Need some feedback on "cervical stretching".....quite bugged

[ladyleah]

Ok, so......today is my EDD- and I had my regular 40 week MW appt. scheduled this afternoon.

At the appt. she sugegsted that I have an internal to see if I was effaced or dialated yet-- although I have never had one before this time (nor did I want one). I reluctantly told her to go ahead (in part b/c my DH was excited to see what was "going on in there" lolol). She said I was about 80% effaced and 2cm dialated which was surprising, because I have had no pain to speak of-- or anything indicating "early" labor. (well maybe a few very, very, dull cramps, but that's it) Also I had no bloody show or anything.....

I felt her doing something that was quite uncomfortable (and was very irritated that she didn't ask my permission, btw)...and I said "you are not stripping my membranes, right?!?!?!"--she said she was not doing that, but she was stretching my cervix. She told me that I would now have some bloody show- or bleeding for a while. Of course, its 3 hours later and I have a pretty good amount of blood!

What's done is done, and I know that I can't take this back but--

1. Is it normal to bleed for a while after a "stretch"? (she said it was...but I just want to hear from others who have had this done?
2. Am I going to speed up the labor process now?? (I had NO INTEREST in speeding ANYTHING up BTW- I trust that my body will give birth when it's ready....and not before)

I guess I am just pissed and frustrated because I am in no hurry to move things along, and I am freaked out that (un-requested, btw) cervical stretching just f-ed up my body's natural birthing process/rhythm.

Any thoughts?

[perditafoster]

Bleeding after any type of internal at this stage is normal....think about how vascular that region is when you're this pg and you can see why any messing around whatsoever will cause a bit of bleeding. Oh, and fwiw, any amount of blood exiting my body seems like buckets of blood; I swear, when I get a paper cut I'm like "honey, I'm bleeding to death! bring me a band aid!" So maybe your perception of blood is as bad as mine! When my kids were little and spit up, I perceived the amount of spit up the same way..buckets! In actuality, the blood from a rough cervical exam is super small, but I always freak out and imagine it's a river of blood

As far as messing with nature, I am in no way a believer that a mama or mw or doc can "speed things up" with a stretch and sweep or aggressive cervical exam. I think babies come when babies come, and no amount of roughhousing will change that!!!! I had a stretch with all three of my kids; the only one that it seemed to make a "difference" with was ds, and that was simply coincidence. I think it makes a lot of moms feel better to do a little something.

I totally hear ya on the "wth are you doing to me?" issue with your mw not saying anything before she did it. That was plain tacky. I check myself regularly and I work things around a bit and haven't seemed to make a bit of difference! Sorry that she did it without asking/saying anything; that blows big chunks. Hope you feel better and that labor starts naturally and you have a beautiful birth!!!

[beebalmmama]

I also doubt it will do much unless your body is ready. But I understand why your upset. That would also make me angry. I don't understand why care providers feel they have the right to do anything without gaining permission. Sorry mama.

[ladyleah]

Thanks mammas..I appreciate your support as I really need it right now....I am feeling better now that I did a few hypnobabies CD's. I will just make very certain that I refuse anything that even makes me feel slightly uncomfortable in the future, so that I avoid any "surprise" interventions.

I love the other two MW's in this practice, and can't imagine this happening with them---that is the good news. Hopefully they are on call when I actually get to the hospital for my beautiful, peaceful, waterbirthing!