I am a little confused, and I am sorry if this is a really dumb question. But I thought you had to dilate befor labor would start? In my other thread 37 and only 1 cm, one person said they were only 1 cm the day they went into labor. At my ob appt the dr said your're 1 cm and still thick. I took that to me, I was not even close to labor.

This is not the case. You needn't have any physiological signs on your cervix and you could start labor.

Remember LABOR itself is the preparing of the cervix to allow the passage of the baby. Labor can happen anytime and your cervix may not do anything really until labor starts.

The labor contractions push on the baby and the baby's head becomes essentially a battering ram to get your cervix prepared (effaced and dilated).

Also just the mere dropping of the baby in the pelvis can engage the head on the cervix and help the dilation and effacement along prior to labor contractions. And we all know the dropping of the baby can happen weeks ahead of time. But even this cannot predict when labor will start, or how long your labor will be.

Every woman is different.

You can be 100% effaced (Your cervix is paper thin) and 3 or 4 cm dilated and still have a long labor.

Every woman is different.

You can be thick and not dilated, and have a very quick labor. It all depends on how you and your body work with the contractions and other physiological aspects of your late pregnancy and early labor.