He vaginal touch It is an exploratory test that involves the introduction of the index and middle fingers of an explorer's hand into a woman's vagina to obtain information through the sense of touch.
In pregnant women it is used to know the position, consistency, length and dilation of the cervix and the descent and rotation of the fetal head.
The evaluation of the exploration is very subjective and its accuracy is limited if it is not always carried out by the same professional and the woman being in the same position in all the touches. A vaginal touch can be experienced by women as a source of anxiety, as it invades their privacy and intimacy. It must be done always with prior consent and it is recommended that the professional explain exactly what he is going to do and how he is going to do it. In this way, creating a climate of respect and establishing minimal confidence is likely to be less uncomfortable and painful.
For some women, and especially if their sexual intimacy is not taken into account or that respect relationship we are talking about is established, it is a distorting and stressful element that can cause an increase in adrenaline secretion, antagonist of the birth hormone cocktail that help to achieve the psychic and emotional situation essential for a birth to progress.
The touches offer valuable information, however they should be done only when strictly necessary. This means that in principle, if the delivery goes well there is no need to perform them. The WHO advises to carry them out every 4 hours or sooner if the pregnant woman has a feeling of thrust and the SEGO recommends them every 2-4 hours.
At the moment when the bag rupture occurs they are (a priori) not recommended because the fingers can drag microorganisms from the vagina towards the cervix and cause infection risks.
Some professionals perform them in weeks before delivery even when there is no problem.
Vaginal touch is discouraged. unless the woman has regular, intense contractions and is in active labor because it has no prognostic value, that is, it makes no sense to perform an invasive maneuver such as vaginal touch when we know that a woman can be several days with 1 cm. of dilation and other may not have begun to dilate and give birth 24 hours later.
