membranes question

[IrelandsMama]

I'm wondering if a CP is able to tell if a womans membranes have been stripped for sure. Can you look and see for sure. What if a CP attempted to strip them but wasn't sure if they did the trick, is that possible? I don't know if this is a dumb question or not, so if it is sorry.

savannah

[Reha]

I'll take a swing at this.

I would say that there is no way to say after the fact if membranes were stripped or not. If it seems like the membranes weren't adhered to the uterus just behind the cervix, this could indeed be because of stripping, but it is also just as likely that it is her body's own work happening, getting ready for birth.

But, I would be really surprised for a woman to have no idea if her membranes were stripped. It is not comfortable at all (painful is how most women describe it), and takes longer than a quick dilation check.

[IrelandsMama]

Hmmmm thanks for the insight. This is just a question I came up with after looking back at my last pregnancy.... things that didn't add up to me. My midwife attempted to strip my membranes but said she didn't know if her fingers were long enough and that she didn't think they were even there still. Does that happen sometimes... do midwives try to strip and sometimes they don't know if they really did anything? I don't remember it being real uncomfortable though..... thats weird. But maybe I'm just not bugged easy by that type of thing. I don't think much of paps either and never bleed.

If I had no membranes that the midwife could verify and had tried to strip them by lets say week 42 and I still didn't go into labor by a week later, would that seem odd?

sav

[onlyboys]

Well, your membranes didn't go anywhere. What she likely meant (thought please correct me if I am wrong, midwives) is that she either couldn't reach inside your cervix to strip them or that she couldn't find them, which would be odd, really.

From what I understand about stripping membranes, it's really just separating the bag from the cervix. Since your bag can't really go anywhere, it would be difficult for them to go away.

[Reha]

When you strip membranes, you usually feel this sort of popping where you are breaking the adhesions between the bag and the uterus. Sometimes, if the cervix is already thinned out and dilated a bit, there won't be any 'popping' felt because the bag has already begun to pull away from the cervix. Maybe that is what she meant whens he said she wasn't sure if she did anything?

But, even when you feel that popping and you get a bit of bloody shown on your examining finger (signs that it was a successful stripping usually), the mama could still not go into labor. Stripping membranes is not a reliable way to get labor started.