A close up look at your cervix

I am continually amazed that many women talk about a cervix, but don't know what it is. Some think that the perineum is the cervix. They talk about their cervix dilating from 0 to 10, yet they are not sure exactly where that part is - just "somewhere down there."

I will admit, I read about the cervix all the time once I started studying midwifery as a teenager, but I really had no idea what it looked like. People described it looking "like a donut," feeling "like the end of your nose..."

I was intrigued, but really I didn't have a good idea of what a normal, non-pregnant/laboring cervix was like until I watched a PAP smear being done. The Certified Nurse Midwife who I was working with at the time was more than happy to let me see and do everything she was doing, and the woman was extremely happy to let a student examine her cervix (I'm so grateful that some people like her don't mind!).

I hope that these pictures won't gross you out.... (okay, they are no worse than this picture below, except that they are in color!)

If you don't know what your cervix looks like, check out this daily "diary" of a cervix

here

You'll see the changes with the menstrual cycle and how different a cervix looks during menstruation vs. ovulation time.