Remember, the more favorable your cervix, the more likely membrane sweeps are to work. This can determine how ‘ready’ your cervix is. The midwife or doctor separates your labia, inserts a gloved finger into your vagina and up to your cervix to feel for effacement and dilation. When you’re ready and have given your informed consent, you lie on your back with knees apart and ankles together. It doesn’t sound very glamorous, but membrane sweeping is similar to having a cervical check or a Pap smear. As with any labor induction method, however, the more favorable your cervix is, the more likely the method will be successful. Unlike having artificial oxytocin (Pitocin or Syntocinon) for induction, a membrane sweep doesn’t involve medication. If this process of ripening and softening of the cervix is already underway, membrane sweeping might be more effective at getting contractions started and established. During late pregnancy, everything hurts, so what’s one more ache to pay attention to? Often it’s only in hindsight you realize that it was probably your cervix getting ready for the main show. You might not notice or pay much attention to that low ache in your pelvis or lower back. Often this stage is already happening ‘behind the scenes’. They act on the cervix to soften and ripen it, which then encourages dilation in response to contractions. Sweeping the membranes is essentially stimulating your body to release prostaglandins. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about to ‘sweep a membrane’. Having said that, there might be a compelling need to get labor going, and if you’re trying to avoid more medical interventions, this could potentially help. And if your midwife is suggesting it … surely it’s alright?Īlthough it might sound like a natural option, remember anything that starts labor before it begins on its own is intervening with the natural process. Your healthcare provider might even have suggested having a sweep as a way of making labor start ‘naturally’. Or perhaps you’re uncomfortable and tempted to try to get things moving along. Maybe your estimated due date has come and gone. If you consider a labor induction with a membrane sweep, you’re probably feeling very pregnant.
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