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3rd Trimester
Tried to sweep membranes, now wondering whats happening down there?
Yesterday I had an ultrasound at the hospital for the second time to check how big baby is..well he's big! 
Went to my OB apt after ultrasound and when she saw the results she asked if I wanted her to sweep my membranes. Bring it on!!
So she did and it was painful, intense, tried to breathe. She said my cervix is fully closed but is softening. I had some spotting afterwards (very very minor, bright red), but since then I've been having brown discharge - (every time I pee, and after sex) but not leaking out.
Do you think this is my mucus plug? (it's brown) Or spotting from the sweep? I'm hoping that it got things started. Next week we're doing another membrane sweep again at my next apt, as well as I'm having acupuncture two days in a row to try and get things started. Hopefully these combined will get things moving along.
I want to know whats going on down there! And to keep some momentum..anyone else have experience with sweeping of the membranes?
Thanks!
C.
39weeks
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Tried to sweep membranes, now wondering whats happening down there?
The brown is spotting from the internal which is normal. If you were not dilated at all your OB would be unable to actually sweep, so it is likely caused by irritation of the cervix which is normal. I've had two membrane sweeps and had the same spotting, and then started losing my mucous plug which looks like snot and can be tinged red, brown, clear, yellow etc.
This. The mucus plug is comparable to snot (gross but true hence the word mucus.). The brown spotting is more than likely dried blood. How in the world did your OB sweep your memranes if your cervix is closed? To strip the membrane is to seperate the bag of water from the wall of the uterus and you can not reach the bag through a closed uterus. If you are not dialating and your cervix is not effaced you risk your water breaking and labor not progressing which would mean augmenting your labor with things such as pitocin (pit is not a fun drug). I would try to wait it out atleast until you are dialating and softening a bit further.
Well she couldn't actually sweep membranes, but was trying to open my cervix.
Today I'm having discharge that's blood tinged and "like snot" (mucus)...so I'm wondering if this is my plug.
Did anyone have any success with sweeping the membranes and it leading to labour?
It could very well be your mucus plug if your OB forcefully opened your cervix (I haven't heard of an OB doing this until now). Some women have reported that after stripping their membranes they went into labor a few hours later, few days later and some more than a week later. My OB has the mindset that if he sweeps the membranes and I go into labor, then I was probably going to go into labor anyways (I don't completely agree but i'm not the one with the doctorates). I would check with another OB about having them sweep your membranes when your cervix is not dialating on it's own. Also keep in mind weight estimates are only estimates and are not always (less often) accurate. Good luck and sending labor thoughts your way.