This ‘Dilation Chart’ Illustrates the Unfathomable Reality of Childbirth

Do you have kids? Parenting is no easy task and can leave parents with up to 6 years of sleep-deprived nights, but as hard as parenting is, just think about childbirth.

If you have kids or if you’re currently pregnant, you probably remember hearing pregnancy and childbirth stories from your friends and family during your own pregnancy. Most likely, you didn’t ask to hear these stories and didn’t even want to hear these stories.

For some reason, women feel compelled to share their pregnancy and childbirth war stories. They range from casually mentioning how easy childbirth was without any anesthesia at all to horror stories about days in labor ending in an emergency c-section.

No matter what the story is, there is one thing that’s true: women’s bodies are amazing. They can grow tiny humans. They can give birth to tiny humans. They can provide all the food and nourishment that this tiny human needs for at least the first year. Amazing.

Towards the end of a woman’s pregnancy, her OB-GYN is likely to start talking about dilation. The range is from 1cm to 10cm, and 10cm means it’s time to push.

All of this dilation talk can seem important but a little abstract. Especially in the United States where we typically don’t measure things in centimeters, it’s hard to actually picture what the doctor is talking about.

It’s easy to hear things like 1cm is about a Cherrio, and 10cm is about like a bagel, but it’s one thing to hear it and another thing to actually see it.

If you’re a visual learner, this wooden dilation chart from etsy might just blow your mind.

Renee Sicignano, the owner of SCV Birth Center, took the picture, and it’s been getting a lot of attention.

After seeing the photo, Steffanie Christi’an posted it on Facebook with the caption “This is what 10cm of dilation looks like. This is why we deserve all the things.” Her post was shared more than 181,000 times.

Comments on Christi’an’s post range from “This is the reason I’m terrified to ever have children” to “YIKES!!! I can’t believe I did that!”

It’s safe to say, many moms and moms-to-be were a little freaked out by the visual of just what their bodies can do.

Does this image make you feel empowered and strong realizing just how amazing your body is, or does it scare you and make you never, ever want to have kids?