10 days late - contractions for last 4 days - tired and depressed - should I have a sweep?

[connyrabbit]

Hi all,

I have had contractions for quite a few days now, but they are completely irregular. I sometimes have them every 5 minutes, and then don't have any for 4 hours. Some are extremely painful (when baby decides to kick and push on cervix in time with contractions), nights have been very short and DH and I are exhausted and getting edgy. I had a show yesterday which is good, but am waking up this morning and once again things have slowed down. I just want to cry... I am now considering a sweep to get things going. Does anyone know how effective they are in this sort of case?

Thanks all

a sweep can be a help after 41 weeks, it can get things going if they were going to start with a day or two anyway

it sounds like you are on the way

having a show means your cervix is starting to soften and open, and all the ctx you are having means taht your body is gearing up for the big event!

the best thing you can do is to relax, rest when you can, eat and drink as you need to, try some sex and nipple stimulation if you feel up to it !

and wait.

baby will be here soon enough

poor you. i had exactly the same thing with ds2 and it is really tiring and depressing. i had a sweep at 40 + 6 and ds2 was born 2 days later.

what are your concerns about having a sweep? i was worried it meant i would be on the 'induction train' but we discussed it with mw first and she reassured me that it didn't mean i had to go for induction if it didn't work - they could do another one after a coulpe of days.

as lulumama says, if you're 'not ready' it won't do much, but if you are, it can speed things along.

good luck!

Asicsgirl it is exactly that - I am afraid to be going on the induction train if I go for a sweep. Also, I get the impression that sweeps seem to be used mostly in cases where the baby is late and there are no contractions. In my case things have clearly started, they're just terribly slow, so I'm just wondering if it would make any difference at all...
I know I should stay active and upright and going up and down stairs and so on, but right now during the day am so tired from the sleepless nights that all I can do is sleep!

Have the sweep, it will tip you over the edge if you are already niggly. They may not be very pleasant but are worth it if it does something.

I would get the midwife to come to your house and do it if possible.

Rest as much as you can, feet up and watch some comedy.

Good luck!

Agree re. resting and watching comedy. DP is convinced that DS2 was so late because we were watching Green Wing on DVD and he didn't want to come until we'd finished (he arrived the day after we'd watched the last episode )

I also tired myself out going for endless walks etc. Not worth it, unless you find walking relaxing (which I kind of did). Do something to try and take your mind off it instead... but I do know how hard this is

As I said, I was in a similar boat to you - having contractions etc - and the sweep definitely did help, so I would still say go for it. And they aren't always unpleasant... some people don't feel a thing.

That is true acis, some of mine were not great but that was usually because i was not ready. The ones that were ok were because i was very niggly already. One i had was flippin great, she found i was 5cm...

Wow that must have been great! I got quite dispirited when I had mine with DS2 as I'd had contractions on and off for days and was really hoping that something was going on... mw examined me and could only get one finger in, boo!