Which of the following cardinal movements immediately occur before expulsion?

Did you know that during birth your baby goes through a series of movements to try and position itself just perfectly to allow for the smallest part of its body to be born first?

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

What are the Seven Cardinal Movements that babies make during birth?
Descent & Flexion
Internal Rotation
External Rotation
Which of the following cardinal movements occurs just before expulsion?
What are cardinal movements of labor?
Which of the following is the nurse's initial action when umbilical cord prolapse occurs?
Which of the following would be the priority when uterine rupture occurs?

These movements where your baby shifts themselves into position are known as the seven cardinal movements and begin at or just before the onset of labor and continue until your baby is born.

What are the Seven Cardinal Movements that babies make during birth?

Engagement
Descent and Flexion
Internal Rotation
Extension
External Rotation
Expulsion

Let’s take a deeper look into each part.

Engagement

Your baby is “engaged” when the widest part of their head (measured from ear tip to ear tip across the head) has passed into the pelvic inlet. This is the start of the birthing process and the baby getting themselves into the position for birth. This is the point your provider is referring to when they describe your baby’s station as “0”.

Descent & Flexion

These two cardinal movements go hand in hand
Descent, sometimes called “lightening”, is the movement of your
baby’s head through the bony part of the pelvis and reaches the depth
of the pelvic cavity. As descent happens, flexion is also occurring. During flexion, your
baby’s head pushes against pelvic tissue, aligning their head with
their chin toward their chest.

Internal Rotation

Your baby rotates his/her head and body from side to side to front to back
to navigate the changing diameters of the pelvis.

Extension

After internal rotation is complete and the head passes through the pelvis
at the nape of the neck, a rest occurs as the neck is under the pubic arch.
Extension occurs as the head, face, and chin are born.

External Rotation

After the head of your baby is born, there is a slight pause in the action of labor. During this pause, your baby will rotate from face-down to 90 degrees to face towards one of your thighs.

The cardinal movements of labor are:

A. Engagement, internal rotation, external rotation, and expulsion
B. Internal rotation, descent, flexion, external rotation, and expulsion
C. Engagement, descent, flexion, internal rotation, external rotation, and extension
D. Engagement, descent, flexion, internal rotation, extension, external rotation, and expulsion
E. Descent, flexion, internal rotation, extension, external rotation, expulsion

Which of the following cardinal movements occurs just before expulsion?

External rotation of the head/internal rotation of the shoulder: The head externally rotates to face the right or medial-thigh of the mother (Hence option 4 is correct).

What are cardinal movements of labor?

The fetus negotiates the birth canal and rotational movements are necessary for descent. Anglo-American literature lists 7 cardinal movements, namely engagement, descent, flexion, internal rotation, extension, external rotation, and expulsion.

Which of the following is the nurse's initial action when umbilical cord prolapse occurs?

The immediate priority is to minimize pressure on the cord. Thus the nurse's initial action involves placing the client on bed rest and then placing the client in a knee-chest position or lowering the head of the bed, and elevating the maternal hips on a pillow to minimize the pressure on the cord.

Which of the following would be the priority when uterine rupture occurs?

When uterine rupture occurs, which of the following would be the priority? Question 2 Explanation: With uterine rupture, the client is at risk for hypovolemic shock. Therefore, the priority is to prevent and limit hypovolemic shock.