Terminology

So I've realized that some of you may have no idea what I mean when I say I'm dilated to a 2 or 70% effaced. Before I got pregnant I didn't know what effaced meant either. This may be more than you really wanted to know but here's your anatomy lesson for the day.

Dilation is how wide open my cervix is. They measure it in cm and it ranges from 0-10cm. You need to be 10 cm (fully dilated) before you start pushing. So right now my cervix is 2 cm in diameter, I have 8cm more to go. 

Effacement refers to how thick or thin my cervix is. I believe a normal cervix is approx 2 inches thick. When it starts to thin out they measure it in %. So when it's halfway thinned out you are 50% effaced. Right now I'm 70% effaced so I have 30% more to go.

There is another term called station. Dr. Cannon has never told me what station I'm at. It starts at -2 and goes to +2 (I think). This describes how far the baby has descended into the birth canal - maybe this is only determined during more active labor. So a -2 station means the babies head is higher up in my body than a +2. Dr. Cannon did say Kate is really low in my pelvis and she didn't float away during the exam so that's a good sign. Dr. Cannon said some babies will just float back up.