Sweep before mucous plug has come away

[Ellsiedodah]

Hi all

We have a baby on the 6th centile and having been at the 50th centile at the 3 month scan, they want to induce labour at 39 + 4. They've recommended I have a couple of sweeps next week before the induction, however I couldn't feel any less ready to pop - while the head is down and 'very low' according to the midwife, I've had no show and I'm not exactly waddling. So I'm wondering what the chances of these sweeps actually doing anything for me are. The consultant said even if it doesn't bring on labour it should help the induction along. Has anyone gone through this and have any positive experiences to share?

Many thanks!

I didn’t lose my mucous plus until I was about 8cms dilated (babies born about half an hour later!) so I’m not sure whether the loss or otherwise of it signifies ‘readiness’ or not.

My first 2 pregnancies were inductions and like you I felt no where near ready to pop. The sweeps couldn't be done due to my cervix being out of reach, the inductions themselves were still pretty straightforward despite never having a sweep.

Also didn't lose my plug until I was in labour. Baby wasn't born for another 12 hours though (36hr labour in total). It went in the bath with a 'pop' and I thought it was my waters but it wasn't.

I lost my plug on Thursday I think. I had a sweep Wednesday and cervix is definitely ready, 1-2cm dilated and soft, so you don’t need to have a show first.

Had a sweep Tuesday sorry? Not Wednesday.

Didn't lose my plug with Dc1 until labour, lost mucus plug with dC2 after my first sweep.

As fair as I am aware the success rate for a sweep for ftm is pretty low as the cervix is not likely to be open enough.

I would highly recommend doing some research on the accuracy of weight predictions for babies in utero. They are notoriously inaccurate, and if you don't feel ready to pop then you probably aren't and baby should stay in the best place possible which is in your belly until he or she is ready to come.

I too lost my plug during labour, I think I was about 6cms. Losing the plug doesn't mean anything in terms of timescale unfortunately, they'd be more concerned about your waters if you called the labour ward.

It's so annoying, but there's no way to really tell if the sweep will work. I know how frustrating it is, but I'd go with medical advice.

Wishing you an easy labour!

Thank you so much all for your responses.

@Justgimmeit did you have the test for how ready you are before your sweep eg how dilated you were, what 'station' you're at etc? I've heard from someone in my NCT group that their hospital won't even do sweeps until 41 weeks. Just goes to show dubious efficacy!

@Namechangemum100 I'm in a difficult situation - we're at Kings, which is apparently the leading sonography team in the world and they're convinced of the gestational age vs size - and they're saying there are increased risks with letting v small babies carry on in utero. How can you ignore that advice? You can't really argue that it's weird that it's gone from being perfect size to 1% off a recommendation to induce immediately (as opposed to in 1.5 weeks as we've been advised, which would be 39.5 weeks). But it is absolutely true to pause for thought - they're estimating the baby is already 5'11 lb... pretty much the size my husband was born at v healthy and not far off the healthy 6.6 lb I was born at 41 + 5 weeks! I'm currently educating myself on all the risks and considerations around induction and c-section ahead of a meeting we insisted on having with a consultant tomorrow... I was so amazed they were just going to book us in for an induction with no chat with a consultant had we not actively asked!