Stripping Membranes

kayci · April 2011

Holy OW. Last Monday, I was dilated to one, 50% effaced. Today, same stats "with a little wiggle room" she said. Doctor stripped my membranes, and holy hell... that hurt a lot more than I thought it would.

I had to run to the grocery store after my appointment, and I had a few strong cramps that would stop me in my tracks and make me bend over in pain. I'm home now, lying on the couch. I have a constant dull ache in my lower abdomen, lower back, hips and legs.

What's a normal amount of spotting? I have about as much as a regular to light period. It was brown at first, bright red now.

Has anyone else had this done? Did it help you go into labor sooner, or is all this pain and discomfort for nothing?

MrsRoy07 · April 2011

The blood is bright red? My doc said some spotting is normal, but it kind of sounds like you have more than spotting... I had it done yesterday at around 2:45 and the spotting was gone this morning- and I lost my mucus plug. I don't know, you might want to call your doc's just to check and make sure that much blood is ok, and the fact that's bright red. Mine was more pinkish.

And yea, it did hurt like crazy!! I'm hoping it did something, I definitely am having cramping today so hopefully it'll turn into contractions soon.

yesthisiskim · April 2011

When you have your membranes stripped your supposed to bleed more than you would after a normal internal. When mine were stripped I had a very light amount of bright red blood on my panty liner for the rest of the day. It's done to jump start labor (which didn't work for me) and with the cramps your feeling, maybe it worked?! Yay!

jackiemk83 · April 2011

Mine were stripped twice and I still was induced and didn't have the little guy until about 4 days after the first stripping. I was on bed rest right after it was done so my pain wasn't as bad as yours sounds, but it was very achy and tender right up until I delivered. Also, I spotted all four days and had nurses at the hospital check to tell me it was normal...so yeah it was more than I thought it would be but was told it was normal. My membranes were stripped at only 36 weeks 3 days, as a means to get labor going because of severe pre-e, so maybe since you are further along you will gets some labor out of it. My contractions from the stripping never led to anything productive......had I not been getting induced I would have declined the procedure, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try....hope you get some relief...or at least some contractions that mean something.

emmyann52 · April 2011

You should be walking around and moving like crazy! I had mine stripped and my midwife said if you get going around this will help you go into labor much quicker!

I have been walking like crazy since and my contractions seem to be getting stronger as they are happening!

Good luck!

I also bleed over night and the next day it was like that old period blood at which point I lost my mucus plug.

kayci · April 2011

emmyann... duh, I hadn't thought of that! Here I'm lying down to relieve the pain, when maybe I should be keeping it going, haha

Alright, I'm getting up... if anything progresses, I'll let you all know!

brunoshort · April 2011

Mine were stripped yesterday afternoon. I had clots at first and eventually this morning it was barely pinkish to nothing at all. It hasn't helped with labor yet, but I am/was .5 cm dilated and about 30% effaced. I'm not really expecting anything major to happen, but if it moves things along, it's worth it to me.

Stripping Membranes

Re: Stripping Membranes

Choose Another Board

Search Boards