Cervix Throughout the Cycle
If you’re already charting your menstrual cycle, checking the position and texture of your cervix each day can help you confirm where you are in your cycle. If you’re not already charting, have a feel anyway – its a great skill to have in your empowered woman toolbox!
Here’s how to feel your cervix:
- Wash your hands
- Squat or stand with one foot raised on a stool.
- Insert your longest finger into your vagina until you feel your cervix. It will feel like a protruding nub/cylinder toward the back of the soft walls of your vagina. If your finger is long enough, you should be able to circle your finger all the way around the cervix and feel a little dent in the middle of it (called the os, the opening to the uterus).
- Note the following:
- How deep in your vagina is your cervix resting? (How much of your finger is inside of you?)
- Does your cervix feel soft, like pursed lips, or more firm, like the tip of your nose?
- Is your cervix angled to one side or aligned more centrally?
- Does your os feel slightly open and squishy or squeezed shut?
While menstruating, the cervix may feel firm and low and the os open as it releases blood. It may be angled to one side slightly. Once all the blood has been shed, the os again feels closed.
As ovulation nears, the rising levels of estrogen cause the ligaments that attach the uterus to the pelvis to tighten and pull the uterus up further into the body. Hence, the cervix gradually draws deeper in the vagina and if often harder to reach near ovulation. The cervix may feel softer (like pursed lips) be more centrally aligned, and the os slightly open.
After ovulation, estrogen levels drop and the cervix usually resumes feeling low, firm, and closed until she gets her period a few weeks later. It is not uncommon for the cervix to be tilted to one side.
Not all women follow this pattern exactly so don’t worry if you don’t. For example, women with retroverted (tipped) uteruses may find thier cervix easier to reach near ovulation and women who have given birth vaginally usually have softer cervices throughout the cycle. Its empowering just to know what is normal for you. You may notice your cervical changes vary from cycle to cycle or that you have a consistent pattern that aligns with your other symptoms of fertility (cervical fluid and basal body temperature).
The key is to check every day so you can feel the relative differences from day to day; cervical changes can be very subtle. Check your cervix in the same position and at the same time each day (i.e. in a squat before showering in the morning), so you’re comparing apples to apples – or cervices to cervices, as the case may be.
Coming Soon…
Check back soon for an overview of female reproductive anatomy, hormones, typical changes throughout menstrual cycle, and how it all relates to Fertility Awareness charting…
For more in depth information about charting your cycle and variations of normal, please browse the Resource page for excellent books and other websites on the topic.
View Into the Vagina During Cervical Self-Exam
What Are Fertility Awarness Methods?
Men produce about 1000 sperm per second and are thus considered fertile everyday. A man’s ejaculate contains between 50-500 million sperm. Conception can only occur when one of these live sperm meets a woman’s live egg.
Women ovulate (release an egg) once per menstrual cycle and the egg lives a maximum of 24 hours. For a few days prior to ovulation, tiny glands in the cervix called cervical crypts produce fertile cervical fluid (a wet, often slippery, raw eggwhite consistency). This fertile cervical fluid can help sperm survive for up to five days in the vagina as they patiently wait for the egg to be released. So, even though her egg itself only lives for about a day or less, women are considered to have a ‘fertile window’ when they are producing fertile cervical fluid – meaning that intercourse/insemination in that window of time could lead to conception if the sperm stay alive (for a few hours or even days) in the fertile fluid and then make their way into the Fallopian tube to fertilize the egg after ovulation.
There are a variety of methodologies for calculating a woman’s natural fertility windows, both religious and secular – collectively they are called Fertility Awareness Methods (FAM) or Natural Family Planning (NFP). FAM is based on the scientific facts that hormonal fluxes during a woman’s menstrual cycle cause observable changes in the quality of her cervical fluid and a rise in her basal body temperature (BBT, or temperature upon waking) after ovulation.
In practice, FAM is relatively simple: throughout the day, a woman notices and records the sensation and quality of her cervical fluid as it appears at her vulva or on her toilet paper after wiping. On this chart, she also records her basal body temperature, taken orally, vaginally or under her armpit when she first wakes up in the morning. Optionally, some women also check the firmness and depth of their cervix within their vagina to confirm the other two fertility signs on their charts.
