waving goodbye to my homebirth and going in tomorrow to be induced :( can you please tell me your induction stories.

[iliketosleep]

I'm quite scared as this is all new to me after 3 normal labour/births. Really wanted a 2nd homebirth too

Is it a long process etc?

TIA

xxx

[AvenaLife]

I was induced. Get them to give you some pain relief BEFORE they start as it's 0-100 in 3 minutes and it can be so painful.
I was given a pessary at 9am, ds was delivered at 8:12pm. The pessary worked almost straight away and I was in alot of pain because the natural pain relief you have didn't have time to kick in. Within 30 minutes my BP had shot up to 160/120 so it got a bit scary. They broke my waters at 4pm.

I hope this helps. Remember, pain relief BEFORE the pessary!

[iliketosleep]

Really



I was only going to have gas and air

[iliketosleep]

I doubt it though hatrick, she seems very comfy in there

[AvenaLife]

It depends on your wants and pain threashold. If you can remember the pain of the third stage, when the little darling is on it's way out, it's like that all the time. One minute no pain, a few minutes later wham!

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

i was induced with dd2 i had a pessary at about 5pm and dh was called to the hospital at about 1am dd2 eventually born at 10:30am much quicker than dd1 who certainly knew how to take her time.

the contractions were the same and she came out quicker so that bit was a bit more intense but not loads worse. dont panic you will be fine

[iliketosleep]

With dd2 and ds i was in established labour for around 4-5 hours so was hoping it would pretty much be the same this time round, but i suppose I was having niggles throughout the day so had more time.

I'm really scared

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

i am the biggest whip ever when it comes to childbirth!! i still am actually if i ever have anymore i will ahve an epidural the minute i have a niggle because they told me it was too late the last two times!! and i survived being induced it was no worse than with dd1 just quicker

[thumbwitch]

not sure if I'm going to help then because I was induced with my first baby and have no idea of what it would be like without induction - but anyway:
Went in at night, was checked with monitor and was having tiny contractions - had first pessary around 9:30pm, told to walk around for an hour as cervix was nowhere near ready. NOthing much. Next morning, another check and another pessary at 8am. walk around. at about 3pm, another check - cervix now 2cm dilated, no real painful contractions at this point but started to feel nauseous. Had another pessary. This one seemed to do the trick - or perhaps it was the cumulative effort of all 3. Slow build up; by 9pm I begged to go up to labour ward; they checked me at 11:30pm, cervix back to 1cm. Begging for pain relief by now. They were going to check me again after another 4 hours at which point the syntocin drip would be employed if I wasn't progressing.
Luckily, at about 1:30am, stage 2 labour kicked in (I didn't really realise what it was, just new the pain level had gone up a LOT) and DS was born at 2:03am.

I was warned the syntocin drip brings on the contractions hard and fast but luckily I didn't get to experience it. My MW also said that sometimes the dilation can go like that in an induction - i.e. be only 1-2cm dilated and then suddenly go to full dilation in ~1 hour.

HTH.and Good Luck!!

[AvenaLife]

oh, don't be really scared. It's bearable, honestly it really is. My friend and I spent the whole time trying to get the medical student to go to the pub for us and get some brandy so it couldn't have been that bad. Keep your options open as far as the pain relief goes.

I am a complete whimp. I hate pain. I am truly so sorry if I have frightened you. It will be OK.

[Weegiemum]

I was induced at 37 weeks with my 3rd baby, as I was very unwell and we needed her out.

I was induced at 6am and went back to sleep for 2 hours - think this was important as it gave the pessary a good load of time to work.

I walked around a LOT. I think this really helped as my cervix wasn't ripe at all.

Things got goiing properly about 2pm - I wasn't allowed any pain releif apart from gas and air due to my health issue. She was born about 6, simple delivery, no problems - though