MSE Pregnancy Club 25

Rups32

so cute welshgirl that baby is kicking your tablet. lol.

i think i should log off as been on here all day lol. need to kind of keep away from the internet tomorrow to do housey stuff as the place is a mess. was thinking of popping into town but i dont know.

martafdz

Thanks moneypenny
Savage, my mw said today that a sweep was basically touching the cervix to encourage the production of some hormones (I guess maybe oxytocin?) by doing some circular motions around it. She said there's no guarantee it would work,.but if it does, it is generally within the following 24h, not on the spot. I'll have mine on Wednesday if nothing has changed, I do not really have a proper grasp of what it involves despite the explanation she gave me, I can see it's not popular in the thread, what are the negatives or why would you not want one? I'm confused.

savageHK

Well I'd much rather have the sweep than the chemicals but as I see it it's still an intervention and if baby could grow itself these last 9 months all by itself it will come when it's ready?
You are right about what they do though, they essentially stick something between the inside of your cervix and your waters which annoys your cervix and can start something off as a result. Of course if they only sweep women who are overdue anyway all this '50% going into labour within 24 hours' might have happened anyway... (Must check internet for proper research!)
As for the sweep itself, it can be uncomfortable (not too worried about that) but there is a chance they could accidentally break your waters which would be more of a problem.
Plus it seems baby is supposed to trigger labour rather than you (can't remember where I read that) so if you start it rather than baby baby might not be ready?

LittleMoog

I had my sweep at +12, which was +14 by my dates. The mw examines your cervix to check for thinning (effacement) and dilation, and then if she can she'll do the sweep. I was surprised how vigorous it was, but I guess the purpose is to irritate the area into releasing prostaglandins by separating the membranes from the uterine wall so it needs to be done thoroughly. I had sweep at 11ish and began early labour at 7 that night. It also caused me to lose my plug, although I'd had a show that morning, so could have been.going to lose it anyway. My labour didn't really kick off fully until I had the pessary for induction 2 days later though, so not sure the sweep was that useful as my body obviously wasn't quite ready.

fluffnutter

savageHK wrote: »

Well I'd much rather have the sweep than the chemicals but as I see it it's still an intervention and if baby could grow itself these last 9 months all by itself it will come when it's ready?

Unfortunately it's not always the case. We're still not completely sure what triggers labour but it is clear that sometimes that trigger doesn't work, particularly in first labours. Then you run the risk of a deteriorating placenta which can put bubs in danger. Interventions are horrible, but sometimes they're better than the alternative. Sweeps only hasten a labour that's already on its way - they're pretty low on the invasive list.

savageHK

Yep fluff, I agree. Just found a cochrane review of methods of induction and am quite annoyed that the research on less invasive alternates to sweeps and hormones just hasn't been done! Acupuncture, nipple stimulation and s*x, as well as castor oil, just haven't had the research done.... The cochrane review concluded the only 'good' methods were sweeps and cervical prostaglandins, anything else either needed further investigation or had risk/reward trade offs.

I will be heading towards a placenta scan if they'll give me one to check that it is fine though.

savageHK

...just found my pamphlet about what happens at my hospital today:
A normal antenatal exam
A 20min CTG
discussion of induction vs going over term+14
Offer of an internal exam to check cervix and perform sweep

The practise here seems to be to induce only around term+14, and should I refuse then it's twice weekly CTGs and weekly amniotic fluid scan.

Bamama

My midwife didn't write down my bump size last friday...

MushyPeas

Posting all weird, deleting, full post below.

MushyPeas

Morning all

Rubbish night, awake every 1hr / 1.5 hr for the loo so at 6 am when DH said he might stay at home with me I suggested he should go to work as I'd be grumpy! He's not spent many days in the office recently with everything going on so it's good for him to go in. Anyway, he's at home tomorrow as we're seeing my consultant who has booked in an hour as he'll probably need to drain more fluid off my belly :eek:

Bamama my midwife often forgets to write the measurement down, doesn't always take blood pressure and never weighs me!! She's lovely, but a bit useless IYKWIM? Bit scary considering first pregnancy, but as I'm under a consultant at the hospital I'm reassured they know what's going on.

big5 welcome - gosh 21 + 6 weeks now seems like a long time ago! It was a while before DH could feel kicking and now with lots of fluid it's hard to feel movement. He says his favourite time is when I'm asleep and he can feel 'Walnut' moving around .

Thanks for no labour vibes Aida ;-) So pleased we're at 36 weeks when things looked a bit dodgy around 28 weeks.

Have good days everyone. I realised yesterday I had done everyone's Christmas shopping but had forgotten my new husband!!! John Lewis came to the rescue, delivery (can't get out of house) and if he doesn't like them he can take back :-)