exams

[ktwlpn, LPN]

Hi friends-we were discussing this at work today-How often do ob/gyn's "get a hand in" during a routine low risk pregnancy these days? (I mean an actual pelvic exam)

[fergus51]

Ideally, once on admission and once when a woman feels the urge and she's fully dilated. In most cases, every few hours just to see how things are going, but more and more of our docs were trying to get away from that. As long as things are going well there isn't much reason to keep peeking in. Also they do it before epidurals and meds.

[BETSRN]

There should be as FEW exams as possible, as fergus said. My motto always is "if the head is hanging out, she is fully".:chuckle

[Jolie, BSN]

I thought maybe you were referring to pelvic exams during prenatal visits. These, too, are kept to a minimum. At the initial visit, and then usually not again until about 36 weeks, as long as there is no indication of preterm labor or other complications.

[ktwlpn, LPN]

Originally posted by Jolie

I thought maybe you were referring to pelvic exams during prenatal visits. These, too, are kept to a minimum. At the initial visit, and then usually not again until about 36 weeks, as long as there is no indication of preterm labor or other complications.

Thanks ,jolie.That's what I meant-I was not clear....I remember my doc asking if I wanted to defer that 36 week feel.... I passed on it.... Do many docs do that? One of my co-workers claims she got a pelvic at every office visist-but has no idea what the doc was checking her for-she just thinks that is routine.....

[tonchitoRN]

i asked my ob/gyn about this very issue. he said every time you start probing in there you raise the risk of infection even in the best of conditions. therefore the less checking the better.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Our patients are not checked unless they are contracting or nearing due (39-40 weeks) by our doctors. It is true, the fewer times we stick our hands in there, the better. I believe I read one study that said after a sac is ruptured , statistically, we have about "six" SVE's TOTAL before the risk of infection sharply rises. I am prudent with checks......not doing so unless conditions warrant (change in maternal or fetal status or urges to push). The less, the better is true.

[Kim44]

I am in Ontario Canada. I had a baby this past March. I was checked at 12 weeks during a pap, at 35 weeks after my GBS swab, 37 weeks and weekly after that.

During labor, I was surprised how often I was checked. My DH and I figured out that I had about 25 exams by about 15 different people during my 24hr labour. Many of the exams were done after I SROM. It seemed like I was checked every 10 mins and was told, "no change". I ended up with a C/S because I "stalled at 5cm for too long". Can you tell I'm bitter?

[SmilingBluEyes]

KIM I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry. Sounds as if you could benefit from that negative birth experience site I mentioned on another thread. It's at

http://www.parentsplace.com/messageboards

best wishes to ya!

[Kim44]

Thanks,

I've been to the site before. It makes me realize that it could have been a lot worse.

I thought I was informed. I am a nurse and have read EVERYTHING about delivery. I love my doctor (GP) and trust him very much. In the end, the OB on call decided C/S.

Hindsight is 20/20 though, I would have made them wait longer. I really feel that they wanted to just do a C/S to get it over with. Very impatient. I was a victim of the "cascade of interventions", starting with induction.

What bothers me the most is what my friends describe from their vag deliveries. That awesome feeling of power that you get. I will never have that. I do want more children, but I am WAY too anxious to consider a VBAC.

Well, I've managed to hijack this thread! Thanks for your support

PS-- the vag exams werent that bad for me. I know some women find them horrible, sliding up the bed to get away!:imbar

[dawngloves, BSN, RN]

Sounds like teaching hospital to me.

I'm sorry. I know people gotta learn, but I put no med student on my birth plan. I am not the class project.

[Kim44]

It's not a teaching hospital! LOL

2 nurses checked me on admission, the the OB on call when inserting the gel, then my doc came in, then shift change, then the nurses switched assignments, then the nurse before more gel, then my doc before the gel, then 3 people after my water broke( all worried about cord prolapse because the head was still floating), then the OB on call etc.....it went on and on. At the time I thought it was normal. Someone would come in my room and I'd automatically scooch down, pull up the sheet and get ready. The dietary girl was surprised! LOL

What I realize now is how dangerous this was after SROM and being GBS positive. Or maybe they werent worried because I started ABX right away.

I know that I loved all of the LDR nurses. I could tell that they all had a passion for their work. Several came to visit us on PP too.