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Childbirth

Do you have to lie down to be examined during labour?

11 replies

mersmam · 04/01/2009 10:50

My last two births have been quite active, and both times I've found it much more painful to lie down than to stay standing up. However, both times the midwives have told me that I need to lie down for them to examine me during the peak of a contraction. I've HATED doing this as it makes things 100 times more uncomfortable, but haven't been in much of a position to argue! With my next birth (baby due in early May) I'd like to remain upright at all times. Would I be endangering the baby by doing this? Does the midwife really need to examine you 'down there' during labour?? Any advice would be highly appreciated!

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theyoungvisiter · 04/01/2009 11:28

I don't know if you can be examined upright (I never have been) but I can't see why they need to examine you unless there is a problem - and especially why it would have to be at the peak of a contraction...?

I've had 2 babies and in the first only had a couple of vaginal exams briefly to establish progress between contractions, and in the second only had one exam (at my request) when the MW turned up. She was quite happy for me to not be examined at all but I wanted to know how far I had come. After that I wasn't examined at all.

What's their explanation for the contraction thing?

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mersmam · 04/01/2009 11:39

I actually never got an explanation... by the time the babies were born it was all over and I didn't care It was the same for both 2 births (different midwives) so I had assumed it was the normal thing... perhaps it's just a procedure in the hospital they came from. Anyway, if it is not necessary I'm certainly going to avoid it this time!!

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Sariska · 04/01/2009 11:40

Well I was examined while upright and kneeling against a bed so it is possible. Probably depends on the midwife, though.

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TheButterflyEffect · 04/01/2009 11:46

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StayFrosty · 04/01/2009 11:51

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reikizen · 04/01/2009 11:55

It is in theory possible but I've never seen it in my training. It is also possible to monitor labour without internal examinations, and even these can change depending on who is doing the examination. Internals become important if labour seems to be slowing or stopped and/or your carers think there may be a problem with you or the baby. Some women like to know if they are 'progressing' and it can form the basis for their judgements about pain relief, going to hospital etc. Bear in mind that you don't have to do anything you don't want to do! Also, I don't think the midwife would purposely examine you at the height of a contraction unless they were feeling to see if there were bulging membranes or if there was any descent of the head whilst in the second stage. Sometimes an contraction comes whilst you are performing an examination and I always stop at that point unless I haven't found out what I need to know and it is important that I do so for the above reasons in which case I'll explain all that to the woman. Hope that helps, I know how you feel though, with dd2 when the mw asked me to lie down I thought I would die but she didn't get chance because as soon as I lay down I jumped up again with an almighty urge to push! So no vaginal examinations at all in that labour.

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Wisknit · 04/01/2009 11:58

I was examined while on all fours with ds2. MW wanted to see if anterior lip had gone and I was not lying on my back at that point. Her attitude was she'd try it. All you can do is ask the MW and see what she says. With most of them it's just what they are used to.

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mersmam · 04/01/2009 12:03

So is it safe to push without being examined? with my last labour I had an overwhelming urge to push but the midwife wanted to examine me first, and after examining me said I should try not to push for a while more... if I hadn't had that examination I would have pushed a bit earlier! Does anyone know what kind of problems that might cause? Is the bodies natural instinct to push sometimes wrong?

I suppose what I'm really asking is it it safer for the baby to let the midwife examine you and check things are ready before you let yourself start to push??

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mersmam · 04/01/2009 12:05

Hmmmm... I just hope I get a midwife who is used to examining women when they're not lying on their back... probably not very likely though given my previous experiences

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Olifin · 04/01/2009 12:08

I was only examined once in each of my labours and that was early on in the proceedings. I was happy for it to happen as I wanted to know what stage I was at. I was asked to lie down for it but my lovely mw at the second birth said I could ask her to stop at any point so that I could get up e.g. if a contraction came.

In neither labour was I examined immediately before pushing and I was trusted to follow my instincts. That was fine the first time as I had an unmistakable urge to push but the second time, it just didn't come. The mw asked a couple of times if I felt like I wanted to push and all I could say was 'I don't know!'.