Firstly, I disagree with both of the other comments, but don't entirely agree with self-checking during pregnancy.

I think it is entirely normal to be curious about your cervix, what it is doing, and how your body is changing.

May I suggest you look up " My Beautiful Cervix " on Google, it's a doctor photographing her cervix, and other people's, during different situations.

I trained as a midwife in the UK, its very different to somewhere like America, as we are highly trained in all situations, through a university degree.

However, ask someone from the US or South Africa, and we are seen as hippy weirdos that know very little about anything.

During the very early stages of our training, at my university, one of our lecturers actually told us to go home, use the WHO medical scrub technique to wash our hands, put on sterile gloves, then attempt to find our own cervix that night.

Personally, I would never, ever, subject a human being to an examination of any type from a student of any field, unless they had either had it done to them, or they could show me on a mannequin.

I used to get my students (when they came out from university into the field every 10 weeks) to take blood from me - then, practice on each other, as a blood test should be painless.

Although we got told to have a feel of our own cervix (very empowering if done correctly), we were also taught and examined on sterile technique.

I do not agree with the other poster that each person that examines themselves will give themselves an infection. Especially, as when performing an examination, unless the woman is pregnant, or you are examining her to obtain samples for a cervical smear, doctors are not taught to use sterile gloves. So, they are using a non-sterile technique due to incorrect glove usage.

Also, what do people think they are going to infect by inserting a (washed with soap for 30s) clean finger into their vagina???!

Deary me, are these the people that get their other half to sterilise themselves before inserting a finger or penis into their vagina?

You vagina is a self-cleaning environment. As long as you are keeping the outside clean (where your urethra ((pee hole)) is), and your body is healthy enough to maintain the correct pH, you cannot infect anything...

The vagina has an acidic pH to stop bad bacteria, it also has an ecosystem of good bacteria, which is why you should not put soap inside yourself.

The worst a normal person could do, realistically, is cut themselves with their uncut nails.

Or, fiddle around on the outside with an unwashed hand and vagina, causing a possible urinary tract infection.

When a woman is pregnant, all precautions are taken to avoid all infections.

So, your baby is protected by two layers of the sack holding it and the amniotic fluid. One layer is called the chorion, the other layer is the amnion.

Your cervix also has a mucous plug sealing it shut, preventing anything from getting up into your uterus.

However!!! A urinary tract infection whilst pregnant can cause a multitude of problems, from preterm birth, miscarriage, and preterm contractions, to hospitalisation in order to give you antibiotics as your immune system is suppressed due to pregnancy.

Also, when women are overdue, they are often offered a cervical sweep. Basically an examination that attempts to find your cervix, and attempt to use the tip of a gloved finger to stretch the cervix open.

It is also advised that once woman reach term, they have sex due to semen containing prostaglandins that can soften the cervix, and make it easier for it to open.

It is known that stimulation of the cervix can cause contractions, no matter HOW pregnant you are. So you could actually cause yourself to go into preterm labour.

So, I don't agree that only doctors can check a woman's cervix, and I certainly don't believe that you can guarantee an infection from inserting a clean finger into the vagina.

However, in pregnancy there are different issues you need to consider.

Pregnancy shifts what is considered "normal" for the body, and that would always make me pause and think about the health of mum and the little one inside.

Is it okey

Let's Glow!

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