I'm 12 weeks pregnant with my first. I have a "special needs" vagina: it has a pain condition called vulvodynia/vestibulitis.
(I have a history of some docs not seeking full consent in examinations because they think it's all in my head so if I'm just not warned, I won't know it should hurt. I live in Denmark and they don't give Shit One about patient rights. Complaints procedure is basically "did you survive? Well shut up".)
I saw One Born Every Minute and one of the mums said after an internal examination "OMG, she just stuck her entire hand in me!" and I wasn't sure if she was using hyperbole or I was naive for thinking it would be any different.
When midwives check how dilated you are in labour, what's the drill?
I'm lucky, I don't have vaginismus, so they can get in but it'll hurt like billy-o if it's more than a couple of fingers.
And how often do they do it? Is it every hour on the hour or just when they think there is an issue?
I'm interested in having a water birth or a home birth not because I think it might be more relaxing but because I feel like it might minimise consent-lite internals. I want to tell the midwife at my first appointment but I'm so worn down from the "yeah yeah, we'll be careful" that I had during my fertility treatment, I don't know if it'll make any difference to my care.
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Pregnancy
Internals during labour
4 replies
seasonticket · 05/07/2016 12:34
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