painful speculum 35 wks?

[nuffmac]

Hi girls,

Well i have been having bleeds the last few weeks so have been in and outta hospital. Yesterday i had another one and they did a speculum exam to check my cervix. Midwife said it wud be like a smear test.

It was the MOST PAINFUL thing ever! From the minute she put it in it was excruciating. I could barely breath. Everything just felt so swollen. I had an internal ultrasound a dew weeks ago and that felt similar but not so bad. I said it to the midwives and they said it shouldnt feel that bad and ask doc. So i asked doc and i think she thought i was exaggerating and said it wud be uncomfortable.

Anyway i am now dreading labour. I usually have a high pain threshold but i wont be able for that level of pain!

Has anyone else found these exams this painful? Cud the bleeds be making it so sore?

 

[girlinyork]

I had a speculum yesterday and it hurt too. I think that they are a very unnatural thing for a vagina to take though. The vagina is designed to take a baby's head and the baby's head adapts to the vagina x

 

[NennaKay]

Copied this from a post I made earlier today:

So I had my Strep B test yesterday. My OB swabbed outside of my rectum, so no internal there, but she used a freaking speculum for my vaginal swab. Lemme tell you, she is not a good speculum user. She was really kind of rough and she cranked the speculum open before she adjusted it to see. She told me I was likely to bleed afterward and spotting was normal, but if I had a period level bleed to call. Thanks.

Then she followed up with a manual exam to measure dilation. I'm pretty sure she was trying to fit her whole hand in there! She told me I was 1 cm. I'm sure I was after she jammed her finger in there! Oy vey... Starting to hope I go a little early just so she doesn't get to do that anymore.

BTW: I had to wipe 3-4 times yesterday before I put my pants back on after my exam because there was quite a bit of blood. I also think I may have lost a fair-sized chunk of my mucus plug last night complete with pink and red streaks... I've been losing little yellow pieces that regenerate since about 12 weeks though.

I'm pretty sure the speculum is extra rough on already tender parts... Sorry you had to go through it too!