When in hospital, there are limits placed on how many hours a woman can labour for before intervening. Not sure what this is though. I think it is easy to get caught up in how many cms you are, but a good midwife/OB doesn't need to physically check, they can tell by what noises a woman is making , how a woman looks, what she is saying, how long a contraction is and how far about they are etc etc. How many cms you are also does not neccessarily determine how close you are to giving birth. One woman can dilate very fast and others take a long time to dialate. I had one internal with my DD1 and it was very painful and decided not to have an internal with my DD2 (my homebirth babe). This decision was respected by my midwives. You need to trust that your body will birth your baby in its own time. You do not have to have any interventions you are uncomfortable with...