Expert: Elayne Glantzberg - 4/15/2008

Question
my daughters dr said he could put her in the hospital with some servidal cream?  to help with the cervix, this is her fourth child and she has not had any problems. Do you think
this will help or would you wait another couple days.  she is due april 19th.

Answer
The subject of your question is "posterior cervix", which means that the cervix is tilted toward the mother's back, instead of straight down or toward the front.  This is generally harmless, may be influenced by the position of the baby, and has no direct bearing on childbirth.

Cervadil is a progesterone suppository used to help ripen the cervix, making it soft and stretchy.  The theory behind its use is that it will help stimulate labor by encouraging the cervix to begin dilation.  Many, many doctors now encourage some kind of induction even before a mother's due date.  However, these inductions are not medically justified in the absence of some serious complication, they increase the risk of c-section to as high as 50%, and have a very high tendency to result in more difficult labors.  You are forcing the body to deliver before the baby is ready to be born, and the body's natural reaction is to fight the induction and keep the baby in.  Often it works, but many times it doesn't.

If it were me, I would wait.  I see no benefit in being induced without a medical reason, and a calendar date is not good enough for me.