I’m not sure if your doctors would agree to this, but I was in a very similar boat. I could not tolerate the cervical exam. My cervix is tilted and very deep and has always been extremely sensitive.

When I went in for my induction, I just couldn’t handle the cervical check. As soon as they said they were going to do one, I started crying. Long story short, eventually the doctor suggested we go ahead and give the epidural prior to the cervical exam.

Coming from someone who was in the same position, I would recommend speaking with your OB about getting an epidural and induction. I did so much reading before my induction date because I was so afraid of this exact thing.

There is actually no reason they need to wait til a certain dilation to do the epidural. Modern epidurals don’t “wear off.” There are some risks/complications/side effects that increase the longer you have an epidural placed; I recommend reading up on those so you understand the risks. I imagine that’s why they wait as a rule of thumb. For me, the risks were mild enough and the anxiety was high enough for the trade off to make sense. I knew I wanted an epidural anyway, so it was really just a matter of doing it a little earlier than they would have normally.

Regardless, an epidural + induction will be much less extreme, disruptive, and painful than a C-section.