Feeling upset about impending induction at 42 weeks

[dancingbee]

I'm 11 days overdue today and back from the midwife after having a failed sweep. She told me that my cervix is far too far back and still hard and she wasn't able to do much with it. Said it's made zero progress since the sweep I had done on Friday at 41 weeks. Midwife told me she thinks it's highly unlikely baby is going to come of it's own accord today or tomorrow and I should mentally prepare myself for induction booked for Friday when I'll be 42 weeks.

I walked out of the appointment and immediately burst into tears. I know in the grand scheme of things it's not the end of the world as long as baby comes out healthy, but I am so frustrated by my body and that induction now seems inevitable.

I was really hoping for a calm labour at home with just me and my DH and am now terrified of sitting around on a ward waiting for the pain to kick in. Feels so clinical and not at all private. So many people have told me horror stories of their inductions which is stressing me out and I think I'm getting myself worked up.

Does anyone have a good experience of being induced at 42 weeks?

[thismeansnothing]

Decline induction then and go for regular monitoring of that's what you'd prefer?

Similarly I had three failed sweeps as cervix wasn't favourable, the last being when I was 42weeks. I went into labour naturally at 42+3.

Obviously do your research and do what you feels righted know when to call it a day but I felt this country is very gung ho at intervening at getting babies out when in some European counctries you aren't overdue till you get to 42 weeks.

[Sprintfinish]

I had similar feelings about induction and my cervix was much like yours. I was induced at 40+1 due to growth concerns.

I had pessary at 1pm then after monitoring went for a walk around hospital. I was due second pessary at 7pm but trace was showing regular contractions/tightenings and baby's heartbeat was up and down with them. Ended up getting moved to labour ward at 10:30 so they could do 2nd pessary under observation of Dr. Before they got a chance my waters broke at 11pm and natural labour followed. I used my tens machine and g&a. Not the nightmare, painful induction I had imagined at all!

I searched these pages for positive induction stories and found more than I expected so please don't worry. Good luck, hope all goes well x

[bakingcupcakes]

I don't have experience of induction because I refused it. The hospital was busy (they cancelled 3 times) initially and when i did go in they didn't have enough staff to continue with the already started inductions. In my over anxious state I felt this was unsafe and refused to stay. I went for monitoring instead and baby came at 42+1 with no problems. The hospital were trying to induce me from 10 days over.

If you aren't happy with the induction plan you can refuse. I don't know if I would risk a home birth so overdue though just in case the baby was too big.

[ChrisjenAvasarala]

I wish I'd refused. I wa sure of my dates but at scans I was told baby was further along than I said. But I was sure. So when they induced me at 42 weeks, I was certain I wasn't even 39 weeks. DS was born and they had to call in an emergency team to get him breathing and then he has to be kept in the hot bed thing on oxygen. Couldn't keep his own oxygen levels or temperature up on his own.

I know babies born at 39 weeks would normally be fine, but I think he wasn't because he wasn't ready to come out and they forced it.

[HumpHumpWhale]

I was induced at 42 weeks, and it was fine. I had the pessary, waters broke 4 hours later, had a water birth and only gas and air, which was what I wanted. He was 10lbs 1, though, so I'm glad I didn't go much longer!

[RickyGold]

I got induced at 42 weeks, pessary about 9.30am, baby born 11.40am, no other interventions, no stitches.

[neddle]

Is this your first baby?

I was induced with my first as I was post dates and didn’t know any better, she was born at 41+6.
My others were born spontaneously at 41+1 (twice), 42 and 40+5. I averaged 10 days over.
My cycles are longer than the 28 days they base your pregnancy on, so that also affected my babies’ gestations.

If you’re happy to wait and have monitoring if necessary, then it’s up to you. Don’t be pressured into induction if it’s not what you want.

[TheProvincialLady]

I declined induction at 42 weeks, saw the consultant who was happy for me to go another week as long as I understood the risk. As it happens DS was an extremely active baby so I always knew he was ok in there and the monitoring backed me up. He came at 42+6. I was due to go in the next morning for induction but he came - grudgingly - of his own accord. I didn’t have a very nice time of it and was extremely ill after. DS was fine.

What I’m saying is that I chose to delay induction and had a natural start to labour but it still went very badly for me and ended with the usual 46 men staring at my chuff. I know some women who had inductions that went really well (mostly they had epidurals). There are no guarantees either way but you’re entitled to make your own informed choice so don’t feel that ‘policy’ overrides that. It doesn’t. You might benefit from doing some research into the risk of delaying induction and having a chat with your own midwife and consultant. I was surprised at how supportive mine were. I was 31 and I’m very good health/very low risk though so that would have been a factor. Good luck!

