What is the reason for the slow opening of the cervix?

The childbirth process for women is very stressful and the tremendous pain makes women suffer, but this is a necessary process for giving birth. Before a woman gives birth, she will experience uterine contractions, which cause the cervix to gradually open, creating conditions for the baby to leave the uterus. Some women have strong uterine contractions, but the cervix opens slowly, which makes the delivery process extremely painful. Let’s take a look at the reasons for the slow opening of the cervix.

The process of cervical dilation is relatively slow. Usually, the cervix gradually flattens in the second week after the 9th month of pregnancy, which is also the process of cervical formation.

The cervix will dilate to 10 centimeters when the baby is born. It is slow at the beginning. It takes an average of 8 hours from labor to the cervix dilating 3 centimeters, and an average of 4 hours from the cervix dilating 3 centimeters to 10 centimeters. Generally speaking, medication for pain will not be used until the cervix is ​​dilated to 3 cm. This indicates that the mother has entered the active phase of labor. The cervix has dilated to 3 cm, the cervix has become soft, thin, and elastic, and the interval between each contraction is 2-3 cm.

After delivery, the cervix will gradually dilate with regular uterine contractions. The first stage of labor is divided into two phases according to the degree of cervical dilation: the latent phase and the active phase. The latent phase is from regular uterine contractions to 3 cm cervical dilation, and the active phase refers to the period from 3-10 cm cervical dilation.

It should be noted here that the speed at which the cervix dilates is different between primiparas and multiparas. For primiparas, the cervix shortens and flattens first, and then the cervix dilates; while for multiparas, the cervix shortens, flattens, and dilates at the same time. Therefore, the progress of multiparas is obviously faster than that of primiparas, which is also the main reason why the first stage of labor progresses differently between primiparas and multiparas.

During the latent period, the cervix opens slowly, but during the active period, it opens much faster. The incubation period for primiparas is about 8 hours, and that for multiparas is faster than that for primiparas, but there are large differences between individuals, and the length of the incubation period varies from person to person, ranging from tens of minutes to several hours. The active period of a primipara lasts about 4 hours. After a multipara enters the active period, she should prepare for delivery, because the cervix of a multipara will usually fully dilate soon after entering the active period.