Why do people say they dont want vaginal examinations?

[youngwife20]

Hi, I was just wondering what the reasons are? Because I thought the vaginal examinations were to check baby is okay and to check how far along in cm you are?

But Ive read alot of people on here are strongly against it.

I was just curious as to why?

is there any risks of it or anything?

Just wondering?

Thanks

 

[Mellybelle]

Didnt want to read and run..I want to know the answer to this one too!

 

[Linzi]

I don't think VEs are to check baby is ok, unless I'm wrong I think they do that by tracing babys heartrate through contractions making sure there are no recurrent accelerations/decelerations... as far as I kniw you can pick up most signs baby is distressed this way (alongside meconium in waters).

Cant speak for anyone else but for me, VEs were really painful & uncpmfortable and tbh I found them slightly unnecessary as your body tells you the right time to push ayway, I was confident I knew when my babys head was coming down & the right time to push so I never felt the need to have a VE. I did ask for one when the mw first arrived, but only because I wasn't sure if I was def in labour or not, and I found that finding out how dilated I was gave me a bit more focus too. But that was the only one I had I let my body do what it felt was right

xxx

 

[Mellybelle]

Actually, when I was in labour with my LO (now 3) I knew I was near the end, but the mw did a VE and told me I was only 6cm. That was it! I started begging for an epidural even though I had been through the whole labour with no drugs and had been coping well. The mw started to prep me for the epi, then noticed it was too late and he was born 20 minutes later. I really think if she hadnt told me 6cm, I wouldnt have started to focus on the pain so much. I'd been doing so well before that.

 

[Blah11]

Theyre really uncomfortable and when you want to push, you know you want to push. The 1cm an hour 'rule' can cause a lot of stress and really, you can take 10 hours to get to 5cm then only 2 hours until you're fully dilated.

I'll ask for an internal when MW first arrives so I know where my starting off point is but i think that will be the first and only.

 

[youngwife20]

Interesting thank you for answering ladies.

 

[diz]

As Blah says! Also, there are other physiological indicators of dilation - its not completely necessary to go rooting around up there. Especially in a drug free labour. Also performing internals can some times have a negative effect on the labouring woman by slowing and in extreme cases stopping progress. However this is not the norm for most active births. TBH i had one internal when i first saw my MW so she could assess if she needed to make her way to my home or if she could stay at work for a bit longer. I was 3cm when she examined me and that was the last time she had her fingers any where near that area until Noah was crowning.

 

[irish_cob]

I think because they can have a negative effect psychologically as others have said, if you've been in active labour for ages and then a MW comes along and says "you're only 4cms" that can make you feel crap. But really it's not an indicator of anything, no one dilates at the same rate as anyone else, you might take 8 hours to get to 5cm, so then you think "oh no, another 8 hours to go", but then you may actually only take an hour to get from there to pushing, so it's not a reliable indicator of how long you have left. It doesn't show the baby is ok, it's nothing to do with the baby. There are other signs to watch for which will show how labour is progressing, things like the muscles in the back and bum change, something happens with the anus (can't remember what) and experienced midwives can also tell how labour is progressing from how the mum is managing. Any interference is a chance for infection to happen, so I'd prefer to keep VEs to a minimum, when they're not strictly necessary.

 

[youngwife20]

having and internal check increases chance of infection?

 

[Ashy]

i had VEs from 36 weeks with my last pregnancy, my OB told me that i should have Babe around my EDD, and i walked around desperately at 3cm for weeks with no result, and ended up being 11 days past. this time i dont freakin care, ill go with my body and push as it tells me, not because im allowed to at 10cm.

 

[chuck]

They can accidentally rupture your memranes too.

But 1 persons 5cm may be anothers 3cm, its unreliable.

