3 cm dilation or the active phase can run for several hours to a few days.

Such dilation is the first stage of active labor.

By the time, the cervix gets effaced to 50-60%. The efface and dilate both are happening.

Contractions happen at a regular interval after every 5-20 minutes.

The baby courses down to the pelvis. These, all, happen between 37 weeks to 42 weeks.

According to National Library of Medicine:

The 12 hours inactive dilation seems very long and during that long dilation

Rohwer AC, Khondowe O, Young T. Antispasmodics for labour. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Jun 5;2013(6):CD009243. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD009243.pub3. PMID: 23737030; PMCID: PMC6823273.

Let’s move on…

3cm dilated how much longer?

Dilation is a common phase of pregnancy. In Med term, we can say the phase of cervical dilation process takes months, weeks, days, and ended up in hours when you are close to 100% effacement.

This is the longest stage depending on the condition of a mother. Interestingly, and lots of changes may occur during the timeline.

Here we will talk about the 3cm dilation.

It happens when the uterus starts contractions. In other words, the mother is going to take the active labor phase.

There are three stages of labor, 3 cm is the beginning of the active labor stage.

What is contraction?

Contractions are the rhythmic tightening and relaxing of your uterine muscles that help push your baby down the birth canal during labor. They usually start off spaced far apart and become more frequent as labor progresses. Your doctor or midwife will be able to tell if you’re having contractions by feeling your abdomen or by monitoring them on a machine called a fetal monitor.

What happens when you are dilated?

Several signs show you that you are going to take active labor. Such as:

•  If the mother feels pain in the pubic bone, meaning in the back, She is having dilation. In other words, cramping shows a sign of cervix dilation.

• The first sign indicates that the mother feels active pain across the pelvic area. This pain will come and go every 5- 20 minutes after. Normally, Mild pain indicates that dilation process has begun. Gradually, the pain goes up. 

• Lightning crotch, a sharp and shooting pain felt in the vulva. It senses like an electric volt or zaps from the body. The pain is intermittent.

• If the mother private part is bloody and gets soaked by mucus plus, this means the dilation of the mother.

• As the cervix starts to efface, its little blood vessels break down and the blood goes down to the vulva. Luckily, this is another indication that the mother is in dilation.

• The intuitive mind, meaning a natural whisper, comes into a mother’s mind that she is going to have dilation. This happens automatically in a mother’s body.
  
• The amniotic fluid begins to generate at that dilation timeline however, it is very low according to National library of Medicine.

How does it look like?

Cervix get started to open up at 3cm dilation. It is a sign of early dilation process starting from 1cm to 2cm dilation

The 3cm dilation can be measured by fingers and it is so easy to do. Like the 3cm dilation picture below show you- when you can easily enter the 3 fingers into the opening part of cervix then it seems you are dilating up to 3cm measurement.

In other words, the cervix will be getting started to be effaced over the time and finally, it will dilated up to 10 cm

On the other hand, dilation process helps to let the baby grow in the womb.

In the latent phase, the cervix starts to stretch from 0 to 2cm.

And, in the active phase, the cervix starts from 3centimeters to 10cm.

Between these, the active phase is the longest in pregnancy.

The dilation no contractions stage takes a few hours or even days. Here most of the mother need to hold patience.

How long can you stay 3cm dilated without contraction?

Good news is-
If you are 3cm dilated with no contractions, it is likely that you will soon begin to experience it.

It takes longer or shorter span of time towards the active pregnancy depends on the effacement of your cervix.

Here is a misconception to many mother, they think labor is contractions.

But it’s not at all!

So, I get to see, one of my friend came to me and said “I’m in labor for five days!” I was laughing that time because she was going through contractions.

A mother said about her dilation period

When should I go to hospital at 3-cm dilation?

During contractions, a mother should go to the hospital and let doctor check out her cervix. So, she will get to know what happens to her cervix.

If your doc said that your cervix is changing or effacing it means, everything looks okay. If not, then go home and to work harder.

They usually start off spaced far apart and become more frequent as labor progresses.

Your doctor or midwife will be able to tell if you’re having contractions by feeling your abdomen or by monitoring them on a machine called a fetal monitor.

1) You may be early in your labor and not yet having regular contractions.

2) You may be dehydrated and not have enough contractions to dilate.

3) You may be having contractions but they are not strong enough to cause dilation.

4) The baby may be in a posterior position, which can make dilation slower. Here the reason is the baby with their spine straight has less ability to wiggle

5) You may have an anterior placenta, which can make dilation slower.

6) You may be carrying twins or other multiples, which can make dilation slower.

7) You may have a history of slow or difficult labor, which can make dilation slower.

8) You are may be plus size, which can make dilation slower.

9) You may be taking certain medications that can make dilation slower.

10) There may be some other medical reason why dilation is slower.

If you still confused here, then have a look at this video, where the nurse describe it very well.

3 Cm Dilated 50% Effaced No Contractions

If you’re like most pregnant women, you’re probably wondering what all of those numbers and percentages mean when your doctor or midwife tells you that you’re 3 centimeters dilated and 50% effaced. Here’s a breakdown of what it all means: Dilation is a measure of how much your cervix has opened in preparation for childbirth.

