Prenatal

Simple things I wish all people knew: due dates

Calculating your due date The first thing most people do after getting a positive pregnancy test result is look up a due date calculator. That’s how ingrained the idea of a due date is in our culture. We set up our prenatal care, schedule our parental leave from work, and announce our upcoming birth with …

Prenatal

Simple things I wish all people knew: cervical dilation

Do you know how dilation in labor is assessed? It is assessed by nurses, doctors, and/or midwives inserting their fingers into your vaginal and feeling the cervix. It is so subjective that one nurse might say you’re eight centimeters dilated and five minutes later your midwife might check the same cervix and call you a five.