exactly what is this?

nillian10

stripping of the membranes?
I've seen the phrase tossed around the website often, here & on natural birth..but can't quite understand the meaning.

Also, is it very common to do if planning a VBAC? What are the success rates? Well, not "success rates" but the actuality of it working to go into labor on your own?

Just wondering.. Getting my stuff together so i can actually be an ADVOCATE for myself & my birth.

 TIA ladies!

Geekchick921

It's when your doctor or midwife crams their hand up there and uses their finger to gentle separate the outside of the amniotic sac to the inside of the cervix and bottom of your uterus.  It releases hormones and can help initiate labor and I think stimulate prostaglandin production.  I asked my OB to do it at my last appointment before Sarah was born.  It didn't help, but it was one of the strangest sensations of my entire life.  His whole hand was pretty much up there and it felt like ALL of my internal organs were being shoved up into my chest.

I kinda picture it like when you pop the cap off an almost empty shampoo bottle and stick your finger in the hole and rotate the bottle to try and scrape the last of the goop out.  You are the bottle and it's the doctor/MW's finger.

nillian10

Geekchick921:

It's when your doctor or midwife crams their hand up there and uses their finger to gentle separate the outside of the amniotic sac to the inside of the cervix and bottom of your uterus.  It releases hormones and can help initiate labor and I think stimulate prostaglandin production.  I asked my OB to do it at my last appointment before Sarah was born.  It didn't help, but it was one of the strangest sensations of my entire life.  His whole hand was pretty much up there and it felt like ALL of my internal organs were being shoved up into my chest.

I kinda picture it like when you pop the cap off an almost empty shampoo bottle and stick your finger in the hole and rotate the bottle to try and scrape the last of the goop out.  You are the bottle and it's the doctor/MW's finger.

interesting picture. does it make your water break? or just release the hormones?

Geekchick921

It's not supposed to, just release hormones. 

HikerBride07

The shampoo bottle is a good example of the "sweeping".  Another thing to mention is it can't be done unless you've dilated enough for them to get a finger up there to sweep.  I was 2cm and 40 weeks when they did it for the first time with my DD.  It was very, very uncomfortable bordering on painful.  They have to put their hand pretty far up to get in there. There are varying levels of "success" in trying it.  It didn't do anything for me except make me crampy and bleed.  I wouldn't even be thinking of having it done this time if I wasn't given a strict timeline of going into spontaneous labor on my own or having to have another c/s.

babyike

I had my membranes swept with both DD and DS.  WIth DD, it was done at 39 weeks, and my water broke early (before active labor had begun) and I ended up with a c/s after 24 hours of ruptured membranes.  With DS it wasn't done until 41 weeks, after 10 days of prodromal labor.  I was in active labor the next morning, and my water didn't break until I was pushing.  I only recommend it as a "last resort" before other interventions and only when you've gone past your due date.  It will only help "kick start" your labor if your body is ready.  HTH.

CaptainObnoxious

A drunken midget with a bit o' cheese