Labour and birth Planning your baby's birth Giving birth Pain relief in labour Where to give birth Labour videos Caesarean section Labour complications. Community groups. Home Pregnancy Labour and birth Natural ways to get labour started. Emma Dufficy Midwife. If you're overdue you may be offered a membrane sweep. A membrane sweep is a way of trying to bring on labour to avoid going too overdue.
It'll be the first step your midwife or doctor offers, before other methods of induction , to get your labour going. How is a membrane sweep done? Your midwife or doctor will carry out a membrane sweep. They will give you an internal examination, try to insert a finger into the opening of your cervix neck of your womb and then gently but firmly move their finger around.
This action should separate the membranes of the amniotic sac surrounding your baby from your cervix. This separation causes your body to release hormones prostaglandins which may kick-start your labour. Enter your due date or child's birthday dd 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 mm Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec yyyy Trying to conceive?
We use your health information to make our site even more helpful. By clicking the button, you agree to our policies and to get emails from us. By Colleen Fisher Tully March 22, Is it worth the additional pain and discomfort you might endure? Also referred to as a membrane sweep, a membrane stripping or simply a sweep, this technique involves gently lifting the amniotic sac—or fetal membrane—from the cervix and lower part of the uterus.
Late in pregnancy, a doctor or midwife inserts a gloved finger through the cervical canal and uses a sweeping motion to separate the membrane from the cervix. The main purpose of a stretch and sweep is to reduce the need for a medical induction after the due date, says Dustin Costescu, an obstetrician in Hamilton, Ont.
Contescu says some women even request a stretch and sweep to help get labour started, particularly if they have a history of going past their due date. You may go into active labour within a few hours, a few days, or not at all—it depends on how ready your body is. As with any time in your pregnancy, if you experience leaking fluid or heavy bleeding afterwards, call your healthcare provider.
Others hated it, or what happened as a result of it. Some wish they had said no. There are those people who say they would never have one. And then those who beg their midwife to do one as soon as possible and to repeat it as often as possible. As with all stories, these are individual viewpoints. The stretch and sweep is a controversial procedure for a number of reasons. It has potential downsides as well as potential benefits.
Some women have found that this procedure is offered or suggested during an antenatal visit without much prior discussion. And, shockingly, sometimes it is suggested while a midwife or doctor is in the middle of a vaginal examination. This is not OK. Neither is it OK for someone to do this without your full consent.
A recent review of the literature on this has confirmed some of these things. This is concerning, especially in the context of rising rates of formal induction of labour. Further research is needed to investigate how women are being offered membrane sweeping and what information women need to make informed choices about membrane sweeping to promote spontaneous labour.
You can always say no to anything that you do not want, and if you are not sure about the implications of agreeing to an examination or procedure, then ask. If you feel you need to know more about that, please see this book. It raises some fascinating questions which I often discuss with midwives, doctors, doulas, childbirth educators and others.
Or is it an unnecessary interference in pregnancy? Is it an induction method itself? The prevalence of this intervention, however, would seem to have increased, at least according to many of those who come to my talks and workshops.
In addition, the point at which a stretch and sweep is offered has moved forward. I know of some employed midwives who are expected to start discussing this from 37 weeks of pregnancy. And midwifery students tell me that more time is spent teaching them how to carry out a stretch and sweep than on helping them learn how to discuss the pros and cons of this. Want to know more about induction of labour and the options that are available?
Sara Wickham outlines the process of induction, looks at the evidence for different indications and helps both lay people and those who help women make decisions to better understand the pros and cons. But, again, this is based on the assumption that everyone will agree to induction.
Also, as the induction epidemic continues and this is offered earlier and in more situations, the effectiveness of the stretch and sweep as a means of reducing the induction rate may decline. A stretch and sweep is generally seen as less invasive than cervical ripening, artificial rupture of membranes and syntocinon.
This does, however, ignore the fact that vaginal examination can be extremely traumatic for some. It allows me to share one of my favourite stories.
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