FAM takes about 4-8 hours to learn, either through reading a book, taking a workshop or during one-on-one lessons with a teacher/mentor. Once initial guidelines are understood, FAM takes a commitment of about 2 minutes a day to maintain and interpret data on her chart.
FAM can become an empowering path of enhancing a woman’s overall body literacy, increasing communication with her partner, and gauging her overall health. FAM can be used as a natural form of birth control, to help achieve pregnancy, and to find underlying health issues that may be affecting the regularity of her cycles or her fertility overall.
This is a site I stumbled on and is very interesting and cpuld be some help towards my future career in
midwifery
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it’s a amazing experience
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I’m very impressed with this site and feel like all women should know all they can on their own beautiful bodies.
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Very helpful and interesting. Love it! The cervix is beautiful!
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Thanks for sharing something so very personal!! Mysterious and changeable… It is reasssuring to know more about that which makes us women in a very real and physical sense.
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In early pregnancy if you were to feel for your cervix what position would it be in.. I know it is not recommended to check but I wanted to ask because i keep reading HIGH soft and slightly open low hard and open?
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This cycle I used the clear blue digital ovulation test on March 28th and got a positive LH surge. My temp on the 28th was 97F, follewed by these temps fews days after
29th- 97.2
30th- 97.3
31st- 97.7
April 1st- 98
2nd-97.1
3rd 97.6
4th 97.6
As you can see I had a pretty big temp drop on the 2nd which seems like the 5th or 6th day after ovulation. My cervix is high and soft. I just wanted to know why this dip in temp happened? Its never happened to me before so I’m confused.
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beautifulcervix Reply:
April 19th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Having one or two temperatures outlying the normal pattern is not a cause for concern – refer to the Rule of Thumb in Toni Weschler’s Taking Charge of Your Fertility.
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Chris Reply:
May 1st, 2012 at 9:09 pm
Are you trying to conceive? I know some women experience a brief dip in temps when experiencing implantation, not always, but some times.
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I found this site educational! Seeing as I’m trying to figure out a few things hormonally since BC really jacked me up lol Not fun times. Thanks
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Hello Im 21 years old and i decided to look for my cervix today beacus iv been having wierd cramps only on the left side. So I read this cite and a few others before trying then i grabbed tissue washed my hands and went for it! So my cervix was facing downwards and it didnt have a hole like the ones in the pictures. So I dont give up easy i reach in again and this time i try to retrieve a fluid sample! And the wierd thing is the fluid wasnt any of the options i found on the cite! It was dark brown and watery so im confused! I may be pregnant i was intimate last on the seventh and i have been nauseated for the past three days every morning but im still confused on my fluid!Please help!
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As weird as it may sound, how do I check my cervix? I see some women saying there’s is high and to the left it low, how do I kno what to do “in there” . Me and my Hubby to b are TTC and I think checking my cervix and my mucus can help us, btw I love your site!! Was recommend to us from my pink pad app.
Thnx
Rae
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Do you know of any resources i could find detail on home ICI?
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beautifulcervix Reply:
September 28th, 2012 at 2:21 pm
http://itsconceivablenow.com/2012/05/28/at-home-insemination-iui-lesbian-couples/
http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1325582/iui-at-home
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I have been trying to conceive for about 3 or 4 months now it seems that I can never catch myself during ovulation the last time I had my period was in August right now through your site I’ve learned that my cm is creamy & has small amount of cm as well .. I’m wondering if this means I am leading up to ovulation I’m getting frustrated and also a bit disappointed when I get my period I’m hoping I don’t get it this month if so this means I’m pregnant my breast are full and feel like a water balloon I’ve been feeling warmer than usual please help
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I recently became interested in checking my cervix while trying to track my ovulation. Some of the methods used rely on cervix position and I am/was unsure how to determine this. After going through your site, I now feel a bit more comfortable about checking it.
The one question I do have is how can I best tell (with out running out and buying a speculum) what position my uterus is in? I have a feeling that mine may be in a more irregular position, due to the fact that my husband and I have had unprotected sex for many years, and have only resulted in one (normal and healthy) pregnancy. We’re trying for our second and last child and have not had any luck at all. I know I ovulate every month, my cycle is 28.5 days ish (I could almost set a clock to it) and rarely have a month where I’m later than 2-3 days. Any suggestions?
