I’ve given birth 3 times and the only time I had one was when I was overdue by 2 weeks with #2, and that was just to strip my membranes. Didn’t hurt. Don’t get them, they’re pointless, unless you’re overdue. My SIL thinks she got an infection from one - she ended up back in the hospital after going home with her baby.

They are optional. I had them and they were not a big deal for me personally.

As someone else mentioned, pushing the baby out of your vagina is about 100x worse.

Don't know if this is a membrane strip but do not do it. My mom could hear me moaning in pain from the waiting room. And I'm a pretty stoic person.

Anonymous wrote:It's not at all necessary. It doesn't give you actionable information and risks introducing bacteria. Before you consent, ask your doctor what they will do with the information.

This.

My ob did it during my first pregnancy. My next ob didn’t for my next 3. It’s a preference, not required or useful—and not without risk.

I have preterm labor and have my cervix checked every time I have regular contractions. Never hurt once. Must have had hundred of them over 6 kids

Wow, these responses are all over the board.
I don't even remember my cervical checks! They were like any other gynecological exam to me..... I also don't have a problem with pap smears.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a 60 hour induction including 90 minutes of pushing (although with an epidural) for my first, and the 2x daily cervical checks were the worst part of the whole thing. By. Far.

I wouldn't consent unless the results will be actionable. If it's just FYI, why bother?

This makes sense and sorry you had to go through that! Could you explain what actionable results means? I guess I'm confused because how do you know if something is actionable until after the fact of having one of these cervical checks

PP here! I mean, in my case, how dilated I was would immediately impact care. If I was showing some dilation (this was after cervical ripeners), they would start Pitocin. If not, another round of cervical ripeners. So in that case, worth it, because it helped us choose our next action.

So - ask your doctor. "If I'm not at all dilated, what's the next step? If I'm 4 cm, what's the next step?" If the answer in both cases is "well, we wait for you to go into labor, but it's probably coming sooner if you're 4cm" then why bother? You'll go into labor when you go into labor. If the answer is that you may or may not have your membranes striped, depending on how dilated you are, or you might need to do something else or something (I dunno what it would be) based on where you are, then it might be worth it.

I've had a few cervical checks done for both my pregnancies, both of which went past 41 weeks and ended up being scheduled inductions. I had the checks done during the inductions, too, at regular intervals.

IIRC they were uncomfortable (more so than a pap smear), but don't last for long, and the feeling went away as soon as my OB removed her glove. I'd describe them as painful but over quickly.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for these responses and insights. Can a cervical check kickstart labor?

If the membranes are stripped, it could possibly start labor.

They absolutely never bothered me at all.

Had two while in labor -- definitely extremely horribly painful! Don't consent unless your OBGYN has a very good reason for wanting it.

Anonymous wrote:I had a 60 hour induction including 90 minutes of pushing (although with an epidural) for my first, and the 2x daily cervical checks were the worst part of the whole thing. By. Far.

I wouldn't consent unless the results will be actionable. If it's just FYI, why bother?

This makes sense and sorry you had to go through that! Could you explain what actionable results means? I guess I'm confused because how do you know if something is actionable until after the fact of having one of these cervical checks

I had a 60 hour induction including 90 minutes of pushing (although with an epidural) for my first, and the 2x daily cervical checks were the worst part of the whole thing. By. Far.

I wouldn't consent unless the results will be actionable. If it's just FYI, why bother?

Anonymous wrote:I never had these

+1

You can decline a cervical check. It's not necessary. Mine weren't bad, just slightly uncomfortable.