Great to see all these perspectives!<br><br>
My OP was definitely about exams done "just because." I was having severe contractions 2-3 minutes apart from Monday afternoon through Wednesday morning when I gave birth my first birth, so I definitely understand the prolonged labor concept! I gave birth with a midwife in a hospital, so the first exam I had was early Wednesday morning when I finally went in, and I did not then and do not now object to that exam. The next (and last) exam was when the midwife heard from my breathing that I was starting to push and wanted to be sure I was ready. Again, no complaints there.<br><br>
Now the midwives had tried to convince me to come in to their office during the day Tuesday to be checked, and I refused, for two reasons: 1) I was quite miserable already (hadn't slept since labor began Sunday evening), and their office was only two blocks from the hospital. I had the feeling that if I dragged myself down there I would not have the energy to go back home, and I wasn't ready to be in the hospital yet; and 2) some intuition told me I wasn't dilating very quickly and I knew that hearing a low number would depress me, maybe even lead me to get some intervention. There were over 12 hours between when they started pushing me to come in for an exam and when I was finally checked, so I'll never know how far dilated I was, but I'm glad I did what I did.<br><br>
What prompted my post was my talk with my current ob/gyn practice over VEs during labor. One doctor told me that I would have to have a VE every week from 36 weeks on, but the doctor I saw at 36 weeks admitted that there's basically no point and didn't do one. She argued, however, that at some point they become necessary for "deciding things like induction," to which I responded, "yes, well, we won't be inducing until 42 weeks barring fetal distress, so I'll consent to an exam at 41 weeks." In my birth plan, I acknowledged that they would want to do one VE when I went in to the hospital, but requested that there be no other VEs unless they were obviously indicated by some clear change in my laboring, sign of fetal distress, or a request for medications. The doctor insists that periodic exams during labor are necessary ("not every <i>hour</i>, but frequently enough that I know what's going on"). She said, "Well, if you were in the hospital for hours and didn't progress past 3-4 centimeters, we might want to send you home -- wouldn't you want to know about it?" I told her it was very unlikely I'd be in the hospital at that point, but that no, I wouldn't want to "know about it," at least not unless I asked. I have the feeling that she brought that example up, as opposed to "wouldn't you want to get pitocin?", because she knows I'm not interested in artificially enhancing labor, but I suspect the real reason they want the exams is so that they can interfere if progress isn't fast enough. I didn't really fight with her because I don't know that a VE is so terrible (personally, I'm okay with the invasion aspect, it's more the infection potential and the fact that I don't want to know if I'm not making progress because I don't want to start doubting myself), but I was just wondering if you all thought it was necessary.