 

[sam#3]

it is unreliable, irrelevant and can really infulence a womans experience of labour... for eg. if she is coping well with the pain and managing things naturally and is then told she is only 4cms it can make her feel negative and deflated and therefore make her think she cant cope through the pain and so her labour can change and she can end up asking for drugs that had she not have just had that internal she wouldnt have asked for.
Also past about 2cms they tend to 'make it up' as there is no way of telling past that point how far opened up your cervix is in cm's but as women seem to be obsessed with knowing a number through labour they kind of guesstimate it to satisy the woman.
In addition to this one woman can go from 1-fully in under an hour and another can take 30 hours so it has no relevance on the labour... being '2' doesnt mean it will be hours and hours to fully, equally being '6' doesnt mean fully is just around the corner....

 

[Celesse]

I had a birth reflections appointment a few weeks ago. I clearly remembered how many cm dialted I was at each examination. My notes didn't match to what I'd been told! Plus I'm pretty sure that if the same midwife had examined me the results would have been different.

 

[booflebump]

Intervention breeds intervention, so as seeming harmless as VE's are made out to be, once you are examined, a time limit is put on your labour. Depending on your NHS trust, you only have so long to dilate and deliver. So the longer they can be avoided, or avoided altogether, the better

xxx

 

[madasa]

Hi, I was just wondering what the reasons are? Because I thought the vaginal examinations were to check baby is okay and to check how far along in cm you are?

But Ive read alot of people on here are strongly against it.

I was just curious as to why?

is there any risks of it or anything?

Just wondering?

Thanks

At best, they are nearly always unnecessary. A MW worth her salt can assess your progress via external signs. Yipes, even a doula should be able to tell roughly where you are in labour by watching your behaviour, "the bottom line" etc.

Plus, it doesn't tell them if the baby is ok. Nor does it tell them how much longer you will be in labour (since you can dilate to a 5 in a couple of hrs and then take 12 hrs to dilate another 5 or vice versa). Nor does it tell them if it is "time for you to push" - if your baby's head is on the big side you will need to dilate past 10 and in any case SOME pushing HELPS you dilate and/or helps the baby descend. Pushing is like vomiting. No matter HOW MANY years a person has studied medicine, there is only one person who knows precisely WHEN they need to run to the bathroom and retch into the toilet.

At worst, VEs hinder labour.

- the mum can feel disappointed if she is not as far along as she would like to be (imagine labouring hard for many hours only to be told you are only 2-3 cms???)

- it can cause the cervix to UNdilate. Lots of things can cause this... anything that makes the mum feel uncomfortable in any way.

- it can cause infection

- the bag of waters might be popped by mistake (or "by mistake" )

- it disturbs the mother. The staff can't do it w/o your consent, but to GET your consent, they have to pull you out of the "labour trance". This hinders the process and makes it more unpleasant and uncomfortable for the mum.

HTH

 

[nov_mum]

I think the others have pointed out all of the negatives but the thing that worries me the most is infection.

 

[youngwife20]

i had VEs from 36 weeks with my last pregnancy, my OB told me that i should have Babe around my EDD, and i walked around desperately at 3cm for weeks with no result, and ended up being 11 days past. this time i dont freakin care, ill go with my body and push as it tells me, not because im allowed to at 10cm.

yeh but if you start pushing when your only 3cm.. wouldnt that effect baby? the thread i read today about home birth some midwife lady said a woman was pushing when she was only 3cm and babys heartrate dropped. so for that reason isnt the checks important? ( im not starting a debate lol im just learning its my first pregnancy so , ive never thought about this till today

 

[youngwife20]

Intervention breeds intervention, so as seeming harmless as VE's are made out to be, once you are examined, a time limit is put on your labour. Depending on your NHS trust, you only have so long to dilate and deliver. So the longer they can be avoided, or avoided altogether, the better

xxx

So does that mean if someone is labour for a long time even if its progressing okay theyl want to do something like a c section? stupid question but i dont know all this lol. i for sure want a natural labour and if avoidable wouldnt like any interventions.. xxx

 

[youngwife20]

I think the others have pointed out all of the negatives but the thing that worries me the most is infection.

yeh i never heard anything about infections before by just having a midwife have her finger up there..

and also .. noeone has any positives lol but thats understandable because of were i posted the question. but is internals not still part of a natural labour? or does that make it not? so many questions lol

 

[youngwife20]

Are there no positives of an internal?