NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/kids/31011

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-22 | 2.7 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!gatech!udel!gvls1!tredysvr!sg
From: [e-mail] (Susanne Gilliam)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Effacing (?)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 22 Dec 92 17:36:55 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: /usr/lib/news/organization
Lines: 61

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Allen Warren) writes:
>[e-mail] (Reid Kneeland) writes:
>
>>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Jan A. Schwarz) writes:
>>>Hi.  My daughter went to the doctor today.  She is 36 weeks.  He told
>>>her that she is 40% effaced (this has been just since last Thursday).
>>>
>>>Any thoughts as to how long it may be before she has this darling
>>>baby girl?  I knew nothing about effacing when I had my two (years
>>>ago).
>
>>It's impossible to tell.  Engagement, effacement, and even dilation are
>>not accurate predictors of when labor will begin.  Some women walk
>>around effaced and dilated for days or even weeks before real labor
>>starts.  Others do all their effacement and dilation in three hours of
>>labor.  The best you can say is "sometime in the next month, probably".
>
>Be careful about what you speak of concerning effacement and dilation.
>You won't find many women walking around with 100% effacement who are
>NOT going to be going into labor within the next 24-48 hours.  A woman
>can be at a certain percentage of effacement AND be a couple of centimeters
>dilated at the same time, but if she is 100% effaced, there is an
>excellent chance that she will kick into active labor within 24 hours,
>if not sooner, since all that is left at this point is to dilate to
>10 centimeters and push the little critter out.  Remember that "effacement"
>is a term used to denote the thinning out of the cervical wall.
>
>allen


  You may not find many, but you will find some, and that was the point --
you just can't tell.  I walked around for 5 **weeks** effaced 100%, and
dilated 1-2 cm.  It is true that my doctor told me at every visit I
wouldn't make it to the next appointment, and it is true that most women
would have gone into labor shortly after getting to 100% effaced, but
if I can be an exception then so can anybody else.  Believe me, it was
a loooooong 5 weeks.  I'd expected to deliver late, because my family
always delivers late, but then 3 weeks before my due date the doctor
told me it would be any minute, and the whole thing seemed so much
longer than it would have otherwise.  And in the end, I delivered 12
days after my due date, just like I'd originally expected.

                    Susanne Gilliam