Sweep?

[Excited85]

I'm 39+3 and have my next mw apt at 39+6 as midwife only works one day a week. A few pregnant friends have had sweeps booked in for a day or two after due date and I've read on here where people have had them on the run up to due date - do you think a midwife would be likely to agree to one a day before D day or am I going to have to wait until another apt a week past due date? Not sure what the rules/recommendations are on sweeps! Thanks.

I had one a day before I was due and the midwife told me I should have another 3 days later if nothing had happened. I went into labour the evening of the 2nd sweep. her view was that it was better to have serial sweeps to help things along than wait

Thank you, hopefully my midwife has the same thought process... Don't fancy being a week overdue before they even think about a sweep!

I had mine when I was 4 days over as that what when my appointment was due. Think they'd rather try a couple of sweeps before induction.

Consultant who did mine said it had a 50% chance of working and it could take up to 48 hours. Waters broke exactly 48 hours after the sweep. Had also had reflexology, so could have been that.

Hope it works for you.

hiya yes i think so my midwife has already told me i can have one at 39 weeks im 37+3 now def do ask :)

Thanks all. My midwife team are very much 'by the book' I.e. Wouldn't say what position baby was in until 36 weeks even though I kept asking as apparently that's policy (certainly hasn't been the case with anyone else I know!) so was just a bit worried she'll say no as technically I would be one day prior to d day. Glad to hear that others have had this, so am ready to go in being all assertive if needs be :-)

My midwife said she was happy to do a sweep, but they're only successful if you are nearly about to go into labour anyway and their purpose is to avoid you being induced, therefore there's not really any point in having one until 41 weeks. If a sweep works, you were going to give birth anyway - just a couple of days later.

Made perfect sense to me, but I'm impatient so I have had 2...!

Some people hate them, but I thought they were fine - uncomfortable yes, and caused some cramping afterwards, but I really liked the fact that she told me where I was up to ie 1 cm at the first, 2 cm at the second etc.

I've heard what Nearlythere says - it's not a magic wand. There's no evidence for it, and lots of midwives say it only helps if you're ready anyway.

Think about it - there's no control group is there? They can't tell you how long it might have taken otherwise.

I don't think there's any harm in having one though.

I'm in the same situ Hun,I'm booked in for 1 on fri n ill b 39+6,my midwife only does fri morning apps so ill have. To wait a week if it don't work. I've had 2bouts of labour already,but he's back to back so it stopped both times,so hopefully this will help him to come out.good luck Hun xx

I'm booked to see MW at 39+6, and was told I'll be given a sweep if I want one. Don't know if I do want one though .

38+1 and don't quite feel ready for people to be prodding around my fanny just yet.