[dancingbee]

Yes it's my first baby.
I know there is the option to decline (even though the midwife didn't actually say this and instead went ahead and booked the date as if it was a requirement). I'm certain that the dates are correct and I have very regular 28/29 day cycles so know there's no leeway there. Definitely 42 weeks. Tbh I'm not sure I can take the mental torture of sitting around and waiting much longer so will take the induction, I'm just scared of the process.

It's good to hear some have had fairly short labours without lots of intervention. Everyone I know that's been induced has said how awful they had it and how stats show you're more likely to end up with intervention and complications which is scary to think about. I feel like months of practicing hypnobirthing and thinking about a calm start to labour has gone out the window (though I know birth plans often do!) and I'm feeling scared of sitting around waiting with other women also lying there in pain.

Also worried about how big baby is getting! The midwife thinks my bump has grown 2cm since Friday! Think I'm imagining the worst with a ginormous baby and loads of intervention being needed. It's good to hear some people have had a positive induction experience.

[MarieKondo]

Ahhh! Poor you, I’ve been in your shoes and it’s so hard. I was told that I would have to be induced or risk fetal death after my waters broke and no contractions started. If I’d had the power of foresight, I would have worried less and just gone for the induction.

I waited 3 days for contractions to get going but eventually I was so exhausted with the back and forth trips that I just went for induction. It was my second birth and I had been aiming for another lovely birth centre water birth like I’d had with number 1.
It was more painful and a lot quicker - no lies - and you will need to be really strong to cope as contractions come thick and fast compared to a totally natural birth. But I made it work for me, I took little electric tea lights in and found a Swiss ball and an unused dark room to bounce in while mooing and having DH rub my back. Pain ramped up quickly and I went into a shower with DH next to me. Did an hour or so in the shower with strong contractions - amazing natural pain relief that’s totally available to you on the ward. They wanted to put a cannula in my arm but I refused - had to sign some additional paperwork saying that I understood the risks which I was happy to do so I could stay mobile. When the time to push came, they moved me to a delivery suite and I stayed mobile. I explained that I didn’t want pain relief and didn’t want to lie down so they raised the bed and I used it to lean on, then eventually hopped on the bed and gave birth on all fours. Not very glam but apart from induction, I got the intervention free birth I’d been hoping for. I also have 2 close friends who were induced but needed no other intervention so it’s totally possible. Sorry! This has turned into an essay but my point is...the NCT and others often try to sell you the idea that any intervention / pain relief is a direct line to an emergency c-section but it really doesn’t have to be. You just need to find way to work with the parameters you’re given. Best of luck.

[TruffleShuffles]

I had an induction at 41+4 and I had no complications at all and needed no intervention during labour. It also happened pretty quickly and it was all over in under 5 hours.

It was painful and I ended up with no pain relief at all, not even gas and air as everything happened so quickly and took everyone by surprise but it was still manageable. I also recovered really quickly and didn’t tear so overall I had a pretty positive experience with my induction.

[RainyAfternoon]

Two inductions (one due to PROM, one because of my age and I didn’t argue as my DH was home on leave so it suited me), one natural. Natural had problems... other two okay. In fact the second was a dream (as far as childbirth goes!)
The worst thing is waiting around. First time I didn’t have much with me and got fidgety with all the waiting. Second time I was prepared and packed accordingly. Nurses thought I was hilarious as I got out my iPad, knitting, work laptop, magazines... but I felt a bit smug as I ended up with another long wait for the birthing room...

[Limpshade]

I had an induction on my due date as I had GD. I won't lie, it was a long process (2 full days), but actually although I wasn't what I had envisioned my labour to be, it was fine. I only really had 2-3 very painful hours on the second day and then after a bad reaction to gas and air, I was advised to have an epidural - after that it was plain sailing I have very good memories of the second night - the night before the baby was born. I couldn't sleep and ended up having a fantastic conversation with my midwife in the witching hours just before dawn. I ended up having a ventouse delivery that morning. Please don't be upset - having an induction is not always the awful experience some make it out to be.

Hopefully yours will be quicker than mine! I have had two inductions now and the second one was done and dusted in five hours I dropped the older one to nursery and came home not longer after she did!

[NoParticularPattern]

You don’t have to have the induction at all. In fact if you’re not “favourable” I’d strongly suggest you give it a little longer and a couple more sweeps before you do. I didn’t want to be induced with DD but I know only too well how your feelings change towards the end. I had a sweep at 41 weeks too but I was favourable and that’s why I booked induction. If I hadn’t have been I’d have given it another couple of sweeps to see if there was any progress. Because I was favourable I only required the pessary to start me off and after that point it was the same as any other spontaneous labour. DD was born just over 12 hours after the pessary was placed. I spent hours marching up and down the fields and bouncing on my ball to absolutely no avail and I was miserable by the end so I’m glad I did it, but I wouldn’t want induction again unless I was favourable and it looked like it wouldn’t take long.

