Membrane Sweep

At my 40 week appointment today, my doctor offered to do a membrane sweep. I asked her if she thought I should and she said " well, it depends on how impatient you are" which I'm not so I declined and scheduled my 41 week appointment. Im " a good 3cm and 80% effaced".

Have you ever had a "membrane sweep"?
What was the outcome?
Was it painful?

I don't want to be induced or have any interventions at all--- I'm wondering at what point should a membrane sweep be done?

 

i had my membranes swept (without my permission or informed consent, but that's another story) - it was very uncomfortable/painful. i was practically crawling off the table to get away from the resident doing it. i was 3-4 cm dilated at the time (not sure how effaced) and the girls were born the next morning.

i think that unless there's a medical need to speed labour up, there's no point in getting your membranes swept. on the other hand, if there is a need to get things going, sweeping your membranes is a good option, especially in your case, since you're already dilated & effaced. it's much more likely to be effective under those circumstances. plus, it's not like breaking your water where you are then committed to having the baby within a certain time frame (although there is a small risk of breaking the bag of waters when they sweep your membranes).

 

I had my membrane swept with my second pregnancy at 39 +6 and was in labor within 2 hours. I was already 4cm and 75% effaced. This pregnancy I just had my membrane swept at 38 + 2 and didn't contract at all. I was also 4cm and 50% effaced. I think it only really works if your body is ready and it just helps to jump start things. For me it wasn't painful either time, a little more uncomfortable then a cervical check, but not anything that I would consider real pain, but I have a really amazing Dr

 

I will never ever again have a membrane sweep. I did with baby #3 and I ended up getting a uti and kidney infection. You can get infections from the sweeo. So I labored in pain from the infections. It was horrible! I don't recommend it.

 

Your stories are just making me happier with the decision I made to decline
Although If I start getting cloesr to that 42 week mark at that point I may accept in a last ditch effort to avoid other methods of induction such as pitocin.

 

You know Jess, they may have dated your pregnancy wrong. Have you thought about that? Given that you went into labor pretty early with the twins; I'd think you wouldn't go much over 40 with a singleton. But who knows?

 

With the twins we knew exactly when we conceived because we did clomid & a trigger shot. I was induced at 37 weeks because of my blood pressure but I started dilating slowly at 29 weeks...and was 5 & 100% by my induction day at 37 weeks.

With this baby, I felt "off" and took a pregnancy test that came back positive. The very first ultrasound I had, all they saw was a sac (which measured 6w2d) and a yolk sac but no fetus.
Then I had another ultrasound 2 weeks later that dated it at just over 7 weeks. We did one more at 9 weeks (baby was moving & had limbs!) and then my 20 week scan (measured normally), another at 28 weeks (where the baby measured 90% tile) to confirm the placenta had moved away from my cervix.

I really have no clue!! But I hadn't had a period so really there is no telling when I conceived. Hence the reason Im holding out on any interventions.

Im stumped. I have started having hot flashes and my nose is swelling which are odd symptoms. I hope that means labor is near!

 

I didn't have an official membrane sweep, at least not with my permission...but at 40weeks 2days with my first baby my doctor gave me a very rough internal. I suspect he may have done a membrane sweep. I wasn't dilated at all at the time, but it definitely got labor started. I felt like crap from then on, and about 6 hours later with semi-regular contractions my water broke. I had the baby about 15 hours after the doctor's appointment. Although I wouldn't normally recommend interventions...I think you are vbac too right?? If you do have to resort to interventions a membrane sweep at 3cm dilation is probably the most benign thing you can try. I definitely would opt for that versus pitocin or breaking your water. I'm saying this with the assumtion that your doctor would pressure you to have an intervention....but if he/she is comfortable letting you wait it out, then I would wait it out.

 

I had it done at 38 weeks with my older DD and I had the same experience. It did not send me into labor and I was about 1cm dilated.

 

I had a vaginal delivery with the twins (my first kids) so nope, Im not vbac
She is comfortable letting me wait till 42 weeks. She wont let me go over that so Ive got 11 days to figure out something or go into labor!

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. They could very easily be off by a week or two, you never know.

 

Hang in there, Jess. :hug: I can't imagine how loooong this pregnancy must feel after having M and E at 37 weeks! :hug: Do you have any hunch on your baby's gender? I know I can't wait to read your birth story!!

 

Regardless the stats for induction are all about the same. 50% of those who are induced will wind up with a c/s. HOWEVER, they have this cool chart somewhere (I can't remember the name of it for the life of me...but if you google it you might be able to find something) on what makes a woman the best possible candidate for induction. Some doctors (good ones) actually use it to decide whether or not induction is worth a try. And having had a previous vaginal birth is a point in favor...also being dilated gives you good points... being signficantly dilated like you are gives you even more points... and being effaced also gives you points. So from my foggy memory you are probably one of the better candidates for induction. If you happened to find that chart you could find your actual odds of having a successful vaginal delivery with induction. And like I said before there are different levels of induction. A membrane sweep is a very preliminary method. What you really want to avoid is any kind of cervical ripening gel...fortunately for you this really won't be an issue since it's normally only used to start induction on women who are not dialted at all or barely dilated. They probably would jump right to pitocin since you are so far dilated if a membrane sweep didn't work. I think you'll go into labor on your own though. I've rarely heard of a woman who was at 3cm or more for long...

 

That's what happened to me with the twins. My OB wouldn't induce because I needed cervadil and wasn't dialated or effaced. I'm actually glad I didn't try induction although a c-section isn't fun either.

I can't wait 'til you have this baby Jess.