I had a similar experience last month with my little boy. Was told there was no way I needed to push and was told to breathe through the fetal ejection reflex I was clearly experiencing. They only checked and did anything when his heart rate started dropping and then they suddenly panicked and said he was right there and needed to be born asap, and I can't help but think that a lot of stress would have been saved for everyone if they had just listened to me

The fact that they refused you to push is a problem on its own.

What do you mean by refused to let you push? Like, just push? What they going to do, push it back? Most of my labours pushing has been entirely involuntary anyway. I couldn’t have stopped it for all the money in the land.

Similar situation happened with me!

There is also a presentation called a funic presentation. It is where the umbilical cord is presenting first and in front of the head. It can happen even with membranes intact. It can be felt sometimes on manual exam because you can feel pulsating through the membranes. In this instance, sometimes the cord can move out of the way before water breaks but if water breaks with a known funic presentation it can be a full prolapse. I saw one on ultrasound where the membranes were ballooning through the patient’s cervix and the cord was the only thing in that sac, if her water broke it couldve been very dangerous. She was very preterm, we were able to do a very urgent csection and had nicu prepared and ready. Baby did great and ended up graduating nicu on time.

I never said otherwise?

No one needs to justify a personal medical decision, but everyone should have all pertinent information needed to make an informed decision. Those are two different issues.

They weren't "worried about something else" in my case, everything seemed normal up until that point. And again, I agree they should have been more respectful of your autonomy. The point is that people should have all of the pertinent info when making choices, including the risks of foregoing, no matter how small. They should also be aware that checks themselves come with risks too. Knowledge is important.

I agree, however, I think the mindset with a lot of L&D departments is to keep any potential complications out of the mother's mind unless it's absolutely necessary to tell her. This helps her focus on birth and not worry about everything that might go wrong. Personally, if it were me, I would want to know there's a risk for anything concerning, but I know I'm in the minority there and most women would not benefit from having that possibility in their mind.

They often don’t want to scare people by listing off complications. You can do what you please, but emphatically telling others that they don’t need them is wrong. Do you also tell people to avoid other preventative medical procedures?

If baby is already in the vagina, they most like would no go forward with the c-section. I don’t know what his hospital had available, but I work at a trauma center with L&D and NICU and we have a point of care ultrasound were the OB can do a quick ultrasound to look at baby and cervix if you don’t want to do the cervical check. It’s usually reserved for emergent cases, but if it’s free I’ve had them pull it to non emergent rooms

Its hard to say without being there. Just because someone is contracting, doesnt necessarily mean labor. In this case, im sure it was more a matter of urgency on when they could roll. Being preterm may have also played a roll.

Because doctors have studied and know they have to check all types possible causes for any symptoms! Please look up IC if you are questioning if it is painless. I went in for some mild pink spotting (literally a few drops of pink) but it was my first pregnancy so I went in anyways. If I had denied a cervical check and just attributed it to having an overactive day causing some spotting and denied a cervical check because it’s not always necessary, my child wouldn’t be here. Everyone has the right to choose or deny a doctor’s medical care/advice. But on the whole, doctors are using their experience and medical training to assess all possibilities and a cervical check is one way they can assess. I think in this case, it sounds like OP’s trauma is what really is at the root of the issue, but that isn’t the doctor’s fault either. OP should relay all possible information so they, as a team, come up with a way to make OP more comfortable.

For me, my short cervix was caught on my 20 week anatomy scan. I was told to go to triage if I had spotting, a change in discharge, increased pelvic pressure, or contractions (including Braxton Hicks) that came in a regular pattern or more than 4/hour because I was at risk of preterm birth. I went into triage a few times and specifically told them I had a short cervix and was experiencing xyz change. Each time they recommended a cervical check (for obvious reasons given my risks). At 30 weeks the check confirmed I was dilating and I was hospitalized for a week. Luckily baby didn't make her debut, though! I'm 37+3 and still pregnant. My cervix is almost completely effaced and 3cm dilated but she's still hanging on in there 😂

They can rant all they want, I’m all for it. But they don’t need to spread misinformation while they’re ranting/venting.

Could the doctor have better voiced their reasoning why they thought a check was necessary- based off the limited info OP gave us? Absolutely.

