How will an anterior lip affect the labour?
What your caregiver may do
What can I do?
Most women will move from the 1st stage of their labour, to 2nd stage without a hitch. Generally, following your body's signals when you feel the urge to push, is normal, and does not necessarily require your caregiver to perform an internal vaginal examination to 'allow' you to push. Occasionally, the pushing happens, but sounds a little 'half-hearted' or inconsistent and may be accompanied with slightly heavier bleeding than normal. These are usually the signs that a woman may have an anterior lip.
An anterior lip is a minor variation that can occasionally uphold a woman's progress from the 1st to the 2nd stage of labour. If it does occur, it happens close to full dilation of the cervix or at about 9 1/2 centimetres. This is at the close of the transitional phase, or just before the woman starts to push her baby out.
The 'lip' occurs when the top of the cervix (thinking of a clock face, from 10 o'clock to 2o'clock, with the woman lying on her back) swells. It can be compared with a 'fat lip', and can be as thick as a finger. The anterior section of the cervix is nearly always the last part to be finally taken up into the lower segment of the uterus. Normally, with an anterior lip, the rest of the woman's cervix has completely dilated.
The swelling can occur because: