what does it mean when the doctor says your cervix has thinned out?

Answer 1

* Your cervix starts to ripen.
In the days and weeks before delivery, Braxton Hicks may do the preliminary work of softening, thinning, and perhaps opening your cervix a bit. (If you've given birth before, your cervix is more likely to dilate a centimeter or two before labor starts — but keep in mind that even being 40 weeks pregnant with your first baby and 1 centimeter dilated is no guarantee that labor's imminent.) When you're at or near your due date, your practitioner may do a vaginal exam during your prenatal visit to see whether your cervix has started to change.
* You pass your mucus plug or notice "bloody show."
You may pass your mucus plug — the small amount of thickened mucus that's sealed your cervical canal during the last nine months — if your cervix begins to dilate as you get close to labor. The plug may come out all at once in a lump, or as increased vaginal discharge over the course of several days. The mucus may be tinged with blood (which may be brown, pink, or red), which is why it's referred to as "bloody show." Having sex or a vaginal exam can also disturb your mucus plug and cause you to see some bloody discharge even when labor isn't going to start in the next few days. In either case, if you see more than a few spots of blood, be sure to call your caregiver immediately because it could be a sign of a problem.

* Your water breaks.
When the fluid-filled amniotic sac surrounding your baby ruptures, the fluid leaks from your vagina. And whether it comes out in a large gush or a small trickle, you should call your doctor or midwife.

Most women start having regular contractions sometime before their water breaks, but in some cases, the water breaks first. When this happens, labor usually follows soon. If you don't start having contractions on your own within a certain amount of time, you'll need to be induced, since your baby will be at increased risk for infection without the amniotic sac's built-in protection against germs.

Answer 2

It means that you're going to go into labor soon. Your cervix has to be 1100% effaced (thin) and 10 cms dialated for you to push the baby out.

Answer 3

a cervix normally would resemble like a beer or pop bottle with a long neck and very narrow opening(the glass kind of bottle i meant) when you are thinned out and dialated its more like a mayonaise jar...with a very thin tiny neck and a large opening...the neck representing effacement or thinning and the opening representing dialation

Answer 4

it means your a few steps closer to labor... its exactly what it sounds like.... your cervix thinned out.

Answer 5

It means your cervix is getting ready for delivery...

Answer 6

it means that you are about to deliver soon.