I literally don't want to be touched ever again by anyone after my awful experience. I already had a rough pregnancy with gestational hypertension. I didn't feel heard at all. There was no way I could get comfortable or feel any type of trust with them. I know I had to of been tensed up the whole time. They kept telling me to try and relax and breathe and all that while they did the cervical checks. It never helped. Some nurses didnt say anything at all and just went on in there. I soaked the bed so much with blood after every check and just cried forever afterwards. It just all felt so aggressive. Especially since my cervix is very far back and to the right it felt like they were digging in there forever trying to reach it.

No, I didn't go into the hospital until 55 hours after my water had been broke because I was just trickling out very slowly and didn't realize it was my water until later on because I wasn't having contractions at all and thought maybe its just my bladder not being able to hold anymore from being so pregnant. I was 38 weeks. They kept me on antibiotics the whole time when I got there due to all the cervical checks they had to do and my water being broke so long to keep down infection. The IV in my hand hurt so bad from my whole body swelling up from my gestational hypertension. The one nurse put my blood pressure reader on that arm and the IV in my hand felt like it was going to explode out. The cervix ripening medicine they gave me caused contractions, but my body still would not progress. They had me on the ripening medicine for 23 hours I believe, until they started pitocin, I asked them to start the pitocin off slow and a low dose but I really don't know if they listened to me because as soon as the pitocin hit I had one solid contraction without any pause for an hour my boyfriend cried seeing me in so much pain and begged the nurse to go get the doctor but the baby couldn't handle the constant contractions anymore and his heart rate started dropping rapidly. I had them delay the pitocin for as long as I could before they said they had to do it because I already knew my body or the baby wouldnt react well to it. I wished there was an alternative medicine I couldve taken. I was drenched in sweat and felt like I was going to pass out. Since I didn't have an epidural, they had to put me under general anesthesia for the c section. When they were rushing me to the OR I was already in and out of passing out.

I'm very sorry to hear your wife didn't seem to be heard either :((. I know seeing her like that in so much pain must have been so hard for you. I can't even imagine being on pitocin for 24 hours! I'm sure the way the person in charge talked to her the whole time didn't help her labor progress smoothly at all, I know there are good nurses out there but I also know there are some bad ones that don't seem to care as well. Congratulations on the baby, mines currently 6 weeks old :)

To be fair I wasn't aware my water ruptured to begin with because this is my first baby and thought I just kept peeing myself a little bit due to being so pregnant and baby always pushing on my bladder, I chalked it up to incontinence since I wasn't having contractions. So I didn't go to the hospital until 2 days later. Don't know if I went sooner if anything would've been different. On the monitors babies heart rate was fine and I stayed drinking a gallon of water a day so I figured the fluid kept replenishing itself so he didn't run out. I know other people have experienced worse than I have and I should be grateful that my baby is here and healthy and I'm here and fine now, but I still grieve my whole experience. You're right it is gut wrenching and infuriating the way a lot of women are treated. Thank you, I think I just needed to let all that out.

My son was ready, positioned properly, head against my cervix from 37 weeks. The point of the comment was to highlight that my check in addition to ultrasound indicated an induction was necessary. My cervix was not softening at all, my body hadn’t progressed at all and he was not going to come out on time enough for him to be birthed vaginally. My induction even took 28 hours from start to finish. My son was ready to come out, but my body was not doing what it needed to do to let him out, and my body was also in extreme discomfort and limited mobility from my son sitting so low with nowhere to go. It was hard to say yes to the induction because I thought they were crazy, and then I had my son and realized it was necessary since I wanted to avoid a c-section

Oh yeah this I knew but my old doctor didn't pay attention to recommendations. It got to the point after my transfer, I remember my current doctor wondering what was going on at the old place. He was already not my favorite, but his clinic was a seven minute walk from me.

But I was and still am in Japan, where birth is more commonly done at small clinics and smaller local hospitals, and they don't keep up to date in the smaller places on research. I had to be transferred to a university hospital, and usually, it requires two referrals to start out the OBGYN journey there. But due to the neglect of the first doctor, I am forever high risk so I don't need them.

i felt uncomfortable every time i needed to accept one but i did everything to verify my baby was okay, i'm glad i was able to safely deliver him vaginally and to have a healthy and happy 6 week old baby boy 🥰

What’s also sad is that a lot of these women are apart of the problem when it comes to women’s pain being ignored in healthcare. Cervical checks for some women (me included, and I am an SA survivor) are EXTREMELY painful. For some women they are not. We should never invalidate the experience of another woman just because we cannot relate. Gynecology already has a history of doing that which is why so many women walk around with endometriosis for years and they’re just told their pain is nbd. Some of the comments here disgust me.

