Effacement, Dilation, and Station
During labor, your provider may check your cervix by inserting their fingers into the vagina. These checks can provide information such as effacement, dilation, station of baby, and baby’s position.
Let’s talk about each of these pieces of information.
Effacement
This is the term used for describing how thin the cervix is. During pregnancy, the cervix is between 3-5 cm thick; by the end of pregnancy and during labor, the cervix starts to thin and become soft. This doesn’t happen all at once, and we need effacement before the cervix can dilate fully. You may hear your provider or a nurse say, “you are 100% effaced”. This means that the cervix is completely thinned out to the thickness of a piece of paper.
Dilation
Dilation is how open your cervix has become to allow baby through into the vaginal canal. This takes place over the course of labor (some people may even start dilating in late pregnancy with no labor signs"). You have to reach 10cm dilated to be considered “complete” and can begin pushing. Remember, this dilation number is just a snapshot in time. It will not determine or predict when you baby will be born.
Station
The “station” is a term used to describe where baby is at in your pelvis. Here is a visual to help:
As you can see, the numbers range from -3 to +3 (high in the pelvis to low in the pelvis). When you are completely dilated and fully effaced, you can ask your provider about the station to gain more information. If baby is low, pushing is much easier and will take a shorter amount of time. If baby is still high in the pelvis, you may ask for more time to “labor down”. This allows the uterus to do it’s thing and bring baby down further. This can allow you to get some rest and nourishment before it’s time to meet your newest addition. For first time birthers especially, if you start pushing when baby is still high- it can take a long time and a lot of energy.
The station of the baby can also be a good indicator of if certain positions or Spinning Babies moves can be done to help move things along. This can be really helpful for those who “stall out”. Don’t worry, you’re still progressing and your body is working REALLY hard! It’s just another way to check in on baby and provide the ideal environment to work together during labor.