Waters broke and they gave me a sweep twice

[Qwerty93]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone could help me out… I’ve got some bad feeling about something not right with my little one, like milestones and posturing etc, and I’m just wondering about what risks there are.

Basically my waters broke, I went in and they gave me a sweep without my permission twice once at 3 cm dilated and once at 4cm.

Would this have done any harm to the baby? Anyone had similar.

No this won't have done any harm to your baby. It's understandable you are annoyed at sweeps without your consent. If there are any issues with your baby, this is unrelated. What are you worried about and how old is your baby?

It will not have harmed your baby.

Having a sweep just means rubbing your cervix with fingers - which usually something that happens when they check how dilated you are anyway. Absolutely no harm in it.

Are you generally feeling anxious?

Are you aware this is an irrational, possibly intrusive, thought?

It’s just because I had/have strep B (GBS) so I was wondering if this was passed on, as I know a sweep after waters have broken increases the risk of infection passing to the baby.

Have you sought any help for that anxiety yet?

Yeah, slowly but surely. I said I was seeing a psychiatrist, I got the wrong it was a physiotherapist (same difference I guess).

At home I’m bonding so much more with the baby, and my partner.

I don’t have as many thoughts, like they used to be constant.

I guess this thread helps when I have the odd anxious thought, as I take on board all the replies both negative/positive which is reassuring.

@Qwerty93

It’s just because I had/have strep B (GBS) so I was wondering if this was passed on, as I know a sweep after waters have broken increases the risk of infection passing to the baby.

Hi @Qwerty93 - how old is your baby? Its very rare after 1 month and very very rare after 3months for there to be ongoing risks from GBS. There's a good support organisation here - gbss.org.uk/info-support/group-b-strep-infection/group-b-strep-infection-in-babies-know-the-symptoms/

I had GBS and my waters broke before my contractions started. Within 24hrs my DD had developed sepsis and spent two weeks in NICU / SCBU. I dont believe GBS on its own causes issues - it's when it turns into sepsis or meningitis that causes longer term damage. My DD is 8 months and has just been signed off by the neonatologist- she is doing really well at meeting her milestones.

As a result of her being so poorly, i had a lot of health anxiety around her. My HV referred me for some CBT, which helped. It's good you are seeing a professional and as you know, good to keep talking.

Sorry not a physiotherapist…. A Psychologist!

@GuidingSpirit

She’s now five months, but as mentioned I’ve had concerns about her.

So I had strep B, my waters broke and I went into the hospital, and they said they will let me go natural first and see how I progress, if I’m only going slow they will induce.

But when I first went in the midwife said I’m going to do an examination to check it was check it was your waters. Then she was like yup waters like after that she went back in and then it proper hurt. I was like ow what was that. And she was like i checked your 3cm and I done a sweep.

I remember reading they shouldn’t do a sweep if your waters have broken as you can pass infection. So I’m like what if the strep B went there!

@GuidingSpirit how did you know she had sepsis?

@Qwerty93 a sweep is no different to a pelvic exam and i had to have 2 after my waters broke. I believe the policy is that they should be minimised to prevent infection but can still be done if required. Have you had a birth debrief / reflections? You might find it helpful to discuss exactly what happened and why with a senior midwife. It helped for me.

I understand you have concerns about her milestones but i meant did she have an infection at the time caused by GBS? So either sepsis, pneumonia or meningitis? Did she have any of the symptoms in the link I posted above? Having the GBS bacteria on its own cant cause developmental problems.

Have you taken her to the GP or HV for a check if you are worried?

@Qwerty93 She had all the classic symptoms. At 12hrs old her breathing was grunty, her legs turned a mottly purple colour, she had a high pitched cry, she was very cold and sleepy and the midwives did a blood sugar check and it was very low. She then had a blood test to confirm. She was extremely poorly and in an incubator for several days. There was no mistaking it for anything else.

@GuidingSpirit not that I'm aware, so during labour I had 3 courses of antibiotics and then we stayed in hospital for 30 hours afterwards, for the first 12 they monitored her 3 hourly for signs of meningitis/sepsis.

No one mentioned anything about infection - I assume they would know right?

I will look to do a birth reflection!

It's very common to be GBS positive, I think about 1 in 4 women are. It does have an increased chance of passing on infection to the baby but this is still a very small chance.

But it is irrelevant what the chance is now anyway, because if she had had an infection when she was born, you would have known because the hospital would have been on her like a shot. My second baby had a suspected infection at birth and he had antibiotics, round the clock monitoring. He turned out to have absolutely nothing wrong with him and none of it was necessary, but they were being safe rather than sorry.

Your little one is healthy and it sounds like she didn't have any infection at birth.

@Qwerty93 if you had antiobiotics and the monitoring then i think you can be confident that they would have mentioned any infection 🙂 I had no antibiotics because i didn't know i had GBS - i went into labour at 38w, before getting the results of the GBS test.

Please do look into birth reflections - in our hospital, they literally went through my whole labour minute by minute and explained why certain decisions were taken. I was very worried that the sepsis was my fault and the senior midwife was lovely and really put my mind at ease.

My DD is consistently at the later end of the milestone ranges and it has caused me no end of worry. But i look at her now in comparison to when she was in NICU and could fit in DH's palm and i just think how lucky i am to have her here with me 😊

Similar story! I done my test 38 weeks and got my text 8am Saturday and my waters went 2pm! So I only just knew!

Awh that’s lovely. I love bones of my daughter. Her smile just warms my heart.

@Qwerty93 aww, that is lovely. These babes cause us all sorts of worry but it's totally worth it!

Oh @Qwerty93 I'm sure your baby is fine. My DC2 was delivered by c section and had antibiotics straight away as he had trouble breathing and they were worried about infection. He was fine till he was 3 weeks old then did actually get viral meningitis! Anyway fast forward 6 years and he's absolutely fine. Please don't worry. Baby is fine. Maybe you could talk to someone about anxiety?