My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Pregnancy

induction experiences please?

10 replies

4littleones · 23/06/2014 14:41

I am 38 weeks today and will be induced in the next week due to gestational diabetes and severe back pain.

This is baby number 4 but all others have gone into labour naturally at around 41 weeks. although the first birth was sped up with the drip.

can I refuse to have my waters broken if they can use gel etc instead?

OP posts:
Mummymidwife87 · 23/06/2014 17:02

Your cervix will be assessed, if it is deemed very favourable, this may require avoiding the prostaglandin and going straight in for breaking waters. It's normally if you have a bishop score above 7 go straight for ARM, which would require, soft, central cervix, thinning, 3+cm dilated and a head lowish.
What are your concerns re. Breaking waters?

4littleones · 24/06/2014 00:34

thanks for the reply. maybe breaking the waters isn't as bad as I think but just have it in my head that it's much more harsh for the baby? A lot of Mums i know who have had their waters broken said it got very very intense very quickly. I'm used to very slow and long labours.

The registrar at my last appointment said that on Thursday they will check my cervix and if it's Ready then they will induce me but If not then just give me a sweep. He seemed to be talking about going for breaking waters.
The midwife has since called and said I'm booked for induction on Monday. she said they will do a sweep first. Then gel and then possibly waters after that. so I'm a bit confused about it all.

Sad

OP posts:
MoominKoalaAndMiniMoom · 24/06/2014 00:48

Hi! I was induced at 37 weeks due to high blood pressure, in April.

I went in on the Sunday, was kept in overnight due to blood pressure. On the Monday, the doctors decided to induce me.
6am Tuesday morning, I was examined, had a sweep, and the first Propess was inserted. By about lunchtime I was having mild cramps. This was then taken out at 6pm, and a new one was put in.
6am Wednesday morning I was examined, was now 1-2cm dilated, Propess taken out and a Prostin tablet was put in. Spent the day walking around and bouncing on a birthing ball. By 12pm I was ready to have my waters broken as they showed no sign of going by themselves, but there was no room on the labour ward for me.
Spent that night having mild to moderate cramps and a lot of discharge, mucus plug went as well as some other discharge, but I didn't mention it to them (this is where I will say, if you do get discharge, get them to check it!!)
By 12pm the next day there was a bed ready on the labour ward. Just before I went, I had to call the midwife to the loo because there was an odd colour on the pad in my pants, they thought it was meconium and took me straight through to labour ward. That's where they found out my hind waters had already gone, they broke my waters, got me on the drip to speed things up because they had no idea how long my hind waters had been leaking, and away we went. They weren't going to examine me for ages, the midwife clocked off her shift and expected to see me still there in the morning.
The drip was amazing; it went in at about 4pm and was increased every half an hour. The contractions sped up and were pretty intense but I have nothing to compare it against as DD is my first, but it was neither unbearable nor more intense than I imagined labour would be. I got through it at first with paracetamol and staying as active as possible (I was still able to get up and move about until they had to put a clip on DD's head because she was too low for the heartbeat monitor). I then had some diamorphine into my leg, which did nothing for the pain but helped me sleep in between contractions, and gas and air which got me through the contractions themselves. I could still feel everything though, which was great.
By 11pm they were still expecting me to be far away from any action happening, and were starting to discuss a c-section just because I didn't seem to be progressing, when I told them I needed to poo. They told me to poo, I told them it was stuck, so they examined me, and found out I was 10cm dilated and the head was starting to come out Grin best feeling in the world! The drip is fantastic.
So three pushes later and DD was born. It was an amazing experience; I felt in control and aware of everything at all times, they checked with me before they did anything, there was no pressure to do it without pain relief but also no pressure to have an epidural - I know a lot of people get an epidural as soon as the drip goes in, but really I didn't feel I needed one, not even at the pushing.

Take plenty of reading material, a tablet if you have one, etc - the wait to be at a stage where they can get you to labour ward can be long, or it can be done in the blink of an eye!
Oh and don't worry about having your waters broken. I was offered gas and air but just wanted them to get it out of the way, and it felt just like a normal examination, followed by peeing myself without any effort to do so. It's a warm feeling and a bit weird, but wasn't painful in my experience.

Sorry about the essay... the basic gist of my post is that it was a great birth, I loved it!

AnythingNotEverything · 24/06/2014 01:01

I went to be induced and was found to already be 4cm dilated (DC2). Had ARM, contractions started within two hours, baby born within 6 hours. Reasonably swift progress but manageable on gas and air despite a big baby.

I suspect as your body knows what to do it might be a bit quicker than waiting for nature to take it's course, but for me it wasn't quick in a bad way at all.

4littleones · 24/06/2014 01:22

sorry to sound thick but what's ARM?

Thank you all for the replies. its such a mind field of different experiences! I am so confused about what is going to happen.

when I go to my appointment on Thursday - do I bring my bags etc? I'm not booked for the induction til Monday but the doctor said he may induce me on Thursday if my cervix is favourable at my appointment. Confused

I have 3 young children (youngest is 1) to think about and plan childcare around. I thought the plus side to being induced would be the ease of childcare plans. Hmm

OP posts:
MoominKoalaAndMiniMoom · 24/06/2014 10:24

ARM is Artificial Rupture of Membranes; it's what they'll call breaking your waters.

4littleones · 24/06/2014 14:33

ah okay. I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all. Just wish I knew if I am being induced this week or not as I have other kids etc to plan around. Sad

OP posts:
AnythingNotEverything · 24/06/2014 15:55

If you go in on Thursday and he wants to induce you, unless the baby or you are in danger if you want, tell him/her no! They can't induce you without your consent.

AnythingNotEverything · 24/06/2014 15:56

Sorry. Just saw the GD. You can probably negotiate induction on Friday at the very least, unless they really really need to get things moving for baby's safety.

4littleones · 24/06/2014 19:32

it's not that I don't want to be induced. far from it really as I'm living in constant agony at the moment. Just wish I knew where I stood and what to expect. The same doctor told me I can't have a sweep before Thursday to try and avoid induction entirely. His reason being that he would still need to examine me on Thursday. how that's even a reason I do not know.

OP posts:
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.