Why I Never Got Vaginal Exams at My Prenatal Visits Ever Again

It is routine for them to offer you to have a cervical check at 37 weeks.

Here is how my first pregnancy played out…

37w : 1cm 80% effaced

38w: 1cm 80% effaced

39w: 1cm 80% effaced

40w: 1cm 80% effaced

40w5day and 8 hrs into labor…

1cm 80% effaced

What did those cervical checks tell me? Absolutely freaking nothing.

What it did do was play with my head. At 37 weeks I walked out of there like I was having a baby that week. Each week I got more and more disappointed that nothing had changed.

And when we went to the hospital after 8 hrs of labor to only find out no progress had been made, oh did that make me pretty grumpy!

For all 3 subsequent pregnancies, I never had a vaginal check until I knew I was absolutely in labor.

And guess what happened?

I went into labor.