[Isthisit01]

I was induced at 42 weeks. I really didn't want an induction either for the same reason. I wanted to be at home for the initial part of labour.

However, it was actually ok and they gave me codine and pethadine which I couldn't have had at home. I had pessary at 8am. I was 4cm by 7pm went up to the labour ward at 10pm and gave birth with just gas and air at 1040pm.

I think inductions are alot different if your overdue. I was induced with first at 36 weeks and it was a much different experience.

Oh I was also going to reject induction but I'm glad I didn't as baby did a poo during the labour.

[ZogTheOrangeDragon]

An induction might be fine or it might be painful. Likewise with any form of labour. However, you are looking at it lasting a couple of days or so at most.

Ignoring doctors’ advice and going over your due date selfishly puts your baby at risk. There is a reason why this country has such high stillbirth rates compared to many others.

[SoyDora]

I was induced last week at 41+4. I intended to decline it and go for regular monitoring but I’d been having ‘false labour’ every night for a week and was absolutely exhausted, and couldn’t take any more. Like you, my cervix was still posterior and hard.
I had the pessary and then could go home (not all hospitals allow this). Went back the next morning to be examined and it hadn’t done much. Went off for the day walking around etc, and went back that evening to be examined again. I was 3cms dilated by that point, so they tried to break my waters but failed. 5 mins later contractions started (the examination kicked them off), and 5 hours later baby was born with gas and air and no interventions at all.

[Mouse007]

I had planned for a water birth and ended up being induced as waters had broken and contractions were irregular. I was really upset by this but actually the induced labour was much better than I expected. He was out in less than 3 hours and I had no stitches or epidural.

[dancingbee]

Thanks all. It's good to hear different experiences. Especially those who didn't end up needing lots of intervention like people have told me is likely to happen.

Having looked it up further I have decided not to decline the induction and go any further. I'm not willing to wait and see how much longer my body might need.

Still apprehensive about the initial sitting around and waiting part on a ward with other women though. Especially as some people seem to say their induction takes days and others say hours. Hard to know what to expect (I know labour is very unpredictable anyway!)

For those that were induced, did you have your DH or someone with you whilst you were waiting for things to get going? Or is this a waste of a day's leave because you're guaranteed to have a lot of waiting?
I have to be there at 8am but don't know whether it's best for him to work and save the day if I'm likely to be sitting around waiting for ages.

[ChrisjenAvasarala]

At my hospital, they weren't allowed to wait. Just allowed to get you settled into the bed and say bye. Then once things get going, they'd be called. You need to speak with your own hospital to ask what their rules are, but honestly you'd be better off alone so you can try and sleep.

[SoyDora]

I was in a room on my own for the whole thing, it was a room with only two beds anyway but I was lucky not to have a companion! My hospital lets you go home after the pessary is inserted but on the second day I wanted to stay in as all the going backwards and forwards was depressing me and confusing my 5 and 3 year olds who were expecting a baby to come home with me! Even when I was in I was allowed to wander the hospital, so did lots of walking and went to Costa etc. Then in the afternoon I read a book, until things kicked off at 7pm that night.
DH came in with me in the morning but I sent him home in the afternoon so he could relieve my mum from childcare for a few hours and see the older DC. There was nothing he could do at the hospital really. He came back at 6 and labour started properly at 7.

[HellsBellsAndBatteredBananas]

I was induced twice. My first, I went in at 42 weeks and I was 2cm dilated. They broke my waters about 11.30 and after some sketchy contractions they put a oxytocin drip in.....after that it was text book and my daughter was born at 5.30 in the evening. No stitches, very easy.

Second induction was baby 3 at 41 weeks. Cervix wasn't effaced at all and I had several loads of the gel inserted. 36 hours later I had my waters broke and he was born 4 hours later. Again, very easy, no stitches and minimal fuss.

[Mouse007]

It might depend on the type of induction you have. I was on the drip rather than pessary. I was already 4cm dilated so they said the pessary wasn't appropriate for me. I was in a room on my own and my husband was allowed to stay with me. I did say to him he should go home and save a day's leave but I was glad to have him there as a distraction.

We went in at 9am, the induction started at 11am, labour started at 3pm and baby was out 5.45pm with no interventions.

[Isthisit01]

My dh left me and came back when things really kicked off. Mainly because I told him to leave, he hates hanging around and his whinging and moaning does my head in.

Other people's DHs stayed.

I was on a ward until I'm established labour then went into a private room.