The bimanual exam
4. Check for pain in the cervix.
Put one of your fingers on each side of the cervix and move it side to side. This
might feel strange to the woman, but it should not hurt. If it hurts, she might
have an infection in her womb (see page 325) or a tubal pregnancy (see page
113). These are both very dangerous. If the cervix feels soft and is easy to
move, the woman may be pregnant.
5. Put your left hand on the woman’s
belly, below her navel
(bellybutton) and above the
hair around her genitals.
This is how a
bimanual exam
would look if you
could see the inside
of a woman’s body.
6. Feel the womb.
Put the 2 fingers that are in the
vagina under the cervix. Lift up
the cervix and womb with those 2
Press on the
belly with the
outside hand.
fingers. At the same time,
press down on the woman’s
lower belly with your left hand.
Try to feel her womb between
your hand and your 2 fingers.
You will know that you are
womb
pressing on the womb when you
cervix
feel the cervix move. If you do
not feel the womb at first, try
moving your hand around on her
belly and pressing down in different places.
Lift the cervix
and womb
with 2 fingers.
Feeling the womb takes practice. It is especially difficult to feel a woman’s
womb if she has strong belly muscles or if she has a lot of fat on her belly.
385
A Book for Midwives (2010)