Before delivery, checking the size of your cervix to see how many centimeters it is dilated

How many times did you have your cervix checked before you gave birth? How often? How many different people had their hand in there? Were your visitors asked to leave the room or did they just check regardless of who was in the room? How many times do you think you were examined in the nine months? Looking back if you knew how many times you would have to be examined, would that stop you from getting pregnant?

Cervix checks: 10? 6 that I remember clearly, but once I was getting close the contractions were pretty distracting, there could have been a basketball team practicing in the room and I might not have noticed, nurses and residents were definitely just background noise. First when I was in labour and went to the hospital, they checked and it was not very dilated and I was sent home with some pain meds. Back to the hospital after my water broke, one check to make sure my water really had broken. That one hurt! Another three checks over the next 2-3 hours until I was at 8cm and they were ready to send me to the labour room. Another one once I was settled in that room waiting for the epidural doc to get there. After the epidural I was pretty focused on the contractions, which are still intense even when the pain is dialed back, and combined with being mostly numb down below, I lost track of how many cervix checks, maybe 4? It was a fast labour. Finally after one the nurse said "You're ready! But don't push, the doctor isn't here yet." I pushed anyway, there is no pause button at that stage, but the doctor arrived before the head was out, at least. Then after the birth delivering the placenta, then stitches, then checking on the stitches and vagina a few more times before I was sent home.

Different people, at least 8 during the birth, and 4 different people in exams during the pregnancy.

Visitors: who the heck has visitors while they're actively giving birth? I had my partner there and that's it. For the post-partum checks, they did kick visitors out for exams, or pull the drapes around the bed.

Pelvic exams during pregnancy: Maybe 10? Had more pre-natal appointments than that, but they don't check out the cervix at every one. Had one at 1 month with my family doctor, one on intake with my ob-gyn, and then weekly checks in the appointments toward the end of the third tri, plus the appointment where they swab for group B strep, which isn't exactly a cervix check but involves a swab in your vagina and rectum.

Of course not. Grateful to live in a time when all this medical attention is available, instead of just rolling the dice on dying in childbirth. (Plus I like being examined, or I wouldn't be on zity, now would I...)

When my wife was pregnant with our first child, i only able to one appointment. It was an interesting appointment because she wasn't told to undress from the waist down, so we thought it was only a quick check up, but nope. After the doctor finished checking her stomach, he asked her to lower her pants and being pregnant and lying on the table, she could only get them as far as her knees so she couldn't spread her legs very far. The doctor did a pelvic exam and looked like he was cupping her. After that, because of work, i wasn't able to goto any others but she told me that he examined her at every appointment. For our second child, we had a different doctor and i was able to go with her to all of them...even got to have a bit of a quickie after he left the room. As for the cervix thing, I remember my inlaws being in the hospital room and being asked to wait outside while they checked her.

My OB started checking me at 32 weeks. It was soooo uncomfortable especially the first few since my cervix was still high and closed. As I got closer to birth, I was more dilated and lower and it wasn’t so bad. The one that hurt the worst was the cervix check at L&D when my water broke. The resident came in and told me to get in the frog legs position and had a good feel. I was only 1 cm dilated so the decided to use a foley to help me dilate quicker. “Some pressure” is doctor speak for “this is painful”. Oh man it sucked. Once the catheter popped out when I hit 4 cm I was ready for my epidural and didn’t notice the cervix checks at all after that.

Is it painful?

Is it painful?

I wouldn’t say that I felt them remarkably painful @sofia6969, but being pregnant is a state of constant pains/ discomforts for months on end so I suppose you’re more “used to it” / have a different baseline pain threshold. I wouldn’t say they’re a nice feeling either…