Sweep??????

[paradise lost]

Hi there,

I had 4 sweeps in total. In the UK they start doing them, if you want them, at term. I asked for one at 39+5 but the midwife couldn't reach my very posterior cervix so i didn't get one that day.

A sweep is like a normal VE except that they put a finger into the cervix (if it is open enough to allow this), and sweep it around to seperate the outer surface of the membranes from the inner surface of the cervix. It can vary from not at all painful to quite painful. I found all of mine fine, i could feel them "fiddling about" in there but it didn't hurt at all. One i had (the only one i got from a doctor) was really quite uncomfortable as though she was gentle with me she was not so gentle with the baby's head - don't get me wrong, no harm was done, it just felt like DD's head was moving an awful lot from what she was doing, this could easily have been a coincidence.

After each one i had a little show and some mild cramping which subsided after a few hours. Even the last one didn't build into labour, though it could have been giving me more braxton hicks i guess.

As i said i had 4 done, 2 a week at 40, 40+3, 41 and 41+3. DD came on 41+4. So either the last one "worked" and the others didn't or i wasn't going to labour before then anyway.

I opted to have my sweeps done as i was post-dates and i was booked to homebirth but you can only do that up to 42 wks, so i wanted bubs out sooner rather than later. You can ask not to have it done if you'd prefer and if it hurts you should tell them so they can stop.

HTH

hana