Cotton swab tests/ cervical checks

Cera • 23 years old, first pregnancy :)
Long story short I went to the hospital the other day for the cotton swab test for premature labor bc I was having Braxton hicks that were becoming pretty consistent. Everything came back negative and I'm feeling a lot better today but one thing I wanted to ask everyone about is did it hurt you when you got the cotton swab testing or checks done? I'm generally very sensitive there but I wasn't expecting to feel so much pain from a cotton swab, I was ready to cry and clutching to the bed sheets it felt like she was tearing my insides and it burned and stung a lot. Now I'm dreading the strep test and any cervical checks :( if you did have a lot of pain is there anything I can do to limit this? I was literally hurting for a good 10 mins after too :(