Bishop Score

Have you ever been told your Bishop Score?

The Bishop Score chart helps your care provider know if your body is getting close to labor and if an induction will be successful.

After doing a cervical exam they will give you a score based on the information in the chart. (See below) If you score 8 or above you are probably going into labor soon and an induction will probably be successful.

The lower your score, the less likely you are close to going into labor and the less likely an induction will be successful. Consider this, if you are 39 weeks and are just done being pregnant, eager to meet your baby, uncomfortable and ask for an induction, first ask for your bishop score. If your Bishop Score is 5, maybe you will reconsider. We want our body (and baby) to be ready. Forcing it into labor often increases our chance of a cascade of interventions.

While when you will go into labor is very unpredictable, this is about as close as we can get to some real information. Most providers use this tool to determine when you will come in for your induction. If you have a lower Bishop Score you will go in the night before for cervical ripening and begin the induction in the morning. This is the case for most first-time moms. Some women who have had babies before have a higher bishop score and do not need the cervical ripening.

Here is a story I like to share as an example of how you can use this tool to help determine when you would like to schedule your induction. A woman was at her 40 week appointment on a Monday and her induction was set for that Friday. She told her provider she was not feeling good about the induction that Friday and asked if they could check her Bishop Score. The providers first response was, “Oh yeah, I forget how to do that”. This women said, well I have the chart here with me. The provider was happy to do it. After doing the cervical exam, and several minutes of writing down notes according to the chart, the provider said, “Ok, let’s move your induction to Monday”.

There are instances where an induction is needed for medical reasons and cannot be avoided. However, unnecessary inductions happen all the time and without much consideration or discussion over the risks of what that might bring. Every day counts. If you can push your induction off even by just a few days, you are giving your body the opportunity to be more ripe and ready!