how DISGUSTING!

why is it harmful? if you wash your hands there is no problem... yes women do it... ive done it... did i know what i was checking for? kind of... dr confirmed my guess the next day...women have done home births for years... and unassisted at that... they do everything on thier own... child birth didnt always involved hospitals and gloved hands...

thank you all for responding....for the women who said i must be very young i am 36 years old and on my 3rd child. first pregnancy had no problems...second one went into preterm labor early and had a preemie. third pregnancy (current) went into preterm labor at 23 weeks and have been having complications ever since. with the second and third pregnancy i was hospitalized on bed rest for a few weeks and sent home both times on complete bedrest...this past week and a half alone i was in labor and delivery THREE times. it wasnt until last night (my third time) did they decide to check my cervix. i kept asking everytime i was in Land D are you gonna check my cervix....and every time i got a lecture not only from the doctors but also the nurses that everytime they go in to check cervix you have the risk og getting an infection as well as the baby. (and thats with an experienced professional absolutely knowing what they are doing). not only was i told it coud cause infection it could also aggrevate the area and make you contract more.

i just find it odd...for the people who think its natural, women have been doing this for years thats fine....i guess in todays day and age...in my opinion if we are going to the OBGYN and with the latest studies and medical availability..why would you do it on your own when not properly trained? its not like when you go to the gyno for a yearly exam and they give you literature and show you how to do a self breast exam? i am just curious when any of you went in for your first prenatal appointment did your doctor give you a pamphlet how to insert four fingers to check your cervix???? i could be wrong but find that highly unlikely? or if you do do that...do you honestly tell your doctor you are checking on your own?

sorry if you find my post offensive...but i disagree... not disgusting you stick your fingers in your vagina or anything to do with bodyparts...but disgusting that women are doing this and there are risk factors. why jeapordize you or your child when you can get checked professionally.

this board is great..i come often...but have seen the difference in opinions ...and this one is mine and im sticking to it...this is how my high risk doctor had educated me thru the years of infertility and problem pregnancies...so therefore this is my opinion and i am not ignorant...just informed differently.

I respect your opinion but I don't agree. There isn't any more risk of getting an infection by checking yourself as there would be having sexual intercourse with your husband. I believe the Dr's don't check as much because your in a hospital or a clinic where there are many more germs around...or maybe I'm wrong...Your cervix is part of your body...I personally don't find it to be gross or disgusting.

I don't respect your opinion because you come on a board and call checking your cervix disgusting with total ignorance behind your statement. MANY women here do it daily for many reasons and you are insulting people who are educated and know how and why to check.

Have sex while pregnant isn't exactly sterile either but most people still do it. The wording of your post really bothered me. It is judgemental and calling something that is part of every woman disgusting is just plain rude.

jenifer and to everyone else *****ad or responded,
i have to admit until tonight i have never ever heard of women checking their own cervix. after 3 pregnancies and having many close friends who gave birth i just never heard of it...also having 2 complicated pregnancies with doctors who are againt checking cervix themselves...i was shocked....
over the past couple hours after reading all the responses i spoke with a few friends and went online and apparently women do it quite often... i myself wasnt informed and my choice words were very insulting and wrong...and i realize it now...and genuinly apologize how i came off. i personally wouldnt do it...but we are all entitled to our opinion...mine was horribly communicated and for that i am sorry.

tricia

Um.

Well, doctors at least wash their hands, wear gloves, are in a fairly "clean" environment.

Some women have sex with god knows who while pregnant and don't even think twice about it.


Which do you think is more apt to be dangerous to the unborn child in terms of causing infection?


I think knowing one's own body is part of understanding how things work.  By knowing how the cervix feels, I know how it dilates.  By knowing where the uterus is, I know that my RNY has nothing to do with it.  By knowing these things, I was much less of a basket case while gestating my children.

Education -- not just in books.

I guess you are entitled to your opinion. I think it's funny how people assume one can only check the cervix at home without gloves though. They do sell sterilized gloves at pharmacies, you know. LOL You can even buy them in bulk!

Out of all the times I've checked my cervix I've only been able to reach it once. I felt so empowered to be able to finally reach a place only other people have reached! How sad is it that some people think only certain parts of their body are available to OTHER people and not themselves! It's mine I should know as much about me as possible!

We do unassisted childbirth and when we did our first UC, 5 kids ago, I had 2 educated friends help DH and I out with the things we needed to know. One was a mid wife and she helped educate my husband and I in learning how to find the cervix, what it feels like pre-pregnancy and while pregnant and how to determine if it was effacing and how to determine dilation. My husband has been able to check for dilation and effacement for 5 of our babies now and he'll know how to do it for this one too. He also uses gloved, washed hands, but sometimes if he is trying to determine if it's the head presenting or the butt he'll use his ungloved hands.

The part that you seem to be missing here is the disconnect between what the doctors are telling YOU specifically and how that doesn't apply to normal uncomplicated pregnancies.

Yes, manipulating the cervix, especially one that is in a high risk compromised pregnancy like yours, can cause it to efface and dilate faster as well as jump start contractions. However in a normal regular healthy pregnancy checking the cervix will not cause such early "complications". If it did sex would be prohibited for 9 months. As it is sperm itself can cause effacement and dilation, but in a normal pregnancy the cervix will stay strong until it is ready to rippen.

Your doctors told you it could introduce infection. Well again, you are having a high risk complicated pregnancy. Your pregnancy is compromised right now and again this is true for you, but not the general population of pregnant women. Also, like someone else said doctors and hospitals have way more germs, bacteria and infections than you normally have at home. Did you know that doctors who wear ties spread more germs than those that don't. Why, because their ties harbor the germs from each patient they visit. Just a touch or a brush of the tie on you or their hands makes it "dangerous".

If your doctors or the nurses did vaginal exams on you while your pregnancy is compromised then yes, it could potentially introduce and infection, cause cervical irritation which could stimulate contractions, effacement and even dilations. But WE'RE not YOU! And because we're not, checking our cervix does not carry the same risks as it would for you.

BTW, your body is immune to the germs, bacteria, and infectious germs in your home. Your body knows your partner and your body knows you. If you wash your hands then you have an extremely low risk of causing an infection if you check your cervix at home (even without a glove)because your body has already built up the antibodies to the things you live with on a daily basis. As a side note, the longer you are with your partner and the more sex you have with them your body builds up and anti-body to your partner's sperm. Normally the female body will attack and try to kill off the sperm when it is introduced to the female. However, again, the longer you are with the person the more immune you become to their sperm, so if you were to have an affair your body will not recognize the new sperm and will attack it more violently than it normally would.

Our bodies aren't stupid!

"The more you know . . . " It's still true! The more you know about your body and how it works gives you the greater advantage. It makes you in charge. You can explain things better when you know what you are talking about and you'll know what the doctors are talking about too. You don't have to go to college ad get a degree to know how to check your own cervix.

I think it's kind of disgusting to think that after 3 kids you still don't know more about your own body!

Of course if you still aren't used to the idea that hundres of thousands of women check their own cervix I'd be happy to point you n the direction of plenty of web-sites and message boards of such women who do infact check their own cervix. Hell there is even a yahoo group out there of mena nd women who are against gynecological visits and tries to teach women how to do their own gyn checks themselves!