How do you know if you’re truly dilated?

capricee85

I’m 36 weeks & 4 days , well 5 days now.. & I went to the hospital Tuesday bc I was having pelvic pain due to my baby being VERY low and my OB haven’t even checked me to see if I dilated so she told me to get a girdle instead of checking to see what the problem is. So anyways Tuesday I goes to the ER and they told me I dilated 2 cm . This morning there was blood in the toilet and when I wiped so I goes back to the SAMEEEE ER and they tell me I’m closed. My questions are was the blood my mucus plug? Or was it just bc my cervix was open? And how is it possible for me to be dilated 2 cm then 4 days later I’m closed?

meggyme

capricee85 said:

I’m 36 weeks & 4 days , well 5 days now.. & I went to the hospital Tuesday bc I was having pelvic pain due to my baby being VERY low and my OB haven’t even checked me to see if I dilated so she told me to get a girdle instead of checking to see what the problem is. So anyways Tuesday I goes to the ER and they told me I dilated 2 cm . This morning there was blood in the toilet and when I wiped so I goes back to the SAMEEEE ER and they tell me I’m closed. My questions are was the blood my mucus plug? Or was it just bc my cervix was open? And how is it possible for me to be dilated 2 cm then 4 days later I’m closed?

According to Ina May Gaskin you can undilate. You can go from 0 to 10cm in an hour. Or you may not dilate at all. Try to relax, it will happen when it happens. Your bleeding was likely your mucus plug, but that too can regenerate and isn’t really an indicator of anything.

kiki75

WSS. ^

In your OB’s defense, they probably know what the problem is: you’re 36 weeks pregnant. Relaxin is at work on your joints (I had pelvic pain from 10w first pregnancy), baby has dropped and is pushing on everything that’s normally in your pelvis, lightning crotch is common, etc. 

They’ve seen a lot of pregnancies. There are reasons they chose to skip the cervical exam. If you have questions, ask them. There really isn’t much point to them other that giving them some historical data once you do go into labor. You can walk around for weeks at a 3 or 4. You can also be at a 1 and have a baby in your arms in under 24 hours. 

Get the girdle, rest as much as possible, do some fun things like getting your nails done, and enjoy the calm before the storm as much as possible. 

Finally, it’s cold & flu season. Stay out of the ER as much as possible. If you have a pregnancy-related issue, call your OB’s office. Heck, even go in to L&D. Stay out of the ER. They’re far from experts in obstetrics and it’s an absolute germ fest there.

ETA: You can also try some stuff from the Spinning Babies website to see if you can get baby to move off of whatever it is they’re pushing on & hurting you. It’s not all for flipping breech babies. 

coldlife

I'm not surprised your doctor wouldn't do a cervical check. My providers will not do cervical checks before 37 weeks. They say it's possible to irritate things and trigger premature labor. 

Yes, it's possible for your cervix to change. Also, keep in mind that dilation is not an exact science measurement. They can't stick a tape measure up in there. Yes, they are trained, yes, they've probably done quite a few of them and are good at telling, but they're still just feeling with their fingers. Maybe you were closer to 1 cm than 2. Who knows. Also, I would expect an ER doctor has had much less practice at doing them than an ob/gyn or midwife. 

I actually think it's quite possibly NOT your mucus plug. It could be that the check in the ER irritated your cervix so it bled a little, similarly to how sometimes women spot after having sex. 

I know it gets tiresome in late pregnancy, but you likely still have at least 2-3 weeks to go. I would stop going to the ER and just hang in there.