Labor Progress

You can't have one, without the other! Labor will progress in 6 different ways.

First, your cervix will have to start softening (you may hear this being called "rippening).
Second, your cervix will need to move to a forward (anterior) position.
Third, your cervix will need to thin and shorten ("efface").

The next 3 phases can't happen until the first 3 have.

Fourth, the cervix will start dilating (as shown above).
Fifth, baby will take position.
Sixth, descending will begin (it may have already begun; some babies will have started their "drop" down into the pelvis, but descending even further down will take place during labor). Descending is measuring how far down the baby is sitting in the pelvis and goes from -'s to 0 to +'s
At a negative, the baby has dropped, sometimes the mom can tell.
At a zero, the baby is in mid-pelvis.
At a positive, the baby is making it's way out.