membrane sweep - need info to try and stop me panicking. HELP!!!!!!!!!

[blondie14]

am 41 weeks pregnant and booked in for a membrane sweep this afternoon, midwife was very brief about it giving me the text book answers to my questions. am starting to panic slightly now. what exactly do they do up there? does it hurt? does it work? how long after its done do you feel anything? does it cause contractions or just period pain? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

they seperate membranes or sack of waters from cervis with a finger

it is extremly uncomfortable but not painful, but does depend on person doing it your cervix

you may have a show pretty quickly, but how well it works depends on your body and how ready you are to labour

they are optional
some people find they hurt a little, some a lot some nothing
if your cervix is already favorable then it might encourage you to go into labour
but it might not

Hi
I had one yesterday - it did not hurt at all. I took 2 paracetomol 30 mins before, as she was doing it i took deep breaths and thought relax as i breathed out.

The Midwife came to my house. I lay on the bed and she checked babys heart rate, then had a feel around with her fingers (much less intrusive than a smear) she talked me through what she could feel. No pain or bleeding afterwards (although she warned i could have). It was quite reassuring because she could tell me the baby was getting ready (also 41 weeks). I have booked in for another one on Tuesday in case i don't go into labour before.

Good luck

taking two paracetamols before hand sounds like a good idea. how many times can they do this procedure? if they seperate the membranes can they break the bag of waters by accident? (is that a silly question??)

Same as Herbietea- IMO the more uncomfortable it is the more likey it is to work. And if the whole point of having it done is to get the labour moving it's well worth it. - It only takes sbout 10 - 20 secs so it is over quite quickly IIRC.

Also I didn't even know I was going to have it done. I had a routine app with consultant at 40+3 on Friday luchtime and he said did I want to try - I said why not, and hey presto new baby on Saturday afternoon. Would do the same again at same stage - absolutely nothing to panic about.

I had my first sweep at 40+3 - did nothing. Second one at 40+10 - I asked the consultant to 'accidentally' break my waters - which she did. 30 hours later I had my DD. I did not go into labour though and ended up being induced and eventually having an e-cs - so there is that risk.

Neither sweep was painful though and I didn't take any paractemol. Let's face it - there's alot worse to come when you do go into labour. Good luck

You don't have to have one. I refused as I didn't think I was quite 'ready' to give birth yet. DD turned up 10 days after due date but I always expected that as have a long cycle.

All the anectotal 'evidence' that they help to bring on labour is nigh on impossible to prove as they are always performed on people who are almost ready to pop anyway.

i had a sweep at 40+10, i had no idea that she was going to do it so it was all a bit of a shock, but it didnt hurt was just slightly uncomfortable. had it on the weds lunchtime, baby born 9am the next day, so i guess it worked! really wouldnt get worried about it.

I had one at 40+6, which kickstarted contractions and it wasn't too uncomfortable - I have had much more uncomfortable smear tests. It didn't get things going enough though so when I was at hospital the midwife gave me another which was much more brutal (but still not painful, just uncomfortable really, she was really swishing around up there though!). She finished up by saying "Right, you will have a baby by tomorrow now!" which really got things going - baby was born 5 hours later.

is it just like an internal then or do they use that metal thing like when having a smear? starting to relax about it a little now, think i need to see it as a means to an end. should i take a sanitary pad with me?

they just have a fiddle about with their fingers (sounds lovely i know) i didnt need a sanitary pad - it probably wont work that fast!

wasnt sure if it caused bleeding or anything.

they stick their fingers inside you and try ti gently rub around the entrance of teh cervix.

it is uncomfortable but not painfull.

youmay bleed slightly but nothing to worry about. i would use a liner just in case, but thats more to protect your underwear than anything else.

Be prepared also that it might not actually result in anything. I had about 4 sweeps to shift dd2 between my due date and when she was born at 40 + 10 - none of which resulted in labour within 24 hours. But they probably all helped to move things on - at the last sweep the midwife said she could stretch the cervix to 4 - 5 cms!! So when labour did finally kick in it was only 4 - 5 hours from start to finish.

The first sweep was uncomfortable but not painful - after that they got easier each time. Uncomfortableness is literally only for the few seconds it takes - no lasting discomfort after (other than labour if it works!!).

Good luck - hope it helps kick things off!

Hey Blondie14

Let us know how it went.

If anything I was disappointed I couldnt feel my sweep more than I did, and that it was over too quick. (I really wanted it to work)

i had a sweep today and can pretty much agree with everyone else except i did bleed a little afterwards. they gave me a pad there and then. hope it works
for you good luck!

hi everyone, well it really wasnt as bad as i thought. booked in for another one on wed morning as my cervix was too closed to do it. not sure what two days will achieve but there you go. feeling a bit gutted that all the period pain and braxton hicks i have been getting has done nothing.

The consultant that did mine (uncomfortable but not painful) warned me that things might move quite quickly and not to ignore any signs that labour might be starting. I did - and ended up arriving at hospital 26 minutes before ds was born, still insisting to dp that there was no need to panic and we had ages! So be warned!

have been getting really bad period pains for the past hour but not reading much into it seen as i didnt have the sweep. think my body is protesting from being poked and prodded.

how much sex are we talking about??!!