First, we do a pelvic exam to see which way your uterus points and where your cervix is. We use a speculum to widen the vaginal opening, clean off your cervix with an antiseptic solution and then typically use a forceps-like instrument called a tenaculum to grasp your cervix. This helps straighten out your uterus so that we can safely place the IUD. We use an instrument called a “sound” to measure your uterus to make sure the IUD will safely fit, and then we insert the IUD and trim its strings to about an inch.