Does anyone know if an internal exam can bring on labour?
If the internal exam was more uncomfortable than normal and made you sore, then chances are very good that your doctor did what is called “stripping the membranes.” If he did, it is horrible that he didn’t ask you permission to do it first. It is a medical procedure where the medical practitioner inserts a finger between the cervix and bag of waters, then sweeps his/her finger around the whole circle to pull the membranes away from the cervix and cause your body to put out more prostaglandins, which might start ripening your cervix and doing pre-labor work. The problem with doing this is that it doesn’t always work, it doesn’t feel good, it is an intervention that is completely unnecessary, it increases your risk of infection, and it can make your waters break. What’s especially controversial about your scenario is that he didn’t ask first and he legally has to ask before doing any medical procedures such as this. So yes, this type of internal exam can kickstart labor, sometimes before
