I personally experienced discomfort during this unfortunately routine procedure and was left wondering, “what is the point, exactly?”

An excerpt; “You could just say, “No, thank you.” One way to avoid unnecessary vaginal exams towards the end of pregnancy is to simply keep your clothes on from the waist down during your appointment. When they come in to give you the gown, the paper gown to change into and they leave, when the doctor comes in you can keep your pants on. They can’t do a vaginal exam without your consent. It’s your body, it’s your vagina. You don’t have to give a reason why you don’t want somebody to put their hands up there, you can just say, “No, thank you,” and that’s it.” (evidencebasedbirth.com).

Cervical checks are a hot topic among doulas and birthworkers because all too often do we see these done without proper Informed Consent. This is a whole ‘nother can of worms which i’ll open up in a later post but for now, if you’d like to see the actual evidence on cervical/vaginal exams click the link below.