Stirrups (not the horse kind)

[slemslempike]

When you go for a smear test (or similar), are there stirrups?

I've usually heard Americans talking about stirrups for such incidents, while I'm under the impression that I've only heard British women refer to them for ante-natal use. When I go, I just have to do that frogs' legs thing (which is awkward if the table is against the wall on one side).

I was watching Jo Brand on Live at the Apollo, and she talked about stirrups as if they would of course be used for a smear. Have I just always had lo-tech medical care? I don't feel like I have had a particularly sheltered outlook, at least four medical professionals have investigated my nethers.

Comments

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's great! I got complimented on my relaxed vagina once.

I suppose it'd be even more awkward to be up against a wall if there were stirrups.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Yes, where would you put your knees?

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

From my expecience with stirrups, they tend to be down at the bottom of the table, so you sit on the edge of the table and put your feet in the stirrups = so it's not affected by wall proximity, if you see what I mean.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

I've been complimented on my relaxed vagina too! Any my very straight cervix. I was oddly proud.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

My cervix has never had a compliment. I am rather miffed now - I'm sure it's lovely! Although once a nurse had a hard time finding it, so perhaps it's shy.

[majea.livejournal.com]

I usually had stirrups in the US, and I actually did find them quite comfortable, so long as they were covered with something and I wasn't putting my feet on metal bars (one doctor stuck oven mitts over them). The pose itself really felt quite relaxing, I have to say.

I wonder if any of it's a modesty thing? When you have your knees up and a sheet covering you, you can't see what the doctor's doing down there.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I've never been able to see what the doctor's doing anyway, but then I tend to wear long skirts that bunch up a lot and form a barrier. :)

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Have you ever had an IUD put in? That was the context of my compliment. Apparently mine was much easier to insert than usual, owing to the straightness of my cervix (which is perhaps why it fell out again six months later. Sigh).

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Erm, my IUD fell out, rather than my cervix. That would have been bad.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear it was the IUD - or rather, I'm sorry either had to fall out, but glad it wasn't the cervix that did.

[medland.livejournal.com]

My brother's housemate sprayed what she thought was vaginal deoderant on herself before a smear once only to discover when she got home that it was glitter hairspray. She was mortified.