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Health

18th May 2018

Midwife’s photo of ‘what your cervix looks like’ before your baby comes out

Jade Hayden

cervix during birth

Wow.

The female body is incredible – we all know this, we don’t need to be told about it again.

However, there is one part of the female body that really doesn’t get the recognition it deserves – the cervix.

We know, probably not the body part you were thinking of but the cervix and the work it does is totally underrated.

Here’s why.

During the birth process, the cervix slowly dilates to allow enough room for the baby to pass through.

This process can take a very long time depending on the pregnancy, but only when the cervix is dilated to about 10 centimetres can be baby be delivered.

All of the above is fairly common knowledge, but what isn’t common knowledge is exactly what the cervix looks like when it’s about to let a baby out.

Until now.

The Midwife Mumma on Instagram recently shared a “kinda graphic but kinda not” photo of the cervix as it prepares to let a baby pass through it.

And it is massive.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc6RiQkjxXm/?taken-by=themidwifemumma

Wow, right?

The Midwife Mumma explains that the cervix thins out and dilates slowly to allow a baby to be born vaginally.

She says that it’s truly amazing how it thins out so much to let a baby pass through.

She writes:

“Our bodies are incredible… This is why labour can take a loooooooong long long time.

“This effacing and dilating process is hard work… The more you contract, the more baby’s head will apply pressure to the cervix and hopefully open it up.”

Incredible.