Dilation and effacement are your body's way of getting ready for labor – your cervix gradually opens (dilates) and thins out (effaces) to help your baby make that grand entrance. This process can ...

There are 3 stages of labor. Active labor begins at about 5-6 cm of dilation. You need to be 10 cm dilated to deliver vaginally. After the birth, you’ll deliver the placenta. The cervix, which is the ...

IT’S common knowledge that in order for a woman to start pushing during childbirth, her cervix needs to dilate to ten centimetres wide – but it’s hard to visualise just how big that is. But an image ...

Tricia Brockway, a labor and delivery nurse whose mission is to empower women through information, recently drummed up a dilation chart that's easy to understand. In an enlightening Instagram post, ...