Sweep vs being induced

[May37]

Hi. So due Sunday midwife has offered me sweep or I'm bring induced Monday. Not sure what will be easiest. Any thoughts?

[franathy]

Are you overdue? Sweeps generally only work if baby is ready/nearly ready to come so you could end up being induced anyway x P.S. I was induced and it wasn't even 10% as bad as I'd expected x

[May37 in reply to franathy]

Due Sunday so not overdue yet

[Poectic123]

Hey Hun,

I had the sweep three times and I did not help me at all. Some women it helps and others it doesn’t, I genuinely depends on your body and your pregnancy. I was 6 days over and was not induced. Maybe the inducing might be best to ensure less pressure. Hope this helps, wishing you a healthy labour when it arrives x

[Bigbaby]

Don't have sweep just let nature takes it course

[Claireeeeeeeeeeeee]

Is there a reason you will be induced so soon after due date? In my area if baby and mum are fine you arent induced till 2 weeks after the due date. Sweeps are hoping to get your body to start labour itself so will be a normal labour were as an induction will use chemicals to start labour which people comment can cause a shorter and more intense labour. It's really up to you but remember you can ask your midwife why.

[Pregnancynumber1]

Hi

Normally you only get a sweep if your overdue are you overdue? I had a sweep twice and didn’t work so was induced anyway, is this your first baby?

[Natasha213]

Hay

I was induced and had to have a sweep as well to speed things up. It can be a little painful and uncomfortable but it's quite quick. By having the sweep it helped things progress quicker for a while but then things slowed down again so I needed the induction drip which moved things on extremely quick!!

If your due in a few days I would try the sweep as its more natural, the induction forces your body x

[GM99]

I had a sweep the day after my due date- it literally did nothing and was quite painful as it is just someone sticking their hand up you to stimulate the membrane and trying to get you to go into labour. I think generally they don’t tend to be that effective, as you can’t tell whether you were going to go into labour naturally anyway when you are already overdue. An induction is more of a medically motivated pathway that will end up in you in labour, even if you have to try different methods to get there. I was booked in for an induction but actually went into labour the day before naturally- just because you’re overdue doesn’t mean you won’t still go into labour naturally as due dates aren’t an exact science either! Good luck! x

[May37]

Thanks everyone. I think I will try sweep. If baby does not come tomorrow

[Suzannah1985 in reply to May37]

Hi May,

I had a sweep at 38+5 as I had gestational diabetes and so wasn’t going to be allowed to go past my due date and was due to be induced at 39+5.

It was uncomfortable but over very quickly and I went into labour later that evening. I was apparently 2cm dilated at the time of the sweep, so maybe baby was on his exit plan anyway, but I really wanted to avoid being induced so thought it was worth a shot.

Good luck xxx

[Noreen82]

I had a sweep when I was a week overdue and found it quite painful! On the positive side though, my water broke 2 hours later and my baby arrived within 24 hours of having the sweep. I’ve been induced in a previous pregnancy too and would definitely prefer a sweep over induction. Good luck ! x x

[amazed]

As a doula, I would encourage my Mums-to-be not to do anything unless there's a good medical reason to do so. Your baby will come when it's ready and and intervention usually leads to further interventions. The AVERAGE length of pregnancy is 41 weeks so half of babies take even longer to be ready.

It's such a delicate balance between toy and your baby's bodies as it chooses the right time to enter this world.

Although it is often easier for medical professionals to keep you to a schedule, it's worth remembering that (I'm assuming) you're not ill, you're just pregnant, which is an entirely natural phenomenon and giving birth is something which, as a species, we've proved ourselves to be remarkably good at (7billion of us, and all😉).

If you were hoping for a natural birth then either of these interventions will make that so much less likely and natural unmedicated births produce better outcomes for Mums and babies.

There is a question of placental function decreasing after a longer pregnancy but you can have daily scans after you're 14 days overdue and it's always your choice about whether to accept an induction or a sweep. But it might be with putting then of for another week...

