How to Find Your Cervix

If you haven’t heard, making friends with your cervix is a great thing to do when you’re trying to get pregnant. But how do you find your cervix? 

First of all, it will take a few tries. Forget about figuring out what your cervical mucus is telling you for now. Just start with this one thing, perfect it, then move on to the fluid. Once you find your cervix and then combine that knowledge with observations on your fluid it is sooooo much easier to understand the stuff mother nature does down there.

How to find your cervix:

• Always wash your hands first — protect that special lady part of yours.
• If you take a shower at the same time every day, that’s the best place to start.
• Give yourself a little bit of time the first time you do it. It took me waaaay longer than I thought it would, but still it was truly just a few minutes.
• Squat. Spread your legs so you are comfortable and balanced. The key is to not tense up, so take a breath.
• If you can, put your weight on the balls of your feet. That will help you reach more accurately toward the back of your vagina, where your cervix sits. Balance yourself against a wall if needed.
• Use your middle finger. Take your middle finger and just shove it up there, ever so gently of course.
• Feel around. Your vaginal walls will be super mushy. Your cervix will be the only thing in there that is textured differently. It’ll be like a bump on the wall.
• Once you find it. Take your time feeling it. Note what it’s like to touch it, the pressure or sensations you feel should be different than when touching your vaginal wall.

What does the cervix feel like?

Everyone says it feels like your nose. I kept looking for something like that, but never thought it felt like my nose.
 
For me, that first time, it was less about what the cervix felt like and more about what my vagina felt like. Honestly, I don't think I was sure I found my cervix for about three days. And here's what I'd say it felt like: pucker your lips, then press your middle finger to them. Imagine that your nose is behind that. That is what it feels like — a really squishy nose.
 
Of course, your cervix will feel different at different points in your cycle. But in some sense it is always that combination of squishy cartilage. It’s just that its level of squishiness and location will change as your body prepares itself to release an egg.  

Tracking your cervix

Tracking your cervix is the key to unlocking the mystery of your cervix and your cervical fluid. You need to recognize what it feels like when you're not fertile in order to recognize what it feels like when you are fertile. You’ll also automatically see the type of fluid coming from your cervix when you pull your finger out, helping you better understand what your fertile fluid looks like.
 
When you are fertile, your cervix softens. When you aren’t, it hardens.
 
When you are fertile, the cervix opens and lets flow all the wonderful egg-white transparent fluid that sperm love. When you aren’t, the cervical opening is closed, there’s less fluid, and it’s often thicker, whiter, and almost clumpy.
 
When you are fertile, the position of your cervix in your vagina changes, moving higher (and sometimes harder to reach with your finger — take note of this, it can be extremely helpful to know about your body). When you aren’t fertile, your cervix is lower in the vagina and easier to locate.

Tips for Tracking Your Cervix

• Be patient. You'll need to do this for a full cycle, up to when your period starts. That's about 21 days of your life, but those 21 days will be your best empowerment tool on your path to pregnancy.
• Do it the same time every day, starting after your period ends until the first day of your next period. After this first cycle, you'll only really need to pay attention about 10 days a month. And if you're super aware, that could even become about 6 days.  
• Document what you find! You’ll forget, and come next month you'll be scratching your head trying to remember exactly what it felt like. I recommend using app, and you can find some of my favorites in our Recommended Resources. Of course, you can always just write down a note or symbol on your calendar.

So take a moment and get to know yourself.  When you think you've found your cervix, press on it. Your vagina is squishy and soft. Your cervix will be the only thing you find in there that is like a solid (yet also squishy) surface. Even when it's in the "hard" stage, it is still kind of rubbery and squishy.
 
Keep checking your cervix at the same time every day. If you have an idea of when you are supposed to ovulate, keep it in mind but don't let that be your only guide. The standard doctor response is that it is 14 days after the start of your period. Remember, this is if you are a regular gal on a 28-day cycle. For my first year of trying to get pregnant after getting off of birth control, I was all over the map. One cycle was 30 days, one was 26, the next was 32.
 
Once you’ve found your cervix, here’s a handy breakdown of the signs that it’s fertile.

Fertile Cervix

• Cervix is high up in the vagina
• Cervix is rather soft and extra squishy
• Cervical opening is open
• Cervix is releasing clear, lubricant-like fluid