Cervical sweeps; do they actually work???

[Ruth_Baldock]

I'm hoping the answer is 'Yes, and how!'. This is all unchartered territory for me, at the stage I am now, last time round, my waters had broken (in John Lewis...) and I was contracting...

Just had my last ever appointment with my MW, the next appointment of any kind I have will be at either 40w (15th) or 40+3 (18th) at the post-dates clinic for a sweep.

I'd previously had a RC/S booked (for transverse presentation). Baby turned, and is now engaged so that was cancelled (hurrah!). Then I agreed at my VBAC appointment to have a RC/S at 41+3, if I went that far along. I'd been staunchly refusing any kind of induction, either via AROM or a low dose of synto until a few days ago, when I thought 'well, 10 days past due isn't THAT much'.

Basically, I want to go into labour as 'naturally' as possible, I really do want to avoid surgery.

So, post-dates/sweeps success stories, anyone?? Also, er, what happens at the post-date clinic?

I'm off to eat another curry and eat some more pineapple. Lets not talk about sex, the thought of it is laughable at the moment even though my MW was keen (me and my husband, not me and her...I think...)

[Moos]

Annoyingly, I think the answer has to be 'who knows?'. I had one after I went a week overdue, and went into labour about a day later. Moosling born 10 days late... maybe because of the sweep, maybe because he couldn't stay forever...

Opinions differ on how much they hurt, too. Best to grit your teeth and perhaps it will not be too bad for you. I was expecting something that felt like "sweeping", rather than "excavating".

[Ole]

I had several sweeps from week 40 right up to 40+15 (I think I must have had at least 4 sweeps) and they didn't work. The induction didn't work. The only thing that worked was the scalpel. Boo hiss.

[Fuschia]

3 over a week with child no 1

Went into labour at 41+4 after third

Two with twins

At

37-38 weeks had no effect

3 with latest baby at 40w odd - no effect

[Ruth_Baldock]

...bugger. I'm definitely going to be pregnant forever then.

[sb]

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[sb]

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[Pickle]

I had a couple while being induced at 37 wks with child #1 - hurt like buggery and didn't seem to make one iota of difference.

Then again while being induced at 37 wks with #2, remember being shocked as I didn't feel a thing. Whether it worked or not I'm not sure, but things did progress pretty quickly (induction with #1 took around 3 days to work, #2 was very fast). So I think it's pot luck a) whether it hurts and b) whether it works.

Good luck!

[Ruth_Baldock]

sb; no medical danger atm- I had high BP until around 32w, but it's all fine now and I've been feeling okay.

Pickle; I had one when I was being induced, from looking at my notes, but I don't remember feeling anything too agonising...either my MW was 'good' or I have a high painthreshold? If I DID have one when at Kings, it didn't work then either :/

[Yak]

I had 4. The first two didn't do much (my cervix was too far posterior, apparently). The third was very, um, through, and I had a show the next morning. Had the 4th the next day and went into labour 2 hours later @ 41+3.

The post-dates clinic isn't that bad; the mws will check your bp, have a quick scan to check positioning of the baby, and offer you a sweep. Aside from the possibility of bringing on labour, a sweep should enable the mw to tell you how far you are dilated & effaced (which may be helpful to know if you need to have childcare plans in place etc). Try to get an appt as early as possible because theycan overrun on timings. I think it runs on a Mon, Wed & Fri. Good luck!

[Princess]

I too am new to sweeps but after spending the morning at Kings today where the consultant was keen to give me one there and then (I chickened out as I don't have childcare provision until the weekend), I was told I needed to pop down to MAU on Saturday morning and request one. It's my understanding you can self refer if your desperate.

I have booked the lovely Dan at the Therapy Rooms first in the hopes that does the trick with no need for sweeps!

[Fuschia]

Looks like they seem to

Be effective post dates

http://midwifemuse.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/late-babies/

[Sally81]

Hmm..it's so hard to tell if they work or not isn't it. You only have them cos you're overdue anyway, so who knows if bubs would have decided to get the heck outta there on that day or not anyway!

I had two. The first one did nothing. The second one I had on a Sat afternoon and had strong back ache and period like pains pretty much immediately but still didn't start proper labour til the Monday night. The second sweep might have got things moving, but as others have said 'who knows.'.

Also, the actual sweep itself wasn't too bad for me but, again, as others have said, they do leave you feeling very uncomfortable so I think you might as well wait as long as poss for things to kick off, cos let's face it, you're going to be uncomfortable enough when they do without adding to the pain! (Sorry and wishing you lots of luck.)

