Sweeping the membranes?

[Marlet]

I'm curious about this. I was always under the assumption that when this was done your water broke and everything. After reading about so many women possibly doing it it got me thinking so I went and read what I could find on it.

1. Since they aren't breaking the water are you prone to infection like if they had broke your water and too much time passes?
2. Is it dangerous?
3. If it doesn't work and too much time passes do you need to go to the doctor?
4. Is this something women can do themselves?

As you can tell I didn't find squat! Although I did find out how it was done. One more question....I was told that if my water broke and labor didn't start within twenty minutes I needed to go to the doctor because a prolapsed cord gets to be a big issue. However, after reading some on that it seems you can go 24 hours. Can someone shed some light on that as well?

[slightly crunchy]

There are not any studies showing an increased risk of infection, according to my MW, but the theoretical risk is there.

I don't think it is dangerous except I guess there is the remote risk of them digging in too far and breaking your water by mistake.

I had mine done last time, every week starting at 38 weeks. It didn't "work" right away as I didn't go into labor until 5 days past my EDD anyway. However there is a study showing that sweeping the membranes weekly starting at 38 weeks, results in fewer pregnancies going past term, even if it doesn't always start things up within a day like some people seem to think it will.

Personally, I will not have it done again unless I get past 41 weeks and am facing repeat c/s (I had a section last time so I can't safely be induced at 42 weeks). It is very uncomfortable.

No, if it doesn't work, you don't have to go back to the doctor. All it does is stimulate prostaglandin production. It is said to "work" if you are already pretty much ready to go, but if your baby and body are not ready, it doesn't help very much. I have read about people doing it themselves, but personally I have no idea how... I can't even reach my cervix right now most of the time. I think it would be pretty tough to reach up even higher and sweep around. But everyone has a different body, so I guess it's possible.

As far as water breaking early. I think most OB's will want you to come in fairly soon. But, allowing only twenty minutes for labor to start is really ultra conservative and sounds a little silly, I think. Some people live more than twenty minutes from the hospital. Everyone should know what to do for a prolapsed cord, though as that is a true emergency and need to call 911 and all of that.

[annakiss]

slightly crunchy answered really well.

If your water breaks, so long as there are no signs of infection (greenish discharge, fever) and you avoid infection by not sticking anything in your vagina or birth canal, including hands, then you can go a pretty long while so long as you're merely leaking as opposed to losing most of the water all at once. You will replinish your amniotic fluid supply to the baby, so drinking water is a good idea, of course. An MDC friend of mine went something like five days with water broken, four of those days at home.

I personally can't see sweeping one's membranes oneself as it's quite uncomfortable and for me, like slightly crunchy, I can't even find my cervix these days.

What sweeping the membranes does is release the bag of waters from the cervix by sweeping a finger around in the obviously already dilated cervix. It's basically stimulating the area to produce the prostaglandins that can help kickstart labor. I had it done 3 or 4 times with my first baby and it didn't work at all but was quite painful. Which is why I'm not doing ANYTHING to encourage labor this time around.

[MamaFae]

Like I said on crysmomofthree's post

Originally Posted by MamaFae

In my childbirth class at Andaluz Waterbirth Center (direct entry midwives btw) we watched a film about a woman whose water broke and she didn't go into labor for 8 days. She carefully monitored the baby and all of her vitals with the midwives in constant contact with her. Both baby and mother came out just fine.

But since you are unassisted you really need to know what to look for in case of signs of infection. I would suggest going to midwifery.org and seeing if you can find info there.

Also, membranes sweeps although pretty common are shunned in a lot of direct entry midwifery practices because of the envasivness of the procedure. Heck I am not even sure if my midwives will do it! Need to ask next week. Both my boys were born within 48 hours of my having my membranes swept. Of course that wasn't the only variable. I did have cranial sacral treatments for positioning, chiropractic adjustments and acupucnture with DS#2 and did Blue/black cohosh and nipple stim with DS#1.
To many variable to say exactly what got things going.

Blessings,
N~

[mightymoo]

I thought there were studies that showed an increased risk of infection if you were GBS+, but I can't find them so perhaps I was mistaken. It's common sense though that if you are GBS+ you are pushing the bacteria up and depositing on the membranes themselves - a place it doesn't usually get on its own, so it does increase your risk of infection.

I posted more info on the similar thread in I'm pregnant, but basically we (my midwife, myself and the OB we transferred to) believe that the membrane stripping is what caused my fever and infection last time necessitating a hospital transfer and induction (and I think what ultimately led to the c-section). As soon as we got to the hospital and gave the info to the doctor he mentioned this increased risk and I remember I read about it myself yet chose to go ahead anyway.

[Marlet]

Wow, thanks ladies! You all told me exactly what everything else wasn't! Now I'm not so confused on all that. That's what was bugging me.....lack of information made it hard to know what was being said etc. Thanks!

[Mama Bee]

Originally Posted by annakiss

and for me, like slightly crunchy, I can't even find my cervix these days.

Sorry, I just was just thinking... cervix, what cervix... think it must be gone for good. :LOL