We talk about cervical checks in Hypnobabies. How they don’t really show anything, except how you are at that exact minute.
Certainly before birth there is no need to check. What about during birth? What about before pushing?
Here is an interesting post by a midwife who says no, not really.
It inspired me to listen to one of the Trust Birth Conference talks I downloaded about pushing. Many of the midwives feel you don’t need to check at all. If you don’t tell mom when to push, or even suggest it, she will figure it out all on her own. Trust our bodies!
Next time*** I think I will choose not to have any cervical exams. I have a homebirth midwife all picked out and I know she would be ok with that.
*** I always say this, but really probably we are done having babies, which is sad in some ways, but feels right in others.
I totally agree that they are unnecessary in most cases. I had been pushing for 5-10 minutes already when my midwife got there and wanted to check me. Now, I love my midwife, but when she announced that I was fully dilated and could push I wanted to say “No shit, Sherlock!” but I was totally non-verbal at that point…
I just nominated you for a Tree of Happiness award (on Molly Reads–http://mollyreads.blogspot.com)! 🙂
My s-i-l’s midwife did one, maybe two internals during the whole process, from early labor to baby coming out. She’s a great midwife, she’s attended a bazillion births, she knows what a fully-dilated, ready-to-push woman looks like without having to check every five minutes.
That woman is a genius. She just kept saying, “Do whatever your body is telling you to do, honey.”
I heart midwives.