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beautifulcervix Reply:
September 28th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
Getting pregnant can be such a mystery! You OB/GYN may have noted if your uterus is in a retroverted or tipped position – you could ask her. There is information out there that suggests that this is a variation of normal and will not affect your chances of conceiving, but also information about how having an aligned uterus is ideal/has helped some women. Since it seems you are having trouble conceiving, you might want to check out Mayan Abdominal Massage – The Avrigo technique – if you are concerned about abnormal positioning. Or perhaps there are holistic practitioners, like acupuncturists, naturopaths, or holistic endocrinologists near you who can help you out.
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Hi
First of all i’ll like to say i really like this site, as it’s very educating about our bodies. My question is, is it possible to have a very normal cycle such as in every 28,5days and still not be able to get pregnant? does that indicate anything like me ovulating in any way at all? i have been to the docs and all i have heard so far is that all is well and to give it time but we have been trying for a year and half now with no success. please help, thank.
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beautifulcervix Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 11:21 pm
You can track your basal body temperature and cervical fluid to confirm if you are ovulating each month. Please check out the Garden of Fertility or Taking Charge of Your Fertility, available here:
http://www.beautifulcervix.com/resources/
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I was turned to this website by my anatomy and physiology teacher last year. He believes that every woman should know how and understand how her cycle works, in order to empower her, and to teach her valuable lessons about life. And I am so glad that he did! I’m starting to chart my own cycles and this site is going a long way in helping me understand how it works. I’m 25, and my Husband and I are trying to conceive, so this will definitely help us understand why it is taking so long! Thank you for putting this website up and making it available to everyone!
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Am just sooooooooooooooo very grateful because ah few things i was concerned about is right here with all the explanations i needed thank u very much an MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS U
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Hi.. This site is fantastic! Im 28 and Ive been ttc for just under a year now, i had a loop biopsy last feb but have recently had a clear smear, so all is good there
. ive had 2 children and fell first time with both of them, they are 8 & 9yrs old. 2 years ago i fell pregnant but sadly miscarried which resulted in having to have a D&C, could this have something to do with why i cant concieve do u think?
I have very irregular periods which range from 28-42 days which makes it very hard to predict when im ov but me and my hubby to b have sex daily but still no joy
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fascinating…natural family planning and the ability to check my cervical mucus were what got me pregnant so quickly with my 2 sons now 7 months old and 2 years old! never failed!
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i was wondering what causes this. my cervix was low until two days before ovulation, i had sex the three days before ovulation. i had weird twinges and so on. my cervix has been high from ovulation through my period. my period ended early this morning and i checked it and it has yet to go lower again. is it possible that it was implantation bleeding?
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This is a great website. It would help men understand women much better as regards reproductive health, family planning, emotional needs and why not, also reduce sexual violence! I can tell you that this site increases my understanding of my wife after thirty years. Keep it up.
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Your site is very good,I really love it, But please I need an advice, my cycle is 25days and is regular, I and my hubby have been ttc for 7months now but no result, and also after about 6hours after sex,I still see some sperm coming out from my vagina, I don’t know if is normal and also when will I likely to be ovulating since my cycle is 25days and my bleeding last for 3days. Thanks
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I am. 34. Been trying for like 7 months now. My first is 2 now. Tried to feel my cervix but am. Still learning. So happy to see your site
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Fantastic site, just what every woman of every age should have a peek at, thanks to the women that participated! I have one little question, I ve a prelapsed bladder (through being overweight and flexible) :/ do how would you guys propose self-examination? It seems hard to reach.. I’ve looked in the mirror, but I don’t have one if those pull-you-open-a-jiggees. I’m ttc, and had 2 children previous to this prprolapse. Thank you
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beautifulcervix Reply:
March 24th, 2013 at 12:36 pm
You can order a speculum here:
http://www.beautifulcervix.com/see-your-own-beautiful-cervix/
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I have never even thought about my cervix until I was looking up pregnancy videos on youtube and came across a link to this site. THis site has been eye opening and Im glad I found it
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This is very informative. I love this project so much!
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