Stretch and sweep

[ilovemyoboe]

My due date was Wednesday just gone (22nd), so am now 40w + 3. Saw the midwife on Thursday (a new one that I'd never seen before) and she was all for booking me in for a stretch and sweep for this coming Weds, even though it was only one day past my due date when I saw her.

I'm not sure if I want it done, or if it could encourage labour to start earlier than my body is ready - after all, the EDD is really a guestimate! She didn't seem up for discussion at all though and the minute I expressed reservations, she put down in my notes that I had refused the S&S as I wanted labour to start "naturally". Felt really patronised and unheard. We've left it that I'll phone the midwives if I want to book in.

Not sure what to do now. I would have liked to discuss it properly, but that didn't happen as she got quite affronted. Has anyone had the stretch and sweep? Would it start labour even if my body wasn't quite ready? Does it work? Is it any more 'unnatural' than say having a curry? Any advice appreciated.

I had it and wouldn't have it done again tbh, I had it done on the wed am and then had pains until I finally had dd2 on thursday evening but I'm convinced if I'd just left well alone dd2 would have come when she wanted and I would have had an easier birth experience tbh.

A sweep only works if you're about to go into labour anyway. Which leaves me wondering why you would have it done at all. Is there another midwife you can talk to?

I had a sweep done whilst I was in labour (having gone into labour a few hours earlier naturally and on EDD time) - the horrible midwife told me she wanted to speed things up so she could see the baby born on her shift! It made the labour pains unbearable I ended up having an epidural and then forcep delivery

It is up to you and it sounds like you want to do things as naturally as you can. Have you tried reflexology? If you are into that sort of thing is really helps to stimulate labour in a very non-invasive way. Also you need to have the money too but could be a small price to pay for helping you do things as naturally as possible

Good luck!

Thanks for your advice everyone .. sounds like a resounding NO so far!

Yes, I'm wanting to do things as naturally as possible, using TENS and relaxation/self-hypnosis/visualization etc. and avoiding epidurals and pethidine if at all possible. That's why I'm not keen on having things sped up artificially, either in case it makes the contractions suddenly strong like induction can, or in case it starts things but goes really really slowly and then they start pressurizing me to have a drip to speed things along.

I suppose there's no reason why it has to be exactly a week after my due date anyhow, I mean if I decided I wanted it say on Friday, then would they still do it?

The NICE guidelines say to offer a woman a membrane sweep at 41 weeks, but they are only guidelines, you can ask for one whenever suits you. The idea is to separate the bag of membranes from the lower pole of the uterus with your fingers thereby stimulating the body to produce prostaglandins in the same way it would naturally to get labour started. The same theory lies behind having sex in that there are prostaglandins in semen. The mw could not perform one if the head was not engaged but I would expect it to be if this is your first baby. There are different estimates as to how effective it is (as there is with most aspects of childbirth!) but it can be a useful tool as apart from discomfort (sometimes quite bad) it is a low risk option compared to prostin or artificial rupture of membranes etc. Keep your options open, I would consider it if it looks like a full on induction is looming, but a nice, friendly midwife wouldn't go amiss. Maybe she was having a bad day. Good luck!