Measuring dilation

[DoulaKaren]

A friend just asked me really, what was 5 cm (a friend of hers is walking around, not in labor, at 5cm)? I told her what my understanding of it was, not having first-hand (ha ha) experience. My understanding is that #1, it's subjective. #2, it's been known to reduce as well, in situations of stress or danger. And #3, the further dilation progresses, the less the numbers represent actual centimeter values as a proportion of dilation -- like 9 cm is more like 90% dilated, and 10cm is more like 100% dilated, since a smaller head won't need 10 cm and a larger head will need more.

How accurate was what I told her?

[AmandaB]

Interesting concept about the %. Anyone else have an idea about that? I realized when a dad asked that not every woman is going to be "10cms", YKWIM?

[mammamayI]

I talk about that when we do our prenatal ed class, especially for women going to the hospital. My sister and I have different eye socket sizes, different length femurs, different width mouths. Why, then, would it be expected that every woman's cervix is exactly the same size, length, width? Why should be expect that we'll dilate and/or efface exactly the same? We talk about this a couple of times...first when talking about how subjective a vaginal exam is, then when talking about pushing. Generally, we talk about the benefit vs. risk options that the clients need to weigh when having a vaginal exam...because of the complete subjectiveness of the exam and the doctor's ability to "chart" that "number" which may or may not be an accurate picture of what is actually going on.