Stripping/Sweeping membranes?

[tmarieroberts]

I had this done when I was about 40 wks with my son. It hurt so bad! (I'm glad to hear it doesn't hurt most people.) It caused some bleeding and really bad cramps for a couple hours... then nothing. DS just didn't want to come out! I ended up being induced about a week later. IMO I don't think stripping the membranes really does anything unless the baby is already ready to come out.

[alexandme]

I had it done last time to try and avoid an induction. I had high blood pressure that wasn't going down even with bedrest so my doc tried stripping my membranes to get things going on their own over a weekend before doing an induction on monday. I was 39.5 weeks.
It was uncomfortable but not painful. I was crampy for the rest of the day. It did not start labor.
What they are actually doing is manually dislodging your mucous plug.

I don't think my family practice doc I had last time and the midwife I have now would not offer or consider doing it unless it was a case of trying to avoid an induction for a medical reason like before.

[Pea_inthepod]

Originally Posted by alexandme I had it done last time to try and avoid an induction. I had high blood pressure that wasn't going down even with bedrest so my doc tried stripping my membranes to get things going on their own over a weekend before doing an induction on monday. I was 39.5 weeks. It was uncomfortable but not painful. I was crampy for the rest of the day. It did not start labor. What they are actually doing is manually dislodging your mucous plug. I don't think my family practice doc I had last time and the midwife I have now would not offer or consider doing it unless it was a case of trying to avoid an induction for a medical reason like before.

well thats why we are trying this. I cant be induced because this will be a VBAC, so im trying everything else to try and 'induce' labor or get things going before I have to have a repeat c-section.

Sounds like it works about half the time....and if its going to do anything it tends to do stuff within the first couple days afterwards. I guess we will see, huh! Im not holding my breath or anything, but I will try anything to keep from having another c-section. If I have a 2nd section, i wont ever be able to have a vaginal with any of my future kids either

[bradleymama]

Its not effective, can be very painful (at the time and for sometime afterwards), increases your risk of infection AND can cause premature rupture of the bag of waters. There are lots of other things that are less invasive that you can do to try to get labor started

[Pea_inthepod]

Originally Posted by bradleymama Its not effective, can be very painful (at the time and for sometime afterwards), increases your risk of infection AND can cause premature rupture of the bag of waters. There are lots of other things that are less invasive that you can do to try to get labor started

im up to any suggestions