SWEEP notes? please help

[stomp110]

Just come back from hospital after my sweep and can't make any sense of my notes..

Position: Centre
Consistancy: medium
Lenth cm: 1
Dilatation cm: 1-2
Stations to spines: -2

BS TOTAL- 6
Comments: MSUSERE

any idea if thats good? Lol x

 

[.Shopaholic.]

It's not bad hun let me explain...

Position - the ideal position for a cervix is central which yours is so that's brilliant When a woman is not in labour, her cervix will normally be positioned very posteriorly which means sometimes it can't even be reached to examine during a membrane sweep.

Consistency - Ideally you want this to be soft so it can stretch and dilate with ease. Obviously as you get into labour it will soften so don't worry about this for now (the sweep probably helped too!). In a non labouring woman, the cervix would be hard (like the tip of your nose)

Length: A none labouring cervix will be around 2-3cm (imagine it like a tube of polos). It has 2 opening, one to the vagina and one to the womb. It will be closed tight, hard and long if not in labour so all of these factors must change during the early labour phase (this is why is can be so hard to tell how long someone's going to labour and why it's so varying!) Being 1cm means it is starting to shorten so again, good news

Dilatation - if you have had a baby before, your cervix never goes back to how it was originally so being 1-2cm now may mean nothing at all, however with it shortening and softening it could be a good sign. It still has a way to go but again, you never know how quick this could happen

Station - babies are measured on how close they are to the pelvic outlet during a sweep and whilst in labour. Before labour, babies will normally sit at -3 or -2. This is really difficult to explain as it is all dependant upon the midwife's examination. Normally a baby that is sat at -2 is sitting high still above the pelvic brim but can be felt on an examination. At -3 it would be really hard to feel for a babies head at all (so again there is progress). A second or third baby may not engage til the very last minute either so it's nothing to worry about really.

BS total is referring to Bishop Score. This is normally something you would see if you were being induced as it is a score to see if you would be ready to have your waters broken for induction. Not normally something I would put on my notes from a sweep during an antenatal. It basically scores you on everything that has been examined

No idea what the comment stands for though sorry hun x

 

[stomp110]

Oh perfect... thank you so much

Is there anything I can do after a sweep to help?

 

[.Shopaholic.]

You're welcome If you can, walk walk & walk haha, or try and go up and down the stairs a fair few times more! Also, if you have an exercise ball, they are great for sitting on as you will automatically bounce and roll your hips round. This will encourage baby down further which will in turn put more pressure on your cervix to help it on its way! Best of luck hun xx

 

[stomp110]

Thank you right I'm off to go shopping round town then ;-) haha thank you xxx

 

[.Shopaholic.]

haha you're welcome have fun lol! Plenty of rests & food breaks haha x