In my experince, internals are very painful and extremely uncomfortable. Far worse than any pap test I ever had- the only thing that competes in terms of discomfort was an internal u/s.

I had quite a few of them in pre labour with ds, and quite a few more in labour, due to complications. I've asked my mw for as few as is neccassary this time round, hopefully none at all. I felt they were almost used against me in my last labour- i could tell them the pain was getting worse, contractions were closer, things were heating up- but they wouldn't believe me until the internal confirmed it (an internal was used to decide whether I could call dh or not, ffs). It undermined my confidence in my own body and mind.

Just my two cents hun From your perspective, I can see why you were ticked off at the response you got from your mates- i would have been too.