Charting your Cervical Positions

Cervical Positions

Your the feel and position of your cervix varies throughout your menstrual cycle, and can be used to determine when you will ovulate within your cycle:

• Immediately following your period, your cervix will be low within your body and easily reachable with your finger, the opening will be closed or will feel like a small slit or a tiny hole and will feel hard to the touch. Almost like the tip of your nose.
• In the days that follow, the amount of estrogen within your body increases, causing your cervix to raise within your body, the opening to become larger and the tissue to become softer to the touch.
• By the time you reach your most fertile days, your cervix will be difficult to reach with your finger, the opening will be its largest and it will feel more like your bottom lip than the tip of your nose.
• Once ovulation has occurred, your cervix will return to its low position, it will close and will be hard to the touch as it was in the first few days after your menstrual period.

If you have previously given birth vaginally, your cervix will feel more open at all times because of the stretching that occurred at the birth of your baby. When pregnancy occurs, your cervix will rise up and become soft, but the opening will remain tightly closed. However, this happens at different times for different women, and may not happen for you until pregnancy has been confirmed with a home pregnancy test.

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