Ahhh Inanna I so wish you could have flown to Tassie to be with me a week ago - I needed you to make my fear go away!!!!!!

My midwife told me that they don't do VE's because of everything that Inanna said in her post.

However, I was running on fear and I requested one. She agreed to do it because I was fairly insistent, and luckily I was 7-8 cm. I am glad that I DID get it, because before then I was pretty sure that I was still in prelabour - and having a hard time dealing with the pain because of the "prelabour" and freaking out about what was to come - so it helped me get my head straight, and realise that my body WAS working, it WAS doing what it was supposed to.

So I think depending on your personal circumstances (I had never laboured before, so didn't have a clue if my body could dilate nicely) they can be a good thing.