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Pregnancy

Did she give me a sweep during labour?? <confused>

6 replies

LongTailedTit · 21/04/2014 19:44

Evening!
Wonder if anyone recognises the description or can tell me I imagined it?

I had my lovely DS2 last Thursday, all well, no problems, but something's bugging me - I think the midwife gave me a sweep without asking/saying. She'd read my birth 'plan' where I'd specifically said to please not do any internals or sweeps without permission, and to keep DH informed of any done.
Obviously there's nothing to be done about it and all's well that ends well etc, but it's just bugging me!

DS was back to back, and the MW examined me to see how far I'd dilated - I had been in the birthing pool, got out for exam.

While she was doing the internal I felt her kind of 'hook' and pull inside, high up.
The whole internal was quite painful, and at the time I did wonder if she'd just done a sweep, but a contraction came straight after so I didn't really get a chance to mention it! DH also wondered if she'd just done one, as she was acting a bit 'off' apparently, but then he also said she had massive fingers (bigger than his!) so maybe it was just that! He said she rotated her hand/wrist.

TBH, neither of us took to her at all so that could be colouring my opinion, but she was really dismissive and brusque with both of us, and not in the slightest bit encouraging.
Luckily for us she left at shift change and we had an absolutely lovely MW for the last couple of hours, who was fab and really helped!

What do you reckon? Sound like a sweep to you? There's no mention of it in my notes, tho I can't understand half the abbreviations.
And if so, does it matter that consent wasn't asked in the grand scheme of things, should I mention it to her head of dept or something?

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frankiebuns · 21/04/2014 19:59

Hiya didn't want to read and run,it sounds like a sweep I only had 1 day b4 I was induced but it might have been her breaking waters? Mw broke mine by hooking finger! I didn't get on with my mw but like u had one at very end who was awesome I dnt want my mw this time either even worse than last one

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LongTailedTit · 21/04/2014 20:09

I think my waters went in the pool later on - I felt a pop/twang, mentioned it to her and she said they hadn't gone yet Hmm. There never was any 'sign' of them going, so I'm not certain but reckon it was when I said it was.
She was so unhelpful! Bedside manner of a bloody bedside table.

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beebop100 · 21/04/2014 22:03

Sweeps are useful to bring on labour but if you were already in labour there would be little point in doing one. It's possible she was feeling for the sutures on the fetal scalp to assess position and direction of the head. Internals that only assess dilation feel different from those midwives do as labour progresses where more information can be gained. She'd need to assess whether baby was a brow or face presentation or acynclitic, for example, and to do that you need to feel right up and round, way beyond the cervix. Only you know what you felt though.

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Jcb77 · 21/04/2014 23:23

Seems unlikely, as pp said. They're used to bring on labour, rather than to help what's already happening. Very common though to have a good furtle to assess position of the baby (esp if back to back or difficult to work out or has changed) and to see how the cervix is doing. They look bloody uncomfortable to be honest and much more than just a quick feel quite often.

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LongTailedTit · 22/04/2014 00:19

Thank you for your replies, it makes sense that she may have been assessing his position. If only she had bothered to tell us what she was doing eh, honestly, it was like getting blood out of a stone, everything we tried to say/ask was brushed off. Reckon she was just keen to get to the end of her shift and get home and couldn't be bothered with us! Hopefully she cheered up before her next shift. Smile

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Dizzywhore · 22/04/2014 17:23

It sounds like it. I had one while I was in labor. I would have done anything to speed things up!

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