Not sure if I spelled that right, I have heard about it , but dont know what it means?/ my obgyn always just tells me nothing is happening, he does not use those words.
thanks

In order for a baby to be born, your cervix has to do TWO things- dilate (get wider) and efface (get shorter.)

Picture a flexible rubber tube, maybe 6 inches tall, sitting on a table- if you put your hands inside it and stretch it wider, it's dilating. If you push it down towards the table so that it gets shorter, it's like effacement.

You have to be 10 centimeters dilated and 100% effaced to have your baby.

That's my best try at explaining- hope that helps! :D

That is perhaps the easiest and coolest way to explain that to someone I've ever heard! Great example!

As an old L&D nurse I couldn't have explained it better myself. I will add that with the first baby you efface first and dilate second; with subsequent pregnancies you dilate first but don't necessarily efface. Effacing is more indicative of preparation for labor in subsequent pregnancies than dilitation is. I was walking around with baby number 2 at 4-5 centimeters but only 50% effaced. So my cervix was still pretty thick...or half as short as a non pregnant cervix is, which is about 2 inches. With first pregnancies you can be 100% effaced ( it is like a circle of tissue paper) and only a finger tip effaced! :lol: I hope I didn't gross anyone out! LOL!

OK I understand now. thanks for explaining that to me. :D :wink: