Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Dec
5
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Don’t Do Vaginal Exams On Yourself…”
“Don’t do vaginal exams on yourself, you could get an infection.” – L&D Nurse to mother after mother mentioned she had checked herself to see if she was dialated.
There are 30 comments to this post.
Because when you graduate from nursing school, you receive a set of Magic Hands ™! Magic Hands(tm) are anti-bacterial and emit an aura of health and wellness. You cannot get an infection from Magic Hands(tm)!
All of us women who do our own vaginal exams would do well to remember that our cervixes are not our own property and therefore we should not touch them.
(BTW, all this goes out the window once the membranes have ruptured. At that point, yeah, keep everything out of there. Including the nurse’s Magic Hands(tm).)
–
*Magic Hands ™ are a trademarked property of the Magic Medical Establishment corporation and may be used only with permission.
[Reply]
Interesting! My midwives have always encouraged me to check my own progress if I’m interested in doing so. Just to carefully wash my hands first… is that so difficult?? Of course, these were dirty homebirth midwives with no Magic Hands(tm) so……. ;P
[Reply]
Right, because my cervix will tolerate your hospital’s germs that she’s never met better than the ones she meets every day in my house.
[Reply]
This is just outrageous to me. I had gone into labor from 24ish weeks on, and my OB actually taught my fiance how to check my dilation so we could be assured on whether I was in active labor or not. The labor and delivery nurse was not happy about me refusing her cervical checks (preferring my fiance to do them instead) but the OB thought it was great! The L&D nurse did get her revenge though… she decided that when I was in transition and couldn’t speak that she would check me at every chance possible. Then again, when I was pushing because I couldn’t not push, she told me I was only 10 cm and couldn’t yet. Horrible woman. She was fired for a whole host of things she screwed up during the birth of my son.
[Reply]
Liz had this to say,
Dec 5, 2011 @ 9:18 am (Quote)
This is mine. I was around 30 weeks and had been having contractions for weeks. I was having a serious bout of contractions and wasn’t sure if I should go to L&D. I washed my hands really well, put on sterile gloves, and tried to check my cervix. I knew my water wasn’t broken and my Dr had checked me before when I was complaining of contractions so I thought I would be fine. I decided to go to L&D and the nurse said this to me AS she was putting on gloves to check me. I didn’t even bother trying to defend myself.
[Reply]
Jane Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 10:19 am (Quote)
You dared to encroach on her knowledge field. Sticking her fingers into people’s bodies was one of the things that sets her apart from mere mortals. 
If you could check yourself, the whole order of the universe might be upended: west would become east, good would become bad, and cats and dogs would start living together.
Glad to hear you were only dealing with BH contractions rather than the real deal at 30 weeks.
[Reply]
Knitted in the Womb Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 8:45 pm (Quote)
Ummm…I’m going to “go THERE.”
During sex…my husband’s penis gets to the cervix…and I’m going to guess that it is more frequently close to a “germy body part” than my hands are! Oh, and sometimes his fingers get to my cervix during sex too…
[Reply]
Liz had this to say,
Dec 5, 2011 @ 9:24 am (Quote)
This is mine. I was around 30 weeks and had been having contractions for weeks. I was having a bad bout of contractions and was trying to decide if I should go to L&D. I washed my hands really well, put on sterile gloves, and checked my cervix. My dr had checked me previously so I figured it was fine to check myself. When I got to L&D the nurse said this to me as she was putting on gloves to check me. I didn’t even bother defending myself. My son was born at 39 weeks. I just have an irritable uterus.
[Reply]
Knowing how to check myself is what made sure I got to the hospital in time with my twins. When labor was going a lot harder and faster than I expected I checked myself and found out that I was probably 7-8cm and baby was very low, huge change from about 4cm and not engaged an hour before, and that pushed me into deciding to head in. I was pushing by the time I got there.
