Your body goes through a great many changes during pregnancy. Your hormone levels change, your menstrual cycle stops and there’s an increased blood flow to your reproductive system. But how does your cervix feel when pregnant?
Have you ever wondered about it? Does it change consistency? Is the position of your cervix in early pregnancy different from your cervical position at the end of the pregnancy?
You’re probably focused on your growing belly, your pregnancy glow, and the niggling details of accommodating a baby, such as heartburn and backache.
But what about your cervix?
Let’s have a look at all the cervical changes throughout the various stages of pregnancy.
What is the cervix?
Unless you’re used to checking it as part of tracking your menstrual cycle, you might not know much about your cervix.
When you’re pregnant, the cervix becomes quite important. It has a major role to play in the birth of your baby.
The cervix is actually part of your uterus, not a separate part of your anatomy.
It’s a cylinder-shaped neck of tissue that connects the vagina and the uterus.
The cervix must thin and widen so your baby can be born.
During pregnancy, a plug of mucus forms in the cervix. This acts as a barrier and prevents bacteria from traveling up into the uterus and causing infections.
When the cervix dilates late in pregnancy, this mucus plug will start to come out.
You can read more about it in Bloody Show – 8 Facts You Need To Know.
Not every woman notices it happening, but it’s usually a sign labor isn’t too far away.
What does your cervix feel like?
It might take several attempts to find your cervix. It feels like a small, firm dimple. The tissue feels different from the vaginal walls, which are spongy and soft. The position of your cervix also changes. Depending on which stage of your menstrual cycle you’re at, or the stage of pregnancy you’ve reached, your cervix rises and changes its position and its consistency.
Remember, during pregnancy, it’s not necessary to check your cervix every day.
You might choose to do so every month or so.
If you have a yeast infection or any other type of vaginal infection, it’s best to keep your hands away from your cervix until this has cleared up.
Can you feel your own cervix?
Learning to find and feel your cervix is quite simple.
Women who use natural family planning methods check their cervix most days. Not only do they check cervical position but also the consistency of the cervix and the cervical mucus. Knowing how your cervix behaves at each stage of the cycle is a very reliable method of knowing your fertile days.
You can check your cervix during pregnancy, but it’s not necessary to do so every day.
First, wash your hands thoroughly. You don’t want to introduce any bacteria into your vagina.
It’s also wise to cut your fingernails short, to avoid giving yourself an injury.
Get into a comfortable position, such as sitting on the toilet or placing one leg up on the edge of the bath.
Gently insert your middle finger into your vagina as far as it will go, in an upward motion, until you reach the cervix at the end of your vagina.
Have a feel. Feel the vaginal walls, then feel the cervix, and its consistency, and note the time of your cycle you’re on. Get a menstrual diary and start to write down your findings. Note any cervical changes, the cervical opening, and the cervical mucus. In no time you’ll become very familiar with such an important part of your anatomy.
For more information, read Charting Your Cycle – 6 Ways It Helps You To Conceive Faster and Cervical Mucus – How To Identify Ovulation and Your Fertile Period.
How can you tell if your cervix is open or closed?
The first sign your cervix is open is its softness. If you’re not menstruating, the cervical mucus is also abundant and transparent. It’s a welcoming cervix. Closed cervixes feel firm and tight. Like the good guardians they are, they accomplish their guarding mission without fault.
Most women can tell if their cervix is open or closed when they feel it. Once you get used to checking your own cervix, you’ll be able to identify the cervical opening right in the center – the same way you’re able to identify your cervical position and consistency.
With clean hands, feel your cervix with your middle finger. When you feel it opening try to insert your longest finger into it. Don’t worry; you’ll only have access as far as it is safe for you to introduce something there.
Even when you’re not pregnant, your cervix can go through a series of changes.
It depends on where you are in your menstrual cycle.
If you could see your cervix, normally you’d find it would be pink in color, and about 4cm long. The cervical walls are about 1cm thick.
The bottom part of the cervix hangs about 2cm down into the vagina.
Depending on your cycle day, your cervical position will be different. Your cervix can feel low, firm, and closed – especially on the days of the cycle when conception is less likely.
Around your fertile time, especially during ovulation, your cervix is high, soft, and open.
During your fertile time, you’re also likely to notice more cervical mucus. It looks a little like egg white.
How does your cervix feel during early pregnancy?
During early pregnancy, many changes are happening in your body; most of them you can’t see.
Usually, the first change you notice during early pregnancy is how your cervix feels. Your cervix is a very good pregnancy indicator. Many women can tell they’re pregnant without the need for pregnancy tests.
Around the time you are due to have your next period – your missed period – your cervix will begin to change.
This timing varies, however, between women.
Some women notice changes before they’ve missed a period and are thinking of buying a pregnancy test.
Others will not notice anything in the early stages of pregnancy until later in the first trimester.
Due to rising levels of estrogen, more blood flows to the pelvis. This causes the cervix to feel soft and velvety – quite similar to the tip of your nose. It will rise and remain closed.
Your cervix will also thicken in width and produce more glandular cells. These cells will help form the mucous plug, which remains inside the cervix, protecting your uterus and your baby from infection.
If you could see your cervix, you’d notice it was a red-blue or lilac color, thanks to the increased blood supply.
Toward the end of pregnancy, your cervix changes again. It thins and dilates so your baby can be born.
The cervix also begins to soften. If you were to feel your cervix when pregnant, it would feel like puckered lips.
During labor, your cervix will become so soft and thin that you won’t be able to feel it at all.
How does your cervix feel in late pregnancy?
Your cervix has remained tightly closed during pregnancy – that is, since conception, until the time it starts to get ready for labor.
As for cervical position, it has been quite central, soft, and moist for most of your pregnancy.
When you’re getting close to the last weeks of pregnancy and your baby starts to engage in your pelvis, the cervix goes towards the back of your vagina, sometimes behind the baby’s presenting part.
This happens because, even though the time for action is getting nearer, the cervix needs to keep closed for a bit longer. Once pre-labor contractions start, the cervix will go through various changes. Before labor commences the cervix will become softer and thinner, and will come forward and prepare to dilate. These procedures are called cervical effacement.
Cervix position during pregnancy
As mentioned earlier, your cervix can change position, depending on your cycle and during pregnancy.
It tends to move higher or lower in the vagina. In early pregnancy, you would notice it is higher.
During pregnancy, the opening of your cervix can also shift position.
During the first trimester, it tends to be high, soft, and angled toward the front of your body (anterior).
As pregnancy progresses, the position of the cervix changes again.
Usually, about the beginning of the second trimester, the cervix starts to move so it’s angled toward your back (posterior).
Towards the end of your third trimester, your cervix position will change once more.
It will gradually soften, become shorter in length and, finally, it will open.
This is one of the goals of early labor contractions: to bring the cervix forward to allow for dilation.
How to feel your cervix when pregnant
It shouldn’t be very different from the way you feel your cervix when you’re not pregnant.
The only, and big, difference is the huge belly that gets in the way of being able to reach your cervix comfortably at the end of the pregnancy.
Try to reach your cervix by placing your hand at the side of your belly. Lying on your side might be helpful. If you prefer reaching for your cervix standing up, you can do so by placing one foot on a higher surface. If you’re right handed your left foot is the one you should raise and vice-versa if you’re left handed.
How soon does your cervix change in early pregnancy?
Your cervix really tells you what’s going on. The moment conception occurs, and before you can detect pregnancy with a home pregnancy test or even with a blood test, your cervix goes through several changes. Its mission now is to protect the pregnancy at all costs.
Recommended Reading:
Cervix Dilation | 9 Signs You’re Dilating.