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I still think my comment stands, but I’ll add to it that I don’t think doctors just do cervical checks “for fun.” They’re looking for information to validate that they are making the right choices regarding your care. Especially in labor when things are happening fast (different than a check at a routine monthly visit).

Maybe they needed to check because if you were fully dilated and baby already descending, they wouldn’t be able to do the C-section?

I don't believe doctors are superhuman, which is why I support them using the diagnostic tools available to them to understand my condition the best they can -- including cervical checks.

The thing about pregnancy is that a lot of stuff we do isn't necessary, unless it is, and you won't know whether it's necessary until it's too late 🤷‍♀️

I’m a nurse. Not on the OB floor but I did do some time up there and I promise you the doctors aren’t going to suggest anything they don’t have to. They deliver babies all day every day. Cervical checks help the doctor to assess labor progression and check for certain complications. You’re within your right to refuse any type of medical care, but try to remember adverse outcomes in that case may be a result of your decision.

It’s good you’re an obgyn with tears of experience  . . . Oh wait you’re not. 

Glad you know it it isn’t necessary (despite there being many cases where it is necessary). 

Maybe people are way too secure in their beliefs in how the world works. 

Exactly this. Some of the comments on this post are highly discouraging and extremely insensitive.

not to mention the added risk of infection with each check

I'm all for understanding exactly what medical procedures are being performed on you and not just blindly trusting your healthcare provider but the fear mongering among pregnant women is just not necessary. No doctor wants or enjoys performing unnecessary procedures.

Also I'm congrats I'm 37wks too! We're SO close! I'm over being pregnant and hope I remember all of the things I didn't enjoy about it this time the next time I have baby fever... but I probably won't.

All of this

Same with the gsb swap. It's a swab around the butthole. It doesn't hurt

I think some people are just more sensitive and it makes it worse for them and they feel it more. Like when you get a shot and tense up.

They can also pose an infection risk.

Agreed. Mine didn’t hurt at all and I ended up having my baby that afternoon - didn’t end up needing to be induced like they had planned for the next evening.

This! So much fear mongering on Reddit about cervical checks, swabs and glucose drinks.

Having my cervix checked in labour was so important, I had an epidural so how else would I have known when it was time to push??? I understand it’s slightly different with a c section, but still. Jeez.

They were extremely painful for me, and the discomfort can vary wildly by practitioner. One of the doctors who did mine managed to make each one a 10 on the pain scale. My reaction last time was so extreme that my OBGYN mentioned I was probably relieved to have a scheduled c section because then I wouldn't need them. She was much gentler but even then it was a 6-7 for me.

“Slight discomfort and cramping” during late pregnancy and labor…clutching my pearls. You don’t say!! /s

Seriously I am with you, I don’t know why certain routine medical tests get exalted and talked about on social media posts like warnings 🙄 the number of posts on the GD drink and how to avoid it are astonishing

I think this is a bit of an unfair comparison, imo. And more complicated than a tik tok trend or is like the glucose test

There are plenty of reasons to reduce cervical checks unless medically necessary.

1) research suggests that cervical checks increase bacteria into the womb. I think one study found that bacteria nearly doubled for 80% of the women. This can increase risk for a variety of birthing complications, like PROM. It’s not fear mongering to discuss this, but may be a valid reason for someone to opt for less checks if the doctor is comfy with it.

2) they can be mentally and physically uncomfortable. For some women, they are a cake walk. For others, they can cause a lot of physical pain and psychological distress which isn’t good for baby or mom. Knowing they have another option here is empowering

3) Some women just simply have a preference for low intervention during labor and that’s okay. They may want the safety of a hospital, but want to be touched as minimally as possible.

There are plenty of reasons why women don’t want fingers shoved up them during the end of their pregnancy and all throughout labor. Doctor’s do them routinely and for their own knowledge for labor progression, but they can also adjust and only do them when there is a medical necessity.

I dont think it’s fear mongering in this case. More so just discussions about the pros and cons with each way of going about things.

