Internal exams during pregnancy

[Miffster]

Have not had any so far.
Am pleased about that as hate them and can't see the need anyway.
Am now 36 weeks and according to the pregnancy guides, antenatal appointments may now start to feature pelvic exams and internals.

Can't see the point of this. Infection risk, and all they would tell you is whether I am effacing/dilating at that moment, or not, which is meaningless as I might be 0cm at time of exam and then 2cm a few hours later.

I'd rather just go into labout when I go into labour and rely on more obvious signs, thanks.

So should I get ready to have a series of showdowns or can I expect to be left unmolested for the duration of my pregnancy?

PS. I intend to refuse induction if it is offered and I go 'overdue', and to ask to have baby HB monitored daily if necessary instead. I also have on my birth plan to have VEs only if medical need (to be explained & consented to at the time) since once again, indications of fetal distress can be monitored via doppler and there are other signs of labour progressing than cervical dilation measurements. I strongly believe that externals are more likely to interrupt/delay labour and cause me distress so want to avoid where unnecessary.

Who else has been having internals?

am 39+4 and to date have had no internals with my midwife. I had to have one at hospital last week but only because I thought my waters had broken. It was v uncomfortable, but mentally got me prepared for a host of people staring at my fanjo during labour

AFAIK, the only internal you are likely to be confronted with would be a membrane sweep - but you can refuse these and would only be offered in any case if you go overdue.

don't worry - if the midwife tries to give you an internal exam and you don't want, just refuse!

Thanks for the reply - that's encouraging!

With DS1 no one got anywhere near my fanjo until after my waters broke.

THey only had a brief glance with DS2 because I had some light spotting at around 35 weeks and I was admitted to hospital overnight. (It was all fine though!)

I had two lovely home births and the second was particularly fab, no one touched me the whole time, I just gave birth quietly shortly after midnight with some lovely music on and two midwives and DH quietly standing by.

Hope all goes to plan for you.

If everything is going well then you should be able to avoid them in pregnancy and maybe get away with just one or two in labour. The only time I had an internal during both of my straightforward pregnancies was when I was asked if I wanted a sweep which was completely my choice.

In labour, provided you don't have an epidural and have a midwife who is with you near constantly then they should be able to monitor others signs of how labour is progressing. With DD I had a midwife there at all times - she did one internal when I first got to the delivery suite to check how dilated I was and then she just relied on her experience of how I was handling the contractions and what I was saying for the rest of the labour. She checked DD's heartbeat probably every 15 mins with a doppler (always very brief check) but otherwise didn't lay hands on me again until she delivered DD (apart from when DH had to dash to the loo and I needed someone to massage my back during a particularly vicious contraction :o!).

I have never had one and I have been pregnant twice.

I've had a swab done to check for infection, which I was glad about as it came back negative so without it I would've taken antibiotics for no reason.

And I've had one VE when I got rushed to hospital with severe back pain and everyone (including me!) was worried I was going into premature labour. TBH I was in so much pain I hardly noticed it and I really wanted to know my cervix was closed at that point!

As you're hoping for a homebirth without much drugs or interventions, hopefully you'll be fine not having any. I know at my NCT course, the leader said to make sure you had a VE before getting pethidine as some women don't present as "standard" and so signs of being well dilated or in transition can be missed and if you get pethidine or other drugs then, it's not great.

BTW, I had a wonderful experience of induction with DD who was 13 days overdue. It doesn't have to be a horrid or medicalised experience, although of course you don't know until you go through it (but then that is the same with labour anyway :))

Never had one, never heard of anyone having one until a sweep when they went overdue. You can refuse anything, don't forget!

Cool. Am booked in for a home water birth and have said to MW that am not up for internals unless medical need and she has said that the hospital protocols is to 'only want them done every 4 hours'
However, as it will be at my home not in the hospital I am pretty sure I can avoid them once we get down to it, unless there is some kind of emergency or medical compelling reason. If it's explained to me why the mw wants to do one on arrival/during labour, and it *makes sense to me then ok,

(*i.e: we think baby is posterior and that's why you are not having regular contractions, just a lot of back pain - can we check how dilated you are?).

But just saying 'to check how far along you are' when I am showing other signs like not being able to speak during contractions which are happening every 5 mins, or 'it's what we usually do according to hospital community midwife protocols' is not a good enough reason for me.

I have had 2 children and only internal exams during labour once when I arrived at hospital and once just before pushing stage.

I'm having my 3rd and also only had internal exams during late labour with first 2dcs. I also had a very positive induction experience.

I never had one during labour either. MWs were too scared of me

With DD I had an internal at 27 weeks due to previous surgery on cervix, and 1 when I arrived in labour. With DS I had none until I was in labour, had to have a quite a few as he wasn't moving down and it took them 3 and half hours to work out he was a brow presentation and was stuck.

Had to have one last week to see if my waters had gone. To say my MW is a butcher would be rude to butchers!

Turns out waters not gone, but possible infection.

Didnt have any during pregnancy but had sweeps and examined during labour on all 3 dcs.

Not sure why you wouldnt want to be examined during labour, especially as you are at home and therfore will only be one person with their hand up your fanjo, and also that if there are any problems you can get into hospital asap.
FWIW I was having contraction 3-5mins apart and was in so much pain I had to have an epidural with dc3 (didnt have with the other two), however I didnt get further than 5cms
So contraction regularity and pain not always a good inidcator.
At the other end of the scale they refused to examine me again with dc2 and when I shouted Im pushing they looked down and there he was.

Its not an exact science as you will find out.

I agree that contraction regularity and pain are not always a good indicators of progress, certainly not for me anyway. They found a problem but as they knew about it, it was dealt with.

Even if everything is ok, internals can provide reasurrance of progression after after hours and hours of agonising labour.

Do consider any refusal of induction very carefully. Your baby's uterine home does deteriorate post term and whilst he/she may be surviving, this is very different from thriving.

I didn't have any during pregnancy. Didn't have any during labour til I'd been in labour for hours and wanted to know where I'd got to.

I don't see why they need to do vaginal exams during labour unless you want to know how far along you are. The second time I had a VE during labour the midwife performed a sweep without my consent so if you want to avoid that kind of thing then make it clear before you let them touch you.