How do they determine the cervical dilation and cervical effaceement of a woman in labor?
Determining the cervical dilation and effacement of a pregnant woman is key to understanding the progress of labor. The measurement of cervical dilation and effacement is used to evaluate a pregnant woman’s progress during labor and may help predict the approximate time of delivery. Cervical dilation is a measure of how open the cervix is, and effacement is a measure of how thin the cervix has become. The combination of these two parameters helps to determine the readiness of the cervix for labor and delivery. In this blog post, we will discuss the various methods used by health care providers to determine cervical dilation and effacement. We will also discuss how these measurements are used to assess the progress of labor.. Ultimately, we will provide a comprehensive understanding of how cervical dilation and effacement is determined.
The vaginal exam is done by introducing two gloved fingers in the vagina and touching the cervix. The thickness is then assessed in percentage. 100% thickness= 0 effacemeent so a thick cervix.
The dilation is the opening of the cervix in centimeters from 0 to 10.
As you can imagine, these measures are arbitrairy and depend on the examiner but they are a guide on the progression of labor.
The womna in labor is ready to push when she is fully dilated i.e. when her cervix is opened at 10 centimeters which is rouglhy the baby’s head size.