[mrs f]

i had three... the final one by Leonie Penna (consultant at kings) on the friday who informed me I wouldn't be back on Monday for induction as her sweeps are very thorough.... (plus I was very favourable and 3 cm dilated by then)

she was right, I had the baby on Sunday!

but by that stage I was 41+6 so who knows if it was the sweeps or any of the other things I did to induce the little one

I didn't find them painful to be honest but I was probably lucky, but I did find them reassuring and helpful as I was informed of my progress from 1-2cm at the first and 2cm long etc.... I at least had a small gilmer of hope that I could avoid induction (which I did!)

[Bella123]

I had one on my due date at my consultant's (Chrissie Yu at Kings)suggestion because it was close to Christmas. I had my little one 14 hours later! I was lucky to get to the hospital in time, waters broke at 2am, contractions changed from what I thought were BH to full on, she was here at 3.15am. BUT it was the most painful procedure I had. Good luck!

[BellendenBear]

My Midwife told me that the most recent evidence suggests that 3 sweeps on 3 consecutive days gives the best chance. That's what she did. And I went into labour on the third day. Like others have said it was quite reassuring to be told how things had progressed between sweeps.

I was induced with number 1 and found the examinations/sweeps during that process very uncomfortable. This time it wasn't nearly so bad. Each sweep was followed by a period of quite strong Braxton-Hicks.

I say go for it. Nothing to lose apart from a bit more dignity.

[Trish]

I had one when in early stages of labour - just to get it all moving faster. Just posting to try to offer some reassurance because it didn't hurt in the slightest. Baby arrived a day later!

[edanna]

Have you had any twinges? I was going to have a sweep with no 2 but when I told the midwife I'd been having twinges she said she'd rather not because it sounded like I might be getting there on my own. I had the twinges for at least a week, maybe in very very low-grade labour and then at 41 weeks waters broke and baby born 90 mins later.

[sb]

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[Grotty]

had 2 - first at 40+4, second at 41+2 - and nothing except pain and some spotting, but "useful" as showed i was clamped tightly shut and unlikely to go into labour anytime soon. Was eventually induced at 41+5 then 3 days later C-section. One very stubborn little baby...

[hellosailor]

I think it also depends on how good the midwife is and, also literally,(sorry!) how long here fingers are!

I had one at 40+1 and the midwife said I was 1cm and 50% effaced - no effect but some cramping and spotting.

Had an attempted one at Kings at 40+4 where the consultant had, by her own admission, extremely short fingers, and she couldn't reach my cervix so wasn't able to do it.

And then my regular midwife came round later on the same day, gave me a sweep and said that conditions were exactly the same, 1cm and 50% effaced so as nothing had moved on in 3 or 4 days then chances were that it could be a few more days to go....but went into labour half an hour later, so am fairly sure her sweep was responsible! Found them umcomfortable but not too bad. I know it varies a lot, but it you're finding it very uncomfortable they can stop immediately.

[jennyh]

I had 2 I think, my midwife told me that there was a new piece of research to say that if they were to be effective it would be best to have them with one day in the middle and no more. So I had acupuncture, then a sweep, then acupuncture, then another sweep, then 3rd acupuncture across 5 days. As mrsf says - I found it reassuring that they checked me over and that they could tell me how favourable my cervix was etc rather than just waiting! (i'd been off on mat leave for 5 weeks already and was bored!) I don't know what worked but I went from having no twinges to having a show after the 2nd sweep and went into labour a day later, the acupuncture gave me some cramping etc as well. Who knows, I may have got there anywhere but I was due to be induced and i'm the sort of person who felt I needed to be in control a bit more so gave me a bit of reassurance. As seems to be the case so much, I had my daughter the day before my induction date.

[Knomester]

I truly believe that a baby will come when it's good and ready!

I had 4 sweeps (including one fairly drastic one at King's) and had cramping and spotting after each one but Baby Knomester was not for coming despite me having been 1-2cm since the first sweep. I'd probably still have had the sweeps though, even knowing what I know now.

He eventually made his appearance by c-section at 42+6...

[jenc]

I had one at 40+5 at midday and went into labour that afternoon (in M&S!) although didn't really realise until my waters broke about 6pm. Had my son that night. So I guess it worked for me but like everyone has said, he could have been on his way anyway. The midwife who did it did say as she brought her hand out (ouch) "that's a bloody show" so maybe he was. I found it quite painful while it was happening but no lasting discomfort and it was over quite quickly. Good luck!

[LauraHW]

I had one at 40+1, went for a 4 mile walk and went into labour that night. Who knows if sweep triggered it but I wanted to give everything a go as I didn't want to be induced which I was going to be at 40+5.