Oh I wish I knew this when I was in labour at the hospital.
The examinations were HELL. I only had two, but I hated them. First was when I arrived at the hospital and midwife wanted to see if I "really was in labour". (ok, so I was a first time mother, but I know my body and KNEW I was in labour).
The second one was when I was 10cm and I then got told to push whenever I wanted to. Probably about an hour and a half or so before that, I was in the shower and had so much pressure down there than I involuntarily did a poo (actually I did a few). Midwife didnt even ask me how I was feeling or if I felt I needed to push or anything like that. She just cleaned up the poo and went back out of the room. That second examination only happened because I told the midwife I couldnt do it anymore and give me some pethidine. It was so uncomfortable and painful that it made me so tense, I just couldnt relax. I had a massive urge to push and had been bearing down for quite some time before that. So I tell the midwife, yes I want to push. So what does she do? She starts telling me to do three big pushes for each contraction. When each contraction came she'd say "push...push...push" (it annoyed me ALOT). No wonder I had to push for more than 2 hours and ended up with constant monitoring, 2 obs and a few extra midwives to assist. They had me on my back and I dont even remember anyone encouraging me to try any different positions, or to push differently or breathe differently or anything. I ended up with 3 tears and so much swelling that I couldnt close my legs. It looked like I had a penis - thats how swollen I was.
I want a homebirth next time. With a patient midwife who wont try to rush me.
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