It’s measured in centimeters (cm), with 1 cm being the smallest amount of dilation and 10 cm being fully dilated. Most women will be somewhere between 3-10 cm when they go into labor. Effacement is a measure of how much your cervix has thinned out or shortened in preparation for childbirth.

It’s measured as a percentage, with 100% being the fullest amount of effacement. A cervix that’s 50% effaced has thinned out to half its original size. Most women will be between 40-100% effaced when they go into labor.

Contractions are the rhythmic tightening and relaxing of your uterine muscles that help push your baby down the birth canal during labor. They usually start off spaced far apart and become more frequent as labor progresses. Your doctor or midwife will be able to tell if you’re having contractions by feeling your abdomen or by monitoring them on a machine called a fetal monitor.

3 Cm Dilated 50% Effaced How Much Longer

It’s hard to say exactly how much longer you have when you’re 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Every pregnancy is different, and every labor is different. However, there are some general things that can give you an idea of what to expect.

If this is your first baby, you may have a long way to go. First-time moms often take several hours to progress from 3 cm to 10 cm. If you’re having contractions that are becoming increasingly frequent and intense, that’s a good sign that things are moving in the right direction.

If this isn’t your first baby, you may not have as much time left as you did with your first. Subsequent labors tend to be shorter than first labors, so if your contractions are strong and regular, you may be nearing the end of your labor. Of course, there’s no way to know for sure how much time you have left until your little one makes his or her grand entrance into the world!

The best thing you can do is relax and let nature take its course.

How to dilate faster from 3cm at home

Experts suggest for exercising so that our body movement will make the dilation to go fast.

For example, walking, changing positions, and staying in the warm bathtub/ pool will speed up the dilation. 

Besides those, artificially creating a hook into amniotic membrane in pregnancy through medical inventions will add motion to dilation.

Syntonic hormone through a drip stimulates the contractions of the body. The more the uterus contracts, the more the baby will move down. In other words, dilation will happen fast and the labor as well.

1. Relax: It is important to try to relax as much as possible while you are waiting to dilate. This can be difficult, but it may help the process along.

2. Move around the home: It is also helpful to move around as much as possible. Movement here and there can increase your blood flow which is important for increasing dilation. Moreover, moving around the house is effective as it creates pressure to the cervix by baby weight.

3. Using a big exercise ball: To use a large size of an exercise ball, also called a birthing ball can be helpful for dilating faster. Try to do some light exercise by sitting the ball for 20 to 30 minutes. So, you may reduce the chances of baby measuring 2 weeks ahead.

4. Drink plenty of fluids: Drinking fluids can help to keep the cervix as lubricated, which may help with dilating.

5. Eat a healthy diet: Eating a healthy diet can help to improve the overall health of the cervix, which may help with dilating.

6. Get plenty of rest: Getting plenty of rest can help to improve the overall health of the body, which may help with dilating.

7. Having sex with your partner: It is the way to become relaxing faster. So, relaxing with having sex can be helpful for your dilating faster at home.

8. Avoid stress. Stress can interfere with the hormones that are necessary for dilating.

9. Curb walking: Last but not the least, Curb walking to induce labor before going to giving birth your baby is pretty effective.

How to induce labor pain for speeding up dilation?

I just want people to keep in mind that there isn’t any proven way to induce labor.

I can suggest you to speed up the dilation faster through curb walking to induce labor.

I also wanted to talk a minute about eating liver during pregnancy. Please don’t.

What to avoid while inducing labor?

Liver contains an astronomical amount of Vitamin A and in high doses can be very dangerous and risks the health and viability of a growing fetus.

Liver is very rich in iron, but there are several other foods that provide iron as well or taking straight iron supplements. They are safe while the liver is not. 

I know a lot of your doctors recommended liver for the iron but I don’t think they are aware of the dangers of high doses of Vitamin A. 

I know a lot of people don’t want to believe that doctors can be wrong but they can. Some doctors still recommend a glass of wine a night which is also completely wrong and extremely outdated misinformation. 

There are still some pregnant mothers who believe that smoking cigarettes during pregnancy is okay.

They used to recommend cigarettes during pregnancy until researchers found that it was harmful.

Medicine is ever evolving and some haven’t been caught up or don’t have access to new information.

Lastly, we aren’t doctors. We can give you suggestions, but ultimately you need to see a doctor if you’re bleeding, missed a period with a negative test, fell down the stairs or had any other accidents. 

Can you eat or use castor oil?

Castor oil is not recommended here! Castor oil can be dangerous for mom and baby.

Not only can castor oil cause the baby to pass meconium inside the womb which can be an issue when the baby is born, the contractions caused by castor oil have a very distinctive pattern.

They are very close together—in some cases, too close. This can be harmful for the mother and the baby. It can lead to decreased blood flow to the baby and potentially cause the placenta to prematurely separate from the uterine wall.

Here is a link on the danger of baby passing meconium (first baby poop) in the womb.

On the other hand, you can use it for oral supplement. 

The national library of medicine said: 

Oral administration of castor oil is effective for cervical ripening and labor induction. Midwives should closely monitor pregnant women with prolonged labor and collaborate with obstetricians to employ castor oil as a safe intervention to induce cervical ripening and labor to prevent undue cesarean surgery.