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 ...

While only your doctor can confirm cervical dilation, you can do a self-check to get an idea of what’s going on. This guide provides a step-by-step process for checking your own cervical ...

However, there is typically only anecdotal support for these practices. Dilation is the widening of the cervical opening. Increased dilation is a necessary physiological process for childbirth ...