Extremely painful sweep..anyone else?

[RockLover]

Had a sweep today and it was excruciating. Mw was lovely and gentle and gave me lots of time to breathe etc, but I felt like a right prat.

I know that I am very sensitive inside, but wasn't expecting it to that painful. Mw said I did seem to find it more difficult than alot of women and wrote on my birth notes that they needed to be gentle when doing VEs in labour.

But it's got me worrying now, am I the only one who finds sweeps this uncomfortable? Please tell me I'm not a freak.

I have another one booked in for Monday and I'm bricking it already. I am pregnant with DC2 by the way, was never offered a sweep the first time round.

I had one at 42 weeks and was already 2cms dilated.
The midwife told me beforehand she was known to be brutal when giving sweeps and laughed so i thought she was joking..... How wrong i was.
I almost flew off the end of the bed she was so rough. She even managed to break my waters 'by accident'.
I left the room and cried

rocklover you don't have to have a sweep you know, baby will come when it's ready, ( i understand how you feel though) if you are not favourable a sweep won't make a jot of difference anyway and if you're ready to go, then you would have been anyway too. (did that make sense? :) )

If you have had children bafoe it';e very common to be a good 2cms up to about 4 at term without being in labour, the cervix is softer, it's done it before and will be more ready.

Have to say nausea and the runs sound condusive to pre labour anyway rock Am maybe thinking you haven't been on here cos things may be starting of their own accord. I hope so.

Good luck. Oh yes and you don't have to ocnsent to ve's in labour either if they make you tense or uncomfortable.

BDB what happened after she broke your waters, thats shocking.

Mine was appallingly painful and I cried out in shock & agony! Didn't even bloody help - still had to be induced for days afterwards. I'm 36 wks now - help! Not sure I won't run from the room if someone tried to do that again!

No, I'm still pregnant, but due to be induced on Thursday. I refused the sweep as I just didn't feel I could go through something that painful which probably wouldn't work anyway.

However I am now panicking madly about being induced and my nausea and tummy troubles have really ramped up due to the anxiety. Trying to figure out how to calm myself down before I get to the hospital or I'm going to have a nightmare labour.

rock 6you don't have to agree to be induced if you are not ready.

*Lia8, they won't let me go further than a week over as I had an emergency section with dd. So I suppose they are covering their backs in case there is a problem with my scar.

Look, they can't force you to be induced. there's no such thing as "not letting" you refuse treatment. I'm absolutely not saying that people should decline care willy nilly, but you should be aware that you don't HAVE to do this if you don't want to.

Would you rather have a CS than an induction? If so, you could suggest that as a compromise option if they really feel that going mre overdue is too risky.

Lia66 It turnt into the birth from hell. I was also told to start pushing without being checked (first birth so i had no idea of what was happening) worked out i was only 5cms dilated and then my son went into distress, my cervix swelled, hospital transfer from birthing center and i ended up having the crash team in with me while i gave birth and they were arguing at my feet about wanting to do a crash c-section!!!!
Not a fun day BUT i did get my son out of it

I'm trying to avoid a c-section Zombie as I need to be able to drive reasonably quickly afterwards (within 2 weeks at least). I have to get DD to school in a local village, DP can't drive and all my family live 200 miles from me so cannot help. Also I don't really have many friends here yet as I only moved to the area last June.

It would be really difficult if I was unable to drive for 6 weeks. Obviously I know I may end up having another c-section, so I would have to sort something if that happened, life would just be much easier if I could have a vbac.

rock for fear of sounding like a broken record, you donot have to agree to be induced if you don't want to. Sucessful vbac has alot to do with positive space and no fear. I really hope you can do it.

When is baby actually due?

Baby was due last Thursday, so I will be 7 days over. Is there any chance of this induction actually working?

I wasn't keen on an induction previously, but I am so fed up with this pregnancy that I want it over with TBH. I have felt totally shit all the way through and I am very, very uncomfy now that I am full of baby.

But I'm getting a bit worried that it's going to be a horrific experience.

I had one at 40 weeks, then another at 41+1 and that one really hurt, within 3 hrs I was contracting do heavily I was 9cm dilated within the hour, baby was born 5 hours later, good luck!

If you're worried about it being painful, insist on an epidural being sited before they break your water or start the drip. That's what I did when my labour had to be augmented and it was fine.

I had an epidural with my last labour as it was very long and drawn out and I thank God I had it done.

I have already considered asking for one as a matter of course as I don't want anything like pethidine or diamorphine because I need to have a clear head.

Anything that makes me feel whoozy causes me to panic, I have a need to feel in control at all times. So an epidural is the only drug I am willing to have (apart from G & A obv).

You know I think sometimes epidurals get a bad press but as a Doula, I do believe they have their place.

If you are scared you will not labour well, that is a fact, I'mnot saying you won't labour but fear breeds pain, pain causes more fear.

If you are fearful, please do ask for an epi before they start a drip. I don't know how they plan on augmenting your labour, ie pessary, or other but if they are going straight for water break, I would ask them to clarify where exactly your baby is, how low is the head, how favourable you are. These things will have a bearing on how long and how successful induction will be.

You can insist on a epi before the water break or as near after as you can, I do believe an epi gives some women the confidence to let go of the fear and really relax into the labour. Perhaps ask if they do a mobile version which will give you the option of mobilising yourself therefore letting gravity help.

Having said all of this, Thursday is still 2 days away. Have you thought of Evening primrose capsules, inserted at night forthe next night or so, some say it can help to soften the cervix, Please DO NOT take caster oil, it can be dangerous for the baby, and cause you to have terrible diareah, (sp) and who wants to go into labour with that? Raspberry leaf won't push you into labour either.

Sex and/or argasm may have some effect as the prostglandins that are present in semen are the same albeit natural version of prostin.

Please try not to be scared, have you a cd of something you find relaxing you could listen to?

I have IBS so I studiously ignored midwife's suggestion to take castor oil, it would kill me!

I had a sweep on Sat and I was 1-2 cm dilated and my cervix was soft, but mw said that was usual for a second pregnancy and did not mean I was close to labour.

However baby's head is very low (peeing every bloody half an hour is proving that) and mw was able to feel it very easily apparently.

I don't know what that will mean for an induction, I just hope it's good :).

My induction will be a pessary, then leave me for 24 hours, then break my waters if possible and a drip if nothing else works. I am going to question them before anything is started as obviously I am aware that if labour becomes very intense it could have an effect on my c-section scar.