And really, it’s ok for my DH to shove his unsanitary penis in there, but not for me to scrub my hands and gently feel around?! Drives me insane that they don’t want women to be comfortable knowing what’s going on with their own body.
[Reply]
Okay, I need to make sure I understand this right. You aren’t suppose to check yourself because you could cause an infection from your own germs on your own body. But it’s perfectly safe for another person to check you because they don’t have germs on their body? Or is it that their germs can’t possibly hurt you? Or maybe it’s just that they are full of horse manure?
Seriously, somebody explain this to me.
[Reply]
I get this on birth boards all the time. people think the Dr checking you is sterile whereas you doing it yourself (even with gloves) is germy and gross and can kill you. I use NFP so check my cervix daily when charting. I wash really well and wear gloves (because I have nails) so how are my clean, gloved hands any less dirty than the Dr’s washed and gloved hands? Dr’s offices and gloves are not sterile and germ free simply because they are in his office.
Checking myself was how I knew I was at 4CM one day after my last Dr’s visit at which I’d been barely 1CM. Since I’ve never labored longer than 5 hours, that check was enough for me to know I needed to head home from work (over an hour from the hospital) and not travel too far away until baby came. He was born the next morning.
[Reply]
Sheva Reply:
December 12th, 2011 at 5:26 am (Quote)
Check this link:
http://boards.medscape.com/forums/?128@763.CRXnaO5aaAM@.2a0f052e!comment=1
This article is about how docs and nurses think that gloves are protection enough so they often don’t even was their hands. The hand-washing rate in this study of 7,000 doc/patient interactions was less than 48%. And when gloves were worn, it went down to 41%. That’s gross.
It also discusses how gloves are not an impenetrable barrier, so hand washing is really imperative, both before and after every patient interaction.
I’d rather risk my germs than everyone else’s in the ward.
[Reply]
Add Your Comment.
Previous Post
« “…With People Of Your Size…If You Need A Cesarean, You Might Be Going Under.” Next Post
“I Sewed You Up Tight As A Teenager.” »
« “…With People Of Your Size…If You Need A Cesarean, You Might Be Going Under.” Next Post
“I Sewed You Up Tight As A Teenager.” »
Hmmm, my lovely midwife told me the same thing as I was nearing my due date. She also told me that what I thought was my cervix…might not have been my cervix at all lolz.
[Reply]
Sarah Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 5:02 am Sarah(Quote)
LOL. So then did she investigate the mysterious *other hole* you found inside your vagina that shouldn’t be there? o_0
[Reply]
Ayesha Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 7:09 am Ayesha(Quote)
Hmm, I thought I answered this…here it goes again (and maybe better too, as I remembered something else)
She did explain that because of my huuge belly, it would be difficult for me to reach deep enough to reach the cervix. I was 38 weeks by then, and didn’t go into labor till the morning of my due date, so I am inclined to believe her that at that time my cervix was way high. (She DID check the cervix at my request because I had been having some cramps.)
Another thing, this midwife was our angel and rescued me from the fear and anxiety of labor that was stemming from my horrific first birth giving experience. So I’m sure you all will understand that I don’t want to see any hits taken at her expense. She might not have been correct according to you, but she understood ME completely. In retrospect, I realized that she was actively trying to keep me from anticipating labor and psyching myself out. I needed to STOP THINKING and this was her way of convincing me =)
[Reply]
Sarah Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 8:04 am Sarah(Quote)
I see, that makes sense. I couldn’t discern tone/intent from you original post and was coming from where I am right now – currently 41 weeks and I usually can reach my cervix, I’ve been checking it every now and then through the last trimester and if I was told that it might not be my cervix, I would have to laugh and ask what on earth else it could be.
[Reply]
BeckyJ Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 10:56 am BeckyJ(Quote)
It’s baby’s elbow!
[Reply]
Renai Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 6:33 am Renai(Quote)
Hmph. Must have been close friends of the doc from the other day who said “most” women only “think”they feel their cervix.
[Reply]