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?
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 expulsionB. 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