limiting cervical checks during labor

[Anonymous]

This question is for those who went the natural childbirth route and sought to limit cervical checks during your labor. If you did this, were you successful? How many cervical checks did the doctors / midwives / nurses seek to do? How many did you allow? Did you feel comfortable with the amount of cervical checks you ultimately received? Any tips for naturally managing the pain associated with cervical checks?

I am seeking the right balance between allowing necessary medical access and limiting the discomfort and risk of infection associated with excessive cervical checks and hope those who have managed to limit the number of checks to a comfortable, acceptable number will respond.

Take care and thanks!

[Anonymous]

I said I wanted them limited and I had two. One was done when I arrived to determine if I was actually in labor (I was) and the other was to check to see if I was complete (I was). I was only at the hospital for an hour and a half before I delivered, so it may have been more challenging if I were there for 8 or 10 hrs.

[Anonymous]

I didn't ask to have them limited but I also only had 2. Like the pp, it was once when I checked in and one other time. Then I was 9+ and when I said I felt ready to push, we did. I got to the hospital at 8cm though so the key might be to labor at home for as long as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't ask to have them limited but I also only had 2. Like the pp, it was once when I checked in and one other time. Then I was 9+ and when I said I felt ready to push, we did. I got to the hospital at 8cm though so the key might be to labor at home for as long as possible.

I was just about to say this.

I labored at home as long as possible, but keep in touch with the doc. b/c you don't want to have the baby in the car on the way to the hospital (which almost happened to me). When I arrived at the hospital, I was checked 1x - 9 cm - and was ready to push about 10 minutes later.

[Anonymous]

Thank you -- two seems like the obvious minimum number, though I suppose if you weren't completely dilated or close you'd have needed another. Seems like laboring at home for as long as possible (I definitely plan to and my OB advised as much) is key to arriving "ready." It also appears that your birth attendants might have been good at assessing the right time to check for completion. Great responses...I hope I get a few more!

[Anonymous]

It will totally depend on how your labor is going. Remember that the only time they are absolutely NECESSARY is....well, never. When they are HELPFUL is: when you arrive at your birthplace so your care providers can asses where you are in your labor, and when you have an urge to push to ensure that you are fully dilated (though in a natural childbirth this is not 100% necessary, because in most cases you can trust your own natural urges). Cervix checks are also helpful if you want to make a clinical decision (ie, should I get an epidural? do I want to try to speed up my labor?). I think if you arrive in extremely active labor, you can easily request just the one check when you arrive, and then ask not to be checked again until you feel a strong urge to push. If you are being induced, or if you arrive early and your labor seems to be kind of pokey, then maybe you would want to ask to be checked every 4-6 hours instead of the normal 1-2. That gives you time to let your body progress at its own speed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It also appears that your birth attendants might have been good at assessing the right time to check for completion.

This is the 14:25. The nurse checked me when I was already pushing. I knew it was time because pushing was no longer optional. The baby arrived about 3 or 4 mins after she declared I was complete, and about 2 mins after the doc made it in the room.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! Again, very helpful replies. LOL to the mom who was pushing when she knew it was time to do so. I sure do hope I'm not sitting there 100 percent certain that it's time to push (ie. "not optional) and having some nurse say "no no, no pushing until I check you..." I think I'd lose it!

[Anonymous]

I never knew when to push, to be honest - my babies were being difficult despite my being fully dilated. I labored at home with each for as long as I could stand, but at home I had no idea about my progress. I was actually happy to have the cervical checks at the hospital because it gave me incentive to keep on going without the meds (I went in at 9 and 7 cm dilated, respectively). The checks never really bothered me, physically speaking.

[Anonymous]

I actually got an epidural, but still only had 3 checks - one when I got there (4 cm), one *after* the Epi went in (8 cm), and one to see if I was fully dilated (i was.) I actually wish they'd checked *before* the Epi - or I'd known to ask them to - as I probably wouldn't have gotten it if I'd known the bad pain was transition so it mean I was near the end. But since everyone told me how long first time labor takes, I thought I had hours of that to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: when you arrive at your birthplace so your care providers can asses where you are in your labor, and when you have an urge to push to ensure that you are fully dilated

Those are the two I had. My water had broken hours earlier, so my midwife had already told me she planned to minimize checks to reduce the risk of introducing infection. (FWIW, I was with Midwifery Care Associates.)

Also FWIW, I didn't have the "urge to push" so much as my body suddenly gave a great, big, huge involuntary PUSH (and then she checked, and to no one's surprised, I was 10 cm). It really reminded me of vomiting, actually, in that it felt primal and involuntary and powerful. If someone had told me not to push, I would have hurled curse words at them and pushed anyway -- I couldn't have stopped!

The checks did not hurt, for me. Maybe if I'd had more, they would have?

[Anonymous]

I remember at least two, maybe another. They were not painful. I remember looking at the clock until the time that they said they would check me again because I wanted that time to arrive so I could find out if I made any progress - LOL!

[Anonymous]

I have never heard of people getting infections from "excessive cervical checks". Is this for real?

KEEP AWAY FROM MY CERVIX!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of people getting infections from "excessive cervical checks". Is this for real?

KEEP AWAY FROM MY CERVIX!!

Wow, really? You've honestly never heard of this? Ask your doctor, please. It is most certainly possible, especially once your water has broken, because essentially anytime you insert a finger or hand into the cervix, you are introducing microbes into the natural flora and running the risk of infection. It happens. Enough that it's surprising you've never heard of it. Again, please ask your doctor. Even those of you who don't care about limiting checks should know that there is a slight risk involved... In the meantime, don't poke fun at other people's concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of people getting infections from "excessive cervical checks". Is this for real?

Oh yes, this is absolutely definitely for real. Doctors always talk about the risk of infection during labor, ESPECIALLY when your water has been broken. Research has proved that as long as NOTHING goes inside of your vagina (including a gloved finger) then the risk of infection is actually extremely low. This is why if you are GBS positive, it makes sense to have no cervix checks at all leading up to labor -- why shove the bacteria up toward your cervix, where it is more likely to get into the uterus? It also makes sense that if your water breaks prior to labor, that you abstain from all cervix checks (or anything else going into or near your vagina, for that matter) until you are well into active labor. The vast majority of doctors don't do this though. They talk about the great risk of infection, but then they proceed to put their fingers inside of you every chance they get as if they don't believe that they themselves could be the ones who are actually introducing infection to the cervix or uterus. Bizarre, isn't it? This is just one very small example of how medical protocols often exacerbate the very problems they are attempting to avoid.