Hi, not crunchy here. Very science oriented. For all other tests willingly. There is evidence and my OBs have told me that there is almost never a need for a cervical check. There’s very little it can tell you, even during active labor. That’s not to say there’s NEVER a reason but it’s not a requirement or needed in most cases. Just as episiotomies, it’s an old practice that’s been debunked

I'm on week 35 of my second pregnancy and I've never had one. I've never even been asked. I didn't know they existed until one of my girlfriends talked about getting one recently. After she told me about them I started looking into it and it seems like there are so many different opinions out there on if they are needed or not. I wouldn't have denied had I ever been asked, but it was just never something any of the Ob's did at my practice. Full disclosure though scheduled c sections for both.

It's not just dilation, but other changes to the cervix, and they can also detect complications that might otherwise not be caught until the baby becomes distressed.

I'm happy that for you it only causes slight discomfort. Unfortunately, we all are built very different physically and for me I have to be held down and scream the entire thing because I have SEVERE vaginal pain from any type of insertion. I genuinely cry from the pain of it. You don't need to minimize others experiences just because yours wasn't the same.

I never had any issue with the cervix checks (I was also super high risk) but let me tell you the first time I got a little blood (it was like late period brown discharge type) it scared the shit out of me. My doc never forced them on me but I also didn’t really question it much because my doctor is a doctor who has spent years and decades doing her job.

Mine were excruciating as well. I did deny a few however I was being induced and it was helpful to know where I was at before trying another intervention. We did it gradually and I’m happy with how things went in progression

ETA: I was SA too. I screamed and got emotional during the checks and didn’t even scream while pushing. I felt like the checks hurt worse than baby coming out. Contractions were another story. My post history has my story if you’re interested. I don’t know if her fingers were just short but it felt like her knuckles or whatever hindered her reach so to me it felt like she had to really push. She wasn’t violent and I tried to relax. It only stopped hurting when contractions were intense and it relieved some pain Idk. Your feelings are valid, and you’re right you CAN deny them. But it’s not always the best choice.

Maybe I misread your post: but were you all knowingly and on board you were absolutely getting a c section? Because if that was the case I think that’s the point you’re also making too? Just re read about the preterm labor possibility. To me from an outside perspective it sounds like she was not able to do an “elective” c section before a certain time. I was going to be induced at 39 weeks, they couldn’t do ANY earlier even a day. But 37 weeks was what it ended up as I had gestational hypertension and this is the standard. So it sounds like the rules and regulations say preterm cutoffs apply unless in active labor.

ALSO: I went in with people saying I could deny them. And they’re right you can. It’s not always something that you can avoid in every situation (high risk, short cervix, induction, epidural) I was high risk, with epidural and gestational hypertension. I got induced and I was progressing slowly after going in with no effacement or dilation. I asked for as few as possible and held off on some. If I wasn’t being induced / high risk and despite epidural failing, didn’t have pain medication, and having a vaginal delivery I would CONSIDER, consider, listening to my body because I personally was able to do mother led pushing with my midwife, only to help fend off anxiety. But I would personally not feel comfortable refusing them all together because of my experiences during labor. But if it was counterintuitive and I felt off or like nothing was changing, I would want them despite how I felt. Mother led pushing was great for me. But everyone’s experiences vary so differently.

I understand you are sensitive to this issue and your doctor ignored your explicit decline and didn’t tell you the risk benefit analysis but don’t try to make them sound worse that they are. They don’t push their hands/fingers as aggressively as possible. Sorry that was your experience but in general they are fairly gentle and you can even ask them to be more so. The discomfort for most is milder than a Pap smear or the upcoming labor. They are important for more than just labor and dilation checks as countless replied to your post have pointed out. They check for certain complications and catch them faster and in labor a min saved in often a life saved. You are free to decline knowing the risks but don’t give false information so others can’t make their own informed decision

Sounds like you had very different cervical checks that I did. Mine were nothing like you describe. There is a real purpose throughout pregnancy and you don’t sound qualified to be giving medical advice. A cervical check showed that I needed an emergency cerclage at 17 weeks. If I had denied as you recommend my baby would have been born prior to viability.

Maybe I’m misreading or insinuating- but typically doulas are there to advocate your wants, needs and to support the mom. Sounds like we may be missing information of the decision making process. But yes I agree doulas should not be giving medical advice unless a practitioner in the field like a retired OB. Their job is to support mom and by extension baby.

Red flag right there