Hi girls,

Wondered two things and am sure some of you will know about both!!

Firstly, is it possible for you to un-dilate...i.e. if you are 5cm dilated, could your cervix close up a bit and you only be at 3cm?! Does that make sense?

And also, at how many weeks to the babies become wedged in, so they can't really change position - i.e. I was 3/5ths engaged at my last appointment 2 weeks ago and I know my baby could have changed positions since then - is there a certain time when they can no longer change positions - i.e. if you are engaged at 38 weeks, does this mean that the baby won't be able to dis-engage???!

Hope that makes sense!!

Thank you

I'm pretty sure that baby bounces up and down right til you go into labour (and even then a bit), so the amount of engagement and dilation can go up and down. Having siad that, I think it's unlikely that you'll go back to zero on either once it has has started.

When it comes to examining there are a couple issues to consider with the whole determining dilitation. When a woman is to be examined to ascertain dilitation the experience of the midwife is what guides her to figure out an individual dilitation. Of course this can be roughly a centimetre out from another midwife's estimation, cause that is what it is, an estimation. But as long as there is progress with the next examination. So of course having the same practitioner examine you would be beneficial.

It is very difficult to say there isn't a such thing as going backwards in dilitation. What does happen is sometime there maybe inaccuracy of the examination itself and if another midwife comes in may give your dilitation as a couple centimetres out from the last, however it doesn't mean the last estimation is necessarily inaccurate.

Also, there is what is known as the winking cervix. It is quite common for a woman's cervix to be stretched quite nicely with a bulging bag of waters and be 8cm for example. Then of course with the breaking of the bag a woman's cervix without the pressure of the bulging bag, reduce to 5cm for example. But with descent of the head it shouldn't be long before you can be back to 8cm or even fully etc.

The point is really, the dilitation of a cervix is not the only guide and not the magic detail in labour. Every examination includes dilitation, descent of head in relation to pelvis, position of the cervix, and position of the fetus itself. All these combined give a better picture of progress not just dilitation itself.

As for engaging this can't be put into a weekly slot. Women engage at 36 weeks or as late as labour itself. Depending on how deeply engaged depends on whether baby will be in and out of that pelvis.