Monitoring Your Cervix

When you start tracking your menstrual cycle, it’s always best to start with the basics.¹ However, after a while I recommend that you deepen your awareness of your cycle using advance tracking techniques in order to understand ovulation.²

These techniques include:

1. tracking your cervical mucus³
2. tracking your basal body temperature⁴
3. monitoring your cervix position

In this article I will discuss the anatomy of the cervix and it’s functions. I will also discuss how the cervix changes position throughout the menstrual cycle, how to monitor your own cervix and how to determine ovulation using changes within the cervix.

Erik Odeblad said “the cervix is a precision organ as complex as the eye” and after researching for this post, I really think he may have been on to something. ⁵

What is the cervix?

Before we get into how to monitor your cervix, we need a basic anatomy lesson. What the majority of people refer to as the vagina, is in fact, called the vulva.

This means that all of the external genitalia is called the vulva and not the vagina. ⁶

The vagina is in fact only the internal tube which connects the external genitalia (your vulva) with the uterus (your womb).

The cervix, which is the entrance to the uterus, is at the top of the vagina and changes position throughout the menstrual cycle.

The word cervical has multiple meanings within human anatomy

Along with a basic anatomy lesson, I also think it’s important that we understand the etymology of the word.

The word cervix in Latin means ‘neck’. And it’s for this reason that the word ‘cervical’ refers to different areas in the human body where there are neck-like structures, the two main ones being:

1. Referring to the neck of the uterus
2. Referring to the cervical vertebrae in the spine ⁷

The Latin term for cervix is cervix uteri, which literally translates as “the neck of the uterus”.

The anatomy of the cervix

The cervix is the cylindrical, lower, narrow part of the uterus that connects the uterus to the vagina. Around 3-4 centimetres long and composed from connective and muscular tissue, the cervix consists of 2 main parts, the ectocervix and endocervix.⁸

The ectocervix is the portion of the cervix projecting into the vagina where as the endocervix is the inner part of the cervix that forms a tunnel.

The internal os is the term used to describe the opening of the cervix within the uterus and the external os is the term used to describe the opening of the cervix into the vagina.⁹

Paired ligaments on either side hold the cervix in place, the uterosacral and the cardinal (transverse cervical) ligaments.¹⁰

The functions of the cervix

There are three main functions of the cervix:

1. it acts as a barrier
2. it produces cervical mucus
3. it plays an important role in conception, pregnancy, and childbirth

1. The cervix acts as a barrier

The cervix acts as a barrier that separates the uterus from the vagina. This is important to allow for the transmission of menstrual fluid and other secretions from the uterus to the vagina whilst preventing the transmission of pathogens from the vagina into the uterus.

It also plays a part in allowing or preventing the passage of semen from the vagina to the uterus depending on menstrual cycle phase.¹¹

2. It produces cervical mucus

The cervix also creates cervical mucus, a normal body fluid that changes throughout our menstrual cycle in response to fluctuating hormones.¹²¹³¹⁴

Cervical mucus plays a key role in the female reproductive cycle as it helps to fertilise the egg and transport sperm to the fallopian tube.

It also acts as a barrier, providing a defence by recognising and preventing pathogen entry.

3. The cervix plays an important role in conception, pregnancy, and childbirth

This goes without saying but the cervix is involved in conception, pregnancy, and childbirth. Or as Martyn et al, (2014) put it so beautifully, the cervix is the door to the female reproductive system.¹⁵

During conception, it must allow sperm to passage into the uterus through the endocervical canal.

Throughout pregnancy the cervix must “remain closed despite multiple forces acting upon it”.¹⁶ Simply put, it must retain and protect the growing baby.

Then during labour, in order to allow for the baby to be born, the cervix must undergo a dramatic process of structural and mechanical change.

How the cervix position throughout the menstrual cycle

According to Nott et al, (2016) the cervix “demonstrates a considerable amount of anatomic (and physiologic) variation throughout the menstrual cycle”.¹⁷

Firstly, the cervix changes to either promote or prevent the passage of sperm.

Secondly, it changes in order to facilitate the shedding of the endometrium during menstruation. ¹⁸

Let me explain…

During menstruation, the cervix is firm and low, with the external os (the opening of the cervix) being open as it releases blood.

Once all the blood has been shed, the external os closes with the cervix remaining firm and low.

As ovulation approaches, the cervix cervix begins to ‘SHOW’, which is an acronym for it becoming soft, high, open and wet.¹⁹ It may also change in the angle or tilt as it moves into more of an upright position. 

Once ovulation has occurred there is often a dramatic shift as the cervix moves low, closes and becomes firm once again. The angle or tilt of the cervix may also change, usually to a backwards facing position.

Monitoring your cervix

Monitoring your cervix is simple to do. That said, we need to remember that this is all subjective. Which is we you need to get to know our own cervix each and every day of our cycle because we are all so different. 

• Choose a time of day that makes sense to you such as in the shower in the morning. Your cervix can change position throughout the day due to activity which is why you need to take at the same time every day. 

• Wash your hands (for obvious reasons). ²⁰

• Insert your middle finger into your vagina. Your cervix is located at the end of your vagina and will feel similar to the end of your nose or your puckered lips.

• If you can’t find it or reach it, try squatting. Alternatively you could try placing one foot up on the sink. ²¹

• Notice the height, ²² how open it is, how firm it feels and it’s tilt. Make a note of it on your chart.²³

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. ~ The Beautiful Cervix Project

How to tell if you’ve ovulated using your cervical position?

Getting to know your cervix and how it changes throughout your menstrual cycles means that you may be able to use this to identify ovulation.²⁴

When oestrogen is high and ovulation is approaching, your cervix will be SHOWing. Again this means that the cervix will be soft, high, open and wet.

Any other time the cervix will be firm, low and closed (except during menstruation). ²⁵

This is especially the case during the luteal phase when, under the influence of progesteone, the cervix may also be lying against the wall of the vagina.

One thing I would say is that checking your cervix in order to predict or confirm ovulation should be used alongside tracking your basal body temperature and observing your cervical mucus, not on it’s own.²⁶ And in all honesty, it really is not a necessary step to understanding ovulation, it is more about confirming what your cervical mucus & BBT have told you. 

Final Thoughts

I mentioned at the beginning of this article that Erik Odeblad said “the cervix is a precision organ as complex as the eye”. And honestly, I have only covered the basics of what the cervix does.

But just as with every other part of the female anatomy, the understanding of the cervix is still in it’s infancy.

Even so, we can appreciate that the cervix is a vital part of the female reproductive system, which not only plays a plays an important role in conception, pregnancy, and childbirth but also in providing protection from pathogens.

By monitoring our cervix and understanding how it changes day to day, we can gain greater insight into the menstrual cycle and ovulation.