Midwife just did stretch and sweep... what to expect now?

[patooti]

Went to my midwife appointment and since my bp was showing signs of coming up she decided to do a stretch and sweep (I'm 39+3).

Found cervix to be very stretchy, very favourable I think she said I was 1cm initially but that the cervix was around the back of the head but she was able to pull it forward and stretch opening to 3cm (this hurt a LOT though she said she was pretty amazed at my high pain tolerance).

She got a lot of bloody show when she did the sweep.

Now what LOL? Anyone else have any experiences to share?

 

[patch2006uk]

Basically now you wait. It's early for a sweep to be effective, but if it's going to work it should be in the next 24-48 hours.

 

[TryinFor1]

I had a sweep at 39+3 without the doctor telling me! He said.. call me if your water breaks tonight, and we left the office.

Low and behold, about 17 hours later at 4:45 in the morning my water broke. Lol.

The only experience I have was that the sweep was a little uncomfortable, even though I didn't realize it was going on. I was only a fingertip dilated though. I went home and walked for about thirty minutes, ate something spicy, went to bed, and went into labor the next morning.

Oh and right before I had the sweep, my mucus plug came out and I started having a bloody show.

So a sweep worked for me! hope it does for you too!

 

[patooti]

I had a sweep at 39+3 without the doctor telling me! He said.. call me if your water breaks tonight, and we left the office.

Low and behold, about 17 hours later at 4:45 in the morning my water broke. Lol.

The only experience I have was that the sweep was a little uncomfortable, even though I didn't realize it was going on. I was only a fingertip dilated though. I went home and walked for about thirty minutes, ate something spicy, went to bed, and went into labor the next morning.

Oh and right before I had the sweep, my mucus plug came out and I started having a bloody show.

So a sweep worked for me! hope it does for you too!

LOL, my midwife said what she ended up doing was pretty extreme (i.e. pulled the whole cervix forward and forced in a third finger for the stretch) so I don't think there would have been ANY way someone could do this without noticing, she was using my upper belly for leverage and waited in there to stretch through a contraction. It required a lot of focus to breathe through. She said I had a high pain tolerance but WOW that HURT.

She said that she feels like this is probably going to do the trick since all the other signs and conditions are there, just needed to get that cervix forward and get him to drop down some.

It's encouraging to know it worked for some. I wasn't really terribly worried about him coming before due date but with the sudden bp rise she is hoping that we could have him out before bp becomes an issue to help me avoid a medical induction should it suddenly become urgent next week which would mean a lot more intervention all of which I'm very keen to avoid. I thought that made some sense.

 

[Breezeway]

WALK...I did the mistake of not walking last pregnancy when the dr stretched me... Ended repeated the process 3x ughhhh. Good luck!!!

 

[patooti]

WALK...I did the mistake of not walking last pregnancy when the dr stretched me... Ended repeated the process 3x ughhhh. Good luck!!!

Okay good idea!!! I'm sitting on my physio ball at the moment but should just go for a walk shouldn't I.

 

[cluckerduckie]

Sweeps are painful? Maybe as precaution, I'll take tylenol before mine on Wednesday.: flower:
Definitely hoping something happens for you Patooti!

 

[Daisy611]

I had my second one done yesterday! Lost more of my mucus plug and had a ton of brown discharge. I'm 39+1. At my appointment I was 2-3 cm and 80% effaced. Tonight I developed bad back pain and feel crampy. Fingers crossed for you that it worked!!

 

[iprettii]

that sounds painful!

but with my last pregnancy here in the US, they never once mentioned a "sweep" to me, I only ever hear about it on this site.. I wonder if my new doctor(s) would mention it. So far no one has.

 

[patooti]

that sounds painful!

but with my last pregnancy here in the US, they never once mentioned a "sweep" to me, I only ever hear about it on this site.. I wonder if my new doctor(s) would mention it. So far no one has.

I don't think they are as common in the US also possibly not Canada. The inductions I have been exposed to in Canada (sister and friends) were all done in hospital with cervadil gel insertion and pitocin). Whereas here I am in midwife care and she has done this to try to encourage natural labour to start so to avoid a medical induction. With my friends and sisters the docs didn't seem to think avoiding induction was important so I could see them not bothering.

Just went for a walk and did some nipple stimulation. Lying down doing nipple stim contractions were 4 to 5 min apart and 1 minute each. But they have spaced out now to 10 or 11 min maybe dying out. They hurt a fair bit though. I am at about 7 hours since the sweep.

I think if cervix is low and quite open a sweep wouldn't hurt too much but if you have ever been... Ummm banged too hard in the cervix during sex you know that pressure directly on cervix isn't real comfortable. Also mine was really high so I think midwife had her whole hand in there and then three fingers in cervix. It was... Intense.

 

[cherrylee]

I had a sweep with my last pregnancy and went into labour basically right after. I didn't really have any show or anything, just cramps and contractions.

 

[patooti]

It might have worked. I've had contractions steady and painful since about 4 pm today. It's just after 9pm now. They aren't completely regular in their timing but they are reliable sometimes 4 min apart, or up to 10 or 15 min apart but they keep coming and no gaps more than 10 min in a good while now.