One of the signs of the approaching birth is considered the discharge of the so-called birth plug - a small lump of mucus that filled the cervical canal and protected the unborn child from external infections. How to recognize if the plug has come off or not?
Instructions
Step 1
You need to know what the cork looks like in order to understand what exactly happened and not to panic if you find discharge from the genitals that is unusual for a pregnant woman on your underwear. And also in order to promptly inform your attending gynecologist about this important fact, because the premature departure of the cork can be a reason for taking urgent measures to preserve the pregnancy when the period is not long enough for childbirth.
Step 2
In most cases, a woman cannot fail to notice that the cork has come off, since it (the cork) is a small lump of mucus with bloody streaks (the birth cork can be colorless, yellowish or even pinkish, but it is always mucus). The consistency of the mucous plug can be different and resemble in its appearance both thick discharge from the nose with a cold, and cause associations with the popular children's toy ball-slime, that is, be a rather dense stretching mucous mass.
Step 3
The birth plug can move away gradually over several days in small parts or a few hours before delivery and all at once completely, leave with water (including when the bladder is punctured by doctors) or on its own. Also, the cork can move away and remain for some time in the vagina and come out only in the second stage of labor or together with the birth of the baby. That is why some women did not see whether the cork came off or not, although they gave birth to more than one child.
Step 4
It is difficult to confuse the discharge of the mucous plug with the leakage of amniotic fluid, since they have a different consistency, color and when coughing (and, consequently, some tension of the abdominal muscles), the plug does not stand out again, unlike amniotic fluid, which can leak within a minute from the moment coughing.
