Cervical checks

You can definitely decline, but they’ll probably just tell you about the risks and options ect but your body your choice x

@Jadie that’s what I’m hoping for! Given that baby isn’t in distress and I have no medical indication that something is wrong I’d really like to just go on without it 😂😂 but people are telling me they literally won’t admit me if I decline when i get there!

Im sure you’re not the first person to want this I highly doubt everyone who wants no intervention gets refused 😅 maybe just speak to your midwife about it and get more information on what to expect if you’re in labour but don’t want any kind of intervention and just want to ride it out naturally and see if it’s possible unless medically necessary x

@Jadie yes I meant to ask at my last appointment but I only got to see the physician assistant and she came in and left and didn’t give me the opportunity to ask 🤦🏼‍♀️ I wish I had a midwife

With my youngest 5 kids I had zero hands up my vagina outside of my husbands for sexual pleasure

I’m not having any cervical checks. They don’t really mean much, they don’t give much information, and they bring risk of infection and harm! “The midwives cauldron” podcast has a great episode called “vaginal examinations” with tons of information. Nobody needs to finger me to tell me how labor is going!

@Mckenna LOL that’s what I’m sayin!!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼😂 like I will literally labor in the lobby of the hospital if you want to deny me care bc you wanna poke your fingers around there

If you don’t want to get checked then just say no! It can be hard in the hospital cause the drs and nurses are used to doing things a certain way. If i could go back I would have denied any checks during labor cause it was so painful and ultimately unnecessary. Wish I had better advice but just remember that it’s your body, don’t do anything you aren’t comfortable with

Doula here! Hi! You can for sure decline cervical checks. An indication of active labour is an average of 5 min between contractions, each contraction lasting approx 1 minute, and that pattern for one hour. There’s an app to time it. I suggest though not to get too wrapped up in timing until you feel things are totally progressing. Maybe time for an hour, then take another hour or two off, unless it’s really close. You might feel pressure in your bum, like you need a poop, during contractions which goes away when contraction is over. If you feel that pressure constantly, that’s an indication you are way Past 5 cm.

Also, obviously if your water breaks or you find leaking fluid, (maybe a pinhole break) you’ll want to zip over to the hospital if for no other reason at least for baby’s heart rate. That’s how babes communicate with us. If you are labouring at home, midwife can visit early and they will have a Doppler. Declining cervical checks (at least where I’m from) is not unusual.

@Rosanne I cannot thank you enough for this advice and information! Super super helpful! I really wish I had a midwife and could labor at home but I couldn’t afford it at the beginning of this pregnancy and I was borderline high risk due to my miscarriages 😭 but next time will be going this route. The goal is to labor at home as long as possible or until my waters break 😬🤞🏼and then go to the hospital but being able to decline the cervical check is reassuring and I’m trying to educate as much as possible so I can advocate for myself upon arrive because I know they will not be super happy with my style of laboring with little to no intervention (if possible!)

My pleasure. And if they give you some cocaimie reason, ask why, and keep asking why? And is there an alternative option, route, etc.. if baby heart rate is good and your vitals are good, you’ll want to know why they are suggesting it. One reason is they want to check if your waters have broken for real, if you aren’t progressing. Another reason is if they see baby heart rate acting up, they may want to make sure there is no cord where it shouldn’t be, or if head is hyper flexed, which can be useful, in which case you want to get into better positions to help your little snickerdoodle along.

I went for a middle ground. I told them I wanted as few cervical checks as possible. They offered probably 5+ times and every time they asked I asked them if the result would change the course of action for us. If the answer was yes we would talk it over and I would decide to accept or decline. I ended up having 2.