What is a pelvic exam?

Question

I have my first one coming up and don't know what to expect. Can someone walk me through it step by step?

Answer

I just had my first pap/Pelvic exam too! It Wasn’t as bad or as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. For me she went over what she was going to be doing, what she was looking for and how she was going to do it before I even got undressed. She left the room and I put on a hospital robe and laid on the bed. She came back in and started with my breast exam, which was just  me laying down with one of my hands behind my head as she felt for lumps in each of my breasts. Then she had me scoot toward the end of the bed and placed my feet in stirrups. She checked the skin on the outside of my vagina to make sure everything looked healthy and what not. Then she entered the speculum (it looks like a duck beak lol) into my vagina. It wasn’t painful, just weird. Then she let me know she was going to put a little scraper thing in, for the cervical sweep. That also didn’t hurt just felt weird, and then a long q tip which I didn’t feel at all. Once she took the speculum out, (like 2 minutes total)  she  insert her fingers and pressed on my lower abdomen, in order to feel my cervix and uterus through my vagina with her fingers. She had the lube in a warming drawer, showed me all the gadgets before hand and let me know before she did anything. It was not a bad experience at all, I was so beyond grateful for such a in depth, patient and informative midwife. In fact, I might ask yours to please walk you through step by step, as for me personally, it kept my mind at ease to know exactly what she was doing, and why haha.

Answer

Exactly what they described above! You talk for awhile first then they do the exam before you leave. You are never totally naked, they open one part of the gown at a time. A nurse might come in to observe so you are not alone with the doctor. You may expect cramping and spotting the rest of the day if you get the Pap smear. Wasn’t really painful, just felt like someone lightly scratching you with a fingernail inside and triggered medium cramps

Answer

That’s where they either insert a speculum to check out your cervix or the doctor will insert two fingers into your vagina and press down on your pelvis

What is a pelvic exam?

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