What the midwife will do with a sweep is to try to trick your body/baby into thinking that it is unsafe to remain inside of you which may (or may not) push your body into labour earlier than it was ready.

The first stage of induction involves a pessary containing pig semen being put against your cervix but human semen will have the same affect so if you have a male partner and can bear the thought of it, then a bit of nooky might get things going? There's actually some evidence to suggest that ingesting it is even more effective but I'll just leave that there...

Anyway, if the pessary doesn't work then you'll be hooked up to a drip where you're given imitation oxytocin (the hormone of love which is very much involved in the process of giving birth) but it's hard to get the levels just right so it can make labour much more unpredictable, often speeding things up so much that contractions are less bearable and even with the epidural that often follows, baby will be having a hell of a ride inside...

It's always your decision about what happens to your body. A sweep is less invasive and if you're nearly ready for labour then it might just encourage it to start but then again, it might not...

[May37 in reply to amazed]

Thanks that is very helpful. They won't let me go over because I'm over 40 so I thought maybe sweep easier than being induced

[Sevy571 in reply to amazed]

I don't think the pessaries contain animal semen anymore, just synthetic versions of the hormones nowadays.

Thanks for your message, Amazed. I am of the opinion too that inducing straight after the due date is not always sound. Due dates are known to be very inaccurate and inducing could actually cause light preterm births.

Only 10% of babies are born on their due date! 80% are born between the week before and the week after (or something like that). That's a large time window!

If the medical team is worried because you are over 40, ask for the research. Sure, some risks increase, but by how much? From my personal research, it doesn't increase that much in absolute value. For example, maybe the risks doubles but if the initial risk of something was 0.001% then it only became 0.002%. Is that worth the procedure?

However the risk of medical intervention does increase a lot for sure with an induction and that's something that's totally preventable for better outcomes for both mother and baby. A healthy baby is NOT all that matters. Mum's experience and emotional health matter too.

"They won't let me..." is so disempowering an approach from medical teams. They should explain to you the real risks and you are free to choose whatever you want to do with your body and birth. But this phrase feels like you are being somewhat coerced or don't know you have a choice and a right to stand your ground. If this resonates with you, call them to talk about it. If your mind is made up to proceed, then it's totally your choice too!

I wish you all the best!

[May37 in reply to Sevy571]

Hi thank. Yes does feel a bit like there is no choice. Even my midwife has said she didnt think it was absolutely necessary.. But I think going overdue over 40 dies increase risk of still Birth.

[Sevy571 in reply to May37]

So here is what I could find for example: bbc.co.uk/news/health-21277369

"The data showed that at 39-40 weeks pregnant, women over 40 double their risk of stillbirth compared with women under 35 - two in 1,000 compared with one in 1,000."

"The authors calculated that an extra 550 women would have to be induced at 39 weeks in the UK each year to prevent one stillbirth.

"

"Inducing at 40 weeks could prevent seven stillbirths a year, if an extra 4,750 women were induced, they said."

The numbers on page 5 here as useful:

assets.nhs.uk/prod/document...

So these are the numbers.

It all boils down to how you feel about those particular numbers.

I also remember reading that you can refuse an induction and ask for daily monitoring instead. It must be in an NHS leaflet somewhere! Or ask your midwife.

But anyway - I'm not trying to convince you one way or the other. I think it's good to know the numbers and then to base our decision on them. Because it's your baby, your story, so whatever you choose to do, you have to be happy with the choice and feel in control throughout as much as possible. Birth is unpredictable enough to also feel pressured by staff to do things that will not affect them as it will you.

But even the decision process is a very personal one.

Personally I have a phobia around hospitals and I triple-check anything a doctor says. I have found there are many, many exaggerations around pregnancy and birth and that is what compelled me to answer to your message initially.

I trust you'll find the best decision for you <3

[May37]

Thanks all. Did anyone take paracetamol before procedure?

[Hidden]

I sure my midwife gave me a sweep whilst I was I labour (I was 2cm) and burst my waters it was painful did it whist contracting I nearly passed out but it did make my labour progress super fast had my baby in 2-3hrs