Many of our patients often wonder about the same medical questions, and now you have an opportunity to read responses directly from our physicians, or to ask a question yourself!
Dr. Cliff Goodman, Jr. Responds:
The mucus plug is a strange thing. First, it isn't really a plug, it's just mucus that comes out of your cervix (the opening to your uterus). The cervix is a mucus-producing organ. Anything that squeezes or stretches it will push out mucus, sometimes in globs bigger than your fist! And the cervix just keeps making more. In late pregnancy, the uterus is contracting a lot, getting ready for the big event. You often don't even feel these contractions, but they have an effect. They also cause sometimes very gradual changes in the cervix, which pushes out more mucus.
We don't want to sound cruel, but passage of a mucus plug usually means you're going to have your baby sometime in the next 2 hours to sixty days! That's all it means.
Now, if it's very watery (amniotic fluid looks like lemonade, smells like milk), has more than just flecks of blood, smells bad, itches or burns, you should talk to your doctor about it or go to Labor & Delivery at your hospital for evaluation.
-Dr. Cliff Goodman, Jr.
