ladies end up looking at their first chart as a bit of a throw away in terms of future usefulness. I never go back and look at my first chart to analyze patterns because I don't trust the temps, cervical assessments and the like. The only things I really trust from my first chart are objective data points like cycle length. So if you finish your first chart and realize you probably entered a lot of incorrect data for cervical position and such, don't worry about it. It gets easier as you go.

MrsDannyOutlaw

I just talked about this in WTO a few days ago. When TTC #1 my OB helped me with this.
Because it's so difficult to determine since it basically moves back and forth instead up and down, by OB said to really just look for and log when it disappears. When it becomes so high and soft that's it's difficult to make out. That is a huge indicator that O is coming.

letyourheartbeyourguide

I don't check CP much anymore because I also have a tilted uterus and I find my CM to be very reliable on its own. But the key with checking CP is that you're consistent with time of day and position you're in (vs. CM you can/should check more than once a day).

I used to do morning and slightly squatting and bearing down. Bearing down was helpful when my cervix is higher or farther back, otherwise I can't reach to see if it is open/closed - so for consistency, I would squat/bear down throughout the cycle so I was checking the same way each time.

Focus on the differences within your own cycle, such as how far you have to insert your finger to reach your cervix. It sometimes takes more than one cycle to get used to your patterns and to categorize what you find.

babymish

mchrisgarcia said:

I just talked about this in WTO a few days ago. When TTC #1 my OB helped me with this.
Because it's so difficult to determine since it basically moves back and forth instead up and down, by OB said to really just look for and log when it disappears. When it becomes so high and soft that's it's difficult to make out. That is a huge indicator that O is coming.

This!!!

I knew I'd seen this post a few days ago but I couldn't remember where. I found this do helpful!

I'm a fellow tilted cervix-er

sweetyjenj

Thank you so much!!
I knew there was a lot of us out there, but there's not much on site about tilted uterus and how it effects the CP. I even googled it, but really there's not much out there. I guess like you all said, just keep checking and charting and eventually I'll learn my patterns. There were a few times this month that it felt like it went away, just to realize it was near where it always was, but it did appear somewhat higher and soft. Maybe that's when I ovulated! I have long cycles (~33 days), I'm at CD32 right now, and this is my first time charting, so it's been hard to tell what's going on. I just started temping a few days ago, so that pattern won't begin until next cycle.

Edit: My CM seemed to be inconsistent this month, or should I say it was consistent all month, so it didn't change much, but had subtle changes, so it wasn't very helpful right away. Ah man, so much to get used to!

sweetyjenj

mchrisgarcia said:

I just talked about this in WTO a few days ago. When TTC #1 my OB helped me with this. Because it's so difficult to determine since it basically moves back and forth instead up and down, by OB said to really just look for and log when it disappears. When it becomes so high and soft that's it's difficult to make out. That is a huge indicator that O is coming.

Thanks for sharing this!!!! Thinking back over this month, I know there was a time this happened!