![]() ![]() This method is used to determine how a baby is progressing through the birth canal. Over time, if a baby isn’t progressing through the cervix, a doctor may need to consider delivery by cesarean delivery or with the help of instruments like forceps or vacuum.Ĭervical examination to determine fetal station can be a fast and painless. Other measurements your doctor may take into account include cervical dilation, or how much your cervix has enlarged for your baby to pass through, and cervical effacement, or how thin your cervix has become to promote delivery. It helps doctors evaluate how labor is progressing. See your doctor if there is pain or burning when you urinate.įetal station is important to monitor. Frequent, small amounts of urine are common. You will feel more room for deep breaths, but your bladder may be compressed so you’ll need to urinate often. This drop into the birth canal is called a lightening. This is called being “engaged.” At this point, your baby is at station 0. Usually about two weeks before delivery, your baby will drop into the birth canal. However, assigning a number is an estimate. Once your baby’s head fills the vaginal opening, just before birth, the fetal station is +5.Įach change in number usually means your baby has descended another centimeter into your pelvis. When your baby’s head is level with the ischial spines, the fetal station is zero. If the head is high and not yet engaged in the birth canal, it may float away from their fingers.Īt this stage, the fetal station is -5. The ischial spines are bony protrusions located in the narrowest part of your pelvis.ĭuring a vaginal exam, your doctor will feel for your baby’s head. Your doctor will then assign a number from -5 to +5 to describe where your baby is in relation to the ischial spines. Expulsion: After external rotation (restitution), the top shoulder is delivered under the mother’s pubic bone followed by the bottom shoulder, and then the rest of the baby’s body can be delivered with an upward movement by the healthcare professional.A doctor will usually perform a cervical check to determine how wide your cervix is and how far down your baby has moved.This movement is also known as restitution. External Rotation/Restitution: Once the baby’s head is born, the baby must rotate from facing head down to either right or left to fit the shoulders around and under the mother’s pubic arch.The baby’s head, face, and chin appear outside the mother. The baby’s head must extend back to accommodate the upward curvature of the birth canal. Extension: Usually, the back of the baby’s head is against the mother’s pubic bone as it passes through the vaginal opening.Usually, the baby faces down toward the mother’s spine, although sometimes the baby faces the mother’s pubic bone. The baby’s head rotates to accommodate these changes in the diameter of the mother’s pelvis. Now, with the baby reaching the mother’s pelvic floor, the widest diameter of the mother’s pelvis is from front to back. Internal Rotation: When the baby’s head enters the mother’s pelvis (engagement), the widest diameter of the mother’s pelvis is from right to left.As the baby’s head meets resistance from the soft tissue of the mother’s pelvis, the baby’s head flexes downward so that the baby’s chin touches the baby’s chest. Flexion: Flexion occurs during descent.Descent: Descent occurs as the baby’s head moves deeper into the mother’s pelvic cavity.Engagement may occur toward the end of pregnancy or during labor. The entry point of the mother’s pelvis (pelvic inlet) has its widest diameter from right to left. Engagement: Engagement occurs when the widest part of the baby’s head (the biparietal diameter, measured from ear to ear) enters the mother’s pelvis.These movements work to allow the smallest diameter of the baby’s head to pass through the mother’s pelvis. ![]() ![]() There are seven cardinal movements a baby makes while attempting to get into the best position for birth. ![]()
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