out let's give it a spin and see what we got to talk about today
okay today we are talking about stripping membranes i always think that stripping
their brain sounds kind of gross i just got to say it and when i explain it it
might seem kind of gross but it's a topic that often comes up usually near the end of pregnancy
some providers if they're going to have a conversation about stripping membranes that's when
it happens okay so first of all to the anatomy of what's going on with stripping membranes
now i have stripping membranes on this list it can also be referred to as sweeping membranes
so just know they're both the same things so what that means is the your care provider
does an exam so does a vaginal exam usually with two fingers into your vagina up to your cervix
now in order to strip or sweep membranes you have to be somewhat dilated so your cervix needs to be
somewhat opened and then what they will do is remove if this is your cervix the provider will
remove the membranes that are attached between the amniotic sac and the top of your cervix and so
um that's why there needs to be a little opening or a little dilation in the cervix in order to
um reach that part of where the sac and is on the cervix now you might be asking if you don't know
what does that mean like why would or why would one want to do that well what providers have found
that if you um sweep the membranes or strip the membranes sometimes that can sort of
I don't want to say trick your body into going labor but almost to induce labor a
natural method to induce labor sometimes can be stripping the membranes or sweeping the membranes
now um there's a few things to know about this don't um I really I don't want to
make it sound like that's a surefire way to go into labor to induce labor
because there are it is very often the case that it does not produce labor lead to actual labor
sometimes it can start some crampiness some contractions that eventually become
a labor pattern that turns into labor but sometimes it can cause some like uncomfortable
back pain and maybe an extended early phase of labor so it's not necessarily um the
the magic secret thing to do to go into labor into an effective labor pattern however if um if you
are looking for options to naturally induce labor and wanting to avoid maybe a medical induction
uh with um with a synthetic drug with synthetic drugs like cytotec or um cervidil or pitocin then
um you might want that option so it's definitely an option to talk about with your care provider
there are a few risks with sweeping the membranes the main one being that
the per your provider could accidentally rupture your membranes or break your water
and more information about water breaking is in the video that i will link to right here
but because um they are um you know touching the the membrane touching your sack of water sometimes
it is more rare that this happens but that could happen that the water can break your membranes can
rupture during a sweeping of your membranes and anytime you have a vaginal exam there
is the opportunity for infection though very low this is a low risk but it is a risk
that you could talk to your care provider about if you are wanting to know more about streaming
stripping or sweeping your membranes so it is a way to naturally induce labor
a method that is sometimes effective sometimes not and definitely comes with risk um the last thing
i want to mention is that if you are someone who you know that this is not something that you are
interested in make sure that if you have a vaginal exam in your late weeks of pregnancy like a 38 39
40 41 42 week of pregnancy if there if your provider is doing a vaginal exam if
you know that that's not something you want to do have your membranes swept or stripped
make sure that you let your provider know before they do the
the vaginal exam because they might um assume that you would like it done or um they might
not know your preferences so it's just good to communicate preferences and talk about options
with them and get their recommendations too so you can figure everything out if you found this
video helpful about sweeping the membranes please give it a like so that more people can find it and
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