Midwives use pumpkins to demonstrate what 10 cm dilated looks like – and yikes

If you are pregnant and have heard the term dilation or wondered what the heck 10 cm (AKA push time) actually looks like – this will blow your mind.

Some clever – and creative – midwives at the Royal Oldham Hospital in Lancashire has come up with a new way to show expecting mums (and dads) what actually happens with your body in order for you to be able to deliver your baby. The adorable – and seasonal – display starts with a googly-eyed 1cm mouth carved out of a cute looking pumpkin. The, though, it increases centimetre by centimetre, ending up with a 10cm circumference circle carved out of the last pumpkin representing what your cervix will look like when it's time to push that baby out – and honestly, it looks a little unreal, no? I mean; I have gone through it twice, but still am amazed that my body actually did that! The thing is though, instead of feeling horrified, think of it this way: Your body was literally designed to do this job. And if that doesn't make you think about your body in a different way, and realise how amazing it really is, then I don't know what will! Plus, you know, once you've gone through it, there is the total win of having your gorgeous baby in your arms! And as if the midwives at the Royal Oldham Hospital hadn't been busy enough with their labour-explaining pumpkins, another birthing mum at the hospital, Lynn Pearson, shared a picture of a breastfeeding pumpkin display that she'd spotted in a maternity ward. We love how something as simple as pumpkins can be used in such a fun and seasonal way to explains – and entertain – expecting parents coming into the hospital!