So, I've had my sweep.. <drums fingers>

[abigboydidit]

And other than a bit of discomfort from the prodding there seems to be nothing happening . I had told myself not to get my hopes up but my hormones aren't for playing along. Having never had one before I have no idea what to expect and was thinking something would have happened by now if it was going to happen? MW said 48 hours but everyone else I spoke to said 12hours and it's been 9 already.

Baby ain't for budging yet, is (s)he..

[abigboydidit]

Update from me too. 2nd sweep worked forme and after a false start on Thursday night I started with contractions on Friday night and DD was born on Saturday evening. VBAC though not entirely to plan (but that's another story..)

[ScrambledSmegs]

For lollipoppi! Glad to hear the sweep/supermarket combo (in that order) worked for you too. Congratulations!

You know, my first DC was a bad labour. Besides all the failure to progress/massive doses of syntocinon/ventouse/episiotomy/haemorrhage/retained placenta/D&C/transfusion/7 days in hospital bollocks, I felt so ignored, terrified and just not cared for that I would have insisted on a ELCS instead of induction again. Vaginal birth isn't the be all and end all.

[abigboydidit]

Oooh! Exciting!

I however am at risk of coming in a very late 3rd here..

[eagleray]

Rang them - apparently I was supposed to ring them this time so they were a bit snotty going in now...

Good luck! Will be on line via phone hopefully until it hurts too much

[abigboydidit]

Glad to be of service! I wouldn't think they would still take you in today, would they? My hospital tends to have a time cut off as I think they want to have the 1st pessary in at a certain time so that if you need a 2nd in the morning they can. Monday is 10 days over & I know that they were fine with me holding off till then (am also classed as high risk because of previous EMCS). Would you feel comfortable waiting till then though? You don't want to spend the weekend worrying (though maybe I am just projecting my anxious nature on to you. If I have nothing to worry about, that worries me ).

I watched One Born Every Minute for the 1st time yesterday (bad idea) & ended up howling about the fact that DH would never experience a proper labour and that I somehow wasn't a real woman because of this. DH was a bit but reassured me that he has no burning desire to see something emerging from my fanjo & will not feel cheated by another section.

I blame the bloody hormones!!

[eagleray]

Thanks - what a fantastic link! The Bishop's score has been mentioned in relation to my induction, ie they will do one when I am admitted, but they haven't done one so far. I can see ischeal spines mentioned which I saw in my notes so will read through now.

Part of me would like to try another sweep before induction - going to pluck up the courage to ring the hospital shortly and see if they do plan to admit me today (there has been some weather-related chaos this morning where I live, so not sure if that has had any effect on hospital...). If they don't have space for me today, then I will see what can be offered as an alternative.

Hope you have a nice rest - I really sympathise re the emotional bit - ended up throwing stuff across the kitchen last night as felt so overwrought (luckily it was just fruit so no one was hurt...)

[abigboydidit]

Found a link explaining scores and stations.

[abigboydidit]

Oh that's rubbish eagleray. The waiting must be driving you crazy.

I haven't quite stuck by my rules . Had MW appointment and she offered me an examination/sweep... My bishop's score has gone up from 5 to 7 (not sure what that means though!) so she gave me another sweep. Felt much different to the first - I think because she had better access (am sure you all needed to know that?!).

However, am hugely tired and feeling pretty emotional so heading for a nap now as cant face more bouncing or cooking or tidying. What will be..

[eagleray]

Wow congratulations Lollipoppi!! Fantastic news

Am slightly weirded out by how people can be sat there one minute just talking about whether their sweep has worked and then suddenly a baby appears!

Nothing like that has happened for me - had a terrible night lying awake getting upset about it all and now the hospital hasn't even rung up! Part of me likes the delay, but the other part thinks that things haven't progressed and aren't likely to for a while so I may as well get on with the induction...

abigboydidit - hope you are having a nice relaxing day so far. I have suspended all bouncing/tweaking/sh*ing too as frankly can't be bothered with it any more.

[abigboydidit]

Oh, congratulations lollipoppi! That's lovely news. Hope everything went smoothly and you're all well xx

[lollipoppi]

Well ladies that sweep did some good as our beautiful little princess was born at 8.10pm x

[abigboydidit]

eagleray that's classic! Poor DP . I am aching from balancing on my blinking birthing ball and had curry for tea so decided to give myself a break from it all tomorrow and just lounge around watching telly instead .

Good luck for tomorrow!

[eagleray]

thanks for the clarification Numbthumbs - have seen 'pp -2 above spines' in my notes so assume this is related to station of labour too.

Just been out for a walk in the snow - bloody freezing but managed to walk a mile, which included going up a steep hill then down through a snowy field.

DP asleep on sofa now - he said the 'mental stress' of it all had tired him out.

[Numbthumbs]

I found out, its station of labour. Basically -5 is floating freely, 0 is fully engaged and +5 is crowning (makes me shudder just thinking about it) so still a way to go.

