Stretch & Sweep

[SpicyMeatball]

I am booked in for a stretch and sweep in about 2 and a half weeks, and quite frankly, i'm terrified!

I'm hoping that i will go into labour naturally before then but if not, does it hurt as much as people say??

And if you have previously had one, how long did it take for you to go into labour?

baby pilot arrived on the 18th!
I had a sweep (3rd one was desperate!)
Contractions started 3 hrs later and progressed really fast and was ready to push by midnight that night!
It all ended in EMCS as my baby girl decided to turn face up at the last min, just unlucky i guess!
Good luck to you all still waiting :)

Congratulations pilot and babypilot. Sorry it didn't quite go as planned, like you say just unlucky. enoy your baby girl

Congratulations pilot

Welcome to the world - whichever way you wanted to arrive babypilot

< wonders what it's called when a pilot flies the plane upside down ! >

Hi Spicy, is this yr first babe? Does it hurt??? It really depends on whether your body has already started to prepare for labour at all. So don't just sit there get working. Eat loads of tropical fruits n spicy foods, do your relaxation and breathing exercises (BTW did you attend any antenatal classes?if not, at this stage watch and copy some on youtube). Research and drink raspberry leaf tea at least 3 times a day, also look up clary sage/lavender oils. HTH.

Ok so had the sweep this morning and it was literally about 45 seconds, start to finish. A couple of sharp intakes of breath as it was a bit tingly but I just thought 'if I can't deal with this, how the hell do I expect to push a baby out!' and it was done before I knew it.

Here's hoping it has the desired effect. Consultant said cervix is between medium & soft and about 1cm dilated, so not bad but not brilliant. She also advised lots of sex

Thankyou to everyone that's come back and let me know, i am feeling a little more calm about the whole thing now!
MW said on friday she doesn't think i'll last till 29th though! I was measuring at 40 weeks and i was only 37+1!
Anyway, have been having pains and contractions on and off for a while now but nothing is happening still! Even though last night, my belly just.. well dropped! It was so weird but i can breathe better now!
I wonder if this means anything...? Hmm.

Congratulations Pilot!! And welcome to the world finally Baby Pilot! :)

I had a stretch & sweep today (normal midwife appointment on my due date), and considering that I find smear tests very uncomfortable, I was pleasantly surprised by the sweep. Nice, jolly midwife chatting to me as she did her thing, and really couldn't feel much at all.

Don't know if it's actually done anything (apparently cervix is 'soft', and it wasn't as hard to find as it generally is for a smear so it must be in a better position), but I won't be dreading the one we've got booked in for next week if nothing happens in between.

I'd rather have any number of sweeps with no medical implements beyond a latex glove than a more medicalised induction, so here's hoping!

I thought i should come back and update everyone! Baby Spicy was born on 1st of December :) on my birthday!!

Had my sweep on 29th which was completely painless! Thankgod.
They took me in that night and induced me, broke my waters at 7pm on 30th and she was born at 4:12am on 1st :).

Aaah. Congratulations spicy and welcome babyspicy. I'm really happy for you. Xx