If you are at or past your due date, you may be offered a membrane sweep. And this is a procedure where we try to naturally induce labor. This is where your provider will wear a glove, and with a gloved finger, go through the cervix, which has to be partially dilated, in order to separate the amniotic sac from the uterus.

So I have this orange here. We're going to pretend that the skin of the orange is the uterus or the uterine cavity. And inside the cavity is the amniotic sac, which is the orange itself, and the amniotic sac is what contains the baby. During a membrane sweep, the provider will place their finger through the cervix and just kind of separate it gently like this. And by doing this, typically it will release some chemicals that may help to kickstart labor.

Luckily, the risk of complications are really low. The pros of doing a membrane sweep is that you can go into labor spontaneously. So you're going into labor naturally without the need of any sort of medical intervention after that.

After the procedure, you may be kept in the room for additional monitoring to make sure that there are no complications, but not every clinic does this. You might just go home right after and wait to see if labor starts.

What you might experience after the procedure really depends from person to person. You might experience a little bit of pelvic pressure or some spotting. The spotting happens because the cervix is really fragile as you are further into the pregnancy. But if you are experiencing any intense abdominal pain or vaginal bleeding, or even leakage of fluid where you think maybe you broke your water, it's really important to call your provider and let them know.

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