Ill be watching one born every minute this evening bouncing on my ball green with envy

[ScottishLassAboutToPass]

No idea what -3 station means.

Just back from my 1st sweep this pg and it was absolutely agony! Baby only 1/5 engaged and cervix is quite far back and (TMI) she couldn't get her finger through it. Really gutted as with DD1 & 2 I went into labour after each sweep. At least baby has started to move down. Booked for another sweep on Monday.

Off to bounce on ball...

[abigboydidit]

eagleray I totally empathise. A few folk told me to hold off till at least 40 + 14 but I could never forgive myself if something happened.

Lollipoppi - am just back from the supermarket! Hope your trip had more impact than mine.

Numbthumbs - sounds hopeful. My sister had that and went into labour pretty sharpish after sweep. No idea what the -3 thing is but I would guess it is how engaged the head is. I wouldn't worry though as I hear they can shift into launch position pretty quickly once labour kicks off. Good luck!

[Numbthumbs]

Ive just got back from my sweep and like others it was really quite painful and seemed to go on for a long time. Im bleeding a lot now and getting some back pains so DM is coming to pick up DD so i can have a rest

Ive read my notes and MW has put -3 station does anyone know what that means? She told me i was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced but ive tried googling -3 station and havent got any results. Im thinking it must have to do with baby not being engaged, she said she could feel its head but could 'push it back up' easily.

Good luck everyone

[learnermummy]

I also bought a bottle of castor oil as a last resort - think just seeing it sitting on the shelf helped my body focus! Best of luck x

[eagleray]

Learnermummy - I have been slightly tempted to go down the same road, ie hold out for longer, but was told yesterday that in the consultant's eyes monitoring tells you only how well the baby is that point in time, not how well the baby will be in an hour's time. Am glad that your insistence on waiting turned out so well for you! How I wish I was 2 years younger as the policies are so, so different

Lollipoppi - good luck with your 'supermarket sweep'

DP frantically googling methods for bringing on labour - boy we are in for a busy day...

[learnermummy]

eagle I didn't want to be induced as wanted my homebirth and the hospital were pretty insistant so we compromised that I would come in for daily monitoring after 40+10. DS2 arrived at +16 after 2 sweeps, a spicy curry and DH 'helping out'.
Obviously not for everyone waiting that long but I had lovely independent midwives and felt very confident in them.

[lollipoppi]

Wow scrambled ..... Off to the supermarket I go then!
She said I was 2 cm so hopefully it will get things going!

[eagleray]

Well, technically I can do what I want, but because I am over 40, the policies/recommendations are different, ie the hospital I'm at does not like women over 40 to go beyond 40 weeks (there are no clear guidelines about this though, and the recommendations vary according to where you are in the country). They can only really tell you what the risks are (although they don't actually have much information on that) and recommend that you get induced at a certain point.

Please don't worry about frightening me - I have had some pretty frank conversations with doctors about the whole thing, which was upsetting, but I can't stand it when they skirt around the issues and hope I'll just agree to whatever.

Thanks for the suggestions and hope we can all stay positive - there is hope for us yet! Hadn't anticipated all this stress at the end of the pregnancy, but it's good to be able to talk to others in the same boat

Oh, and will work on birth plan today - it is slightly sketchy at the moment

[abigboydidit]

Is there any way they would leave you till 10 days over? That's what I had with DS and I asked for this time. I was induced on a Thursday and in hindsight if I were to do it all again I would have asked for a day earlier in the week, just in case things don't go smoothly. I went into labour on the Friday but things slowed overnight, by which time we were into weekend staffing. Am pretty sure a lot of the delays in decisions being made were due to the fact the consultant wasn't around and I didn't get my section till well into the Saturday.

Sorry - totally don't mean to frighten you but just a thought. Failing that have another look at your birth plan and revise in light of the induction maybe? Just so you still feel in control. My consultant wrote my VBAC plan with me this time and I feel so much more reassured about the whole process.

Good luck and try not be down heartened. Am slowly accepting my VBAC isn't likely to happen and am even starting to come up with a few positives about that x

[eagleray]

I think getting sweeps done by different people is a bit like the fable of the six blind men and the elephant here if you aren't familiar with it

My 5 sweeps have been done by the same MW, apart from the 4th (different MW) - no real difference in terms of discomfort, but at the 4th I was given a much bleaker picture of how ready things were looking (unless the baby and cervix were just acting up that day).

Yours is the sort of story I want to hear Scrambled although I know that isn't going to happen to me...

Induction has been hard to taken on board as had planned for HB - so easy to say 'just one more day' to see if anything happens but I guess I have to draw the line somewhere.

[learnermummy]

I had 2 sweeps last time. First, done by a doctor, was awful. Second, done at home by a midwife, I could hardly feel. Could be that it was more 'favourable' second time. Odd that it can feel so different with different people carrying it out though - same with internals during labour - some absolutely fine, some really uncomfortable. Hope you all get your babies soon x