Neccessity of internal examinations in labour?

[JellyBean]

Firstly - good on you for posting this - its something I believe women should think more about. It sounds like you are doing alot of preparation to make your birth an empowering one.

Incase it helps you to read about one persons experience:

There was no mention of a VE at any of my pre labour appointments at the birth centre I attended for my second labour. I didn't have a VE until I was halfway through my labour, and it was at my request. My midwife told me early on that the ball was in my court, and that anytime I wished to know how dialated I was, she would perform a VE for me. I only did so because I had been having consistent contractions for a matter of hours, and thought the outcome may provide further encouragement - plus, I was just curious by that point. She assured me however that if I was not comfortable having one, that would be fine - that my body would tell me when the time was right to start pushing, and she reminded me that many women the world over give birth without having a single hand laid on them!
Having a VE turned out to be a negative for me, as I was not as far dialated as I thought, and this disappointment completely knocked me out of my focused 'birth zone' - iykwim. I immediately started to have destructive thoughts like "Imagine how much further I have to go if its taken me this long to get to this point.." "I don't think I'll be able to make it to the end afterall.." (drug-free, that is). Luckily I was able to force myself to snap out of it and focus inward on coping with the pain again.

I agree that women are groomed for VE's by OB's - and what i essentially think they are grooming them for is intervention - or ultimately - induction.
I have heard and read some deeply disturbing things from women. One woman claimed after her 37 week appointment that "my OB thinks I may need to be induced as dialation wasn't progressing very well" Firstly - why the heck would her cervix be expected to start dialating 3 weeks before her estimated due date? And secondly, how is it that women can be so unempowered and uneducated that they allow this? Birth rape is not such a radical term - when you think about it logically - in the least it is an abuse of power.

Besides, what is the point of knowing how ripe the cervix is anyway? Its not going to change anything. Ultimately, the body will go into labour and the cervix will start dialating when it is ready to do so. 'Checking' to see how ripe or dialated a woman is only serves to push her toward artificial intervention (gels, drips, stretch and sweeps etc) if her body is found to not be performing as it 'should' according to some arbitrary timetable set by a scanning machine. Its complete nonsense - and dangerous, I believe. Touching a woman unecessarily in the delicate area that holds her baby in her womb is just unwise and invasive - to say the least. Obviously once labour has begun spontaneously a VE cannot disrupt the natural order of things - although some birth activists would beg to differ.

Of course not all OB's are this way inclined, but in my experience midwife-led care is much more women-centred in this respect. The woman's body is viewed as her 'sacred space' as Innana put it, and intervention is only performed when deemed absolutely necessary, or if desired.

He he - Obviously you can see I'm quite passionate about this issue and about empowering women to take control of their bodies and their birthing experience!! I have had 2 very different birthing experiences - the invasive and the empowering, so I'd like to think I can help prevent others from having a negative birth experience.

Thanks for starting this dialogue... I wish you an empowering labour. Trust in your body, your baby and mother nature. Combined they are infinitely wiser than any machine or person standing by in a white coat. Request a VE during labour if you wish - but don't forget that you are in control, and it won't change anything physically - but perhaps mentally, for better or worse!!

XX