Intervention and home birth

[PrettyCandles]

How much intervention/induction can you have and still have a home birth? Sweep? ARM? Nothing more than that, I imagine.

And what does a sweep involve?

Anyone?

Hiya

I was booked for homebirth and was given 2 sweeps and the mw said if i wanted ARM done at home she would do that too.A sweep is just an internal really,the mw will "sweep" her fingers round your cervix if you cervix is open at least 1cm.

didn't get my homebirth as mw diagnosed a poss vasa previa so i had my dd2 in hosp.

But good luck!!

From this website - 1. Sweeping Membranes / Stretch & Sweep

If you have a ?favourable? cervix this may be offered to you in the first instance as a ?drug-free? induction with less side effects and risks compared to other methods. It?s not usually painful but may be uncomfortable and result in some bleeding afterwards. Sweeping the membranes involves a vaginal exam, your doctor or midwife will place his / her finger inside your cervix and ?sweep? the membranes in order to separate it from your cervix. It is said to be quite effective, often within 48 hours of the sweep. A ?stretch and sweep? is the same sort of procedure, only your cervix is also stretched at the same time.

As far as other intercention is concerned (ie. aside from induction) - I had a home birth with dd2 and had an episiotomy and a catheter.

HTH

intercention = intervention !

I think you'd only get a sweep
They might do ARM if you're already in established labour & your water hasn't broken

Imagine someone trying to jab their finger into your cervix - that's a sweep

Thanks for your replies.

What is vasa previa?

when I had my second, my mw said she'd be reluctant to do an ARM because suddenly speeding up labour that way can distress a baby - only a small chance, but she said that she prefers not to do ARMs at home. As it was, I didn't need one and things sped up on their own, but it's important to remember that some mws are happy doing things at home than others. For my first, the mw said she wouldn't give pethidine at home (not that I wanted it!) but I know that others do.

Hope that helps!

here is an explanation of vasa previa (had never heard of that myself)
Vasa previa

Devastating .

Thank goodness for an alert midwife, Agalch. Did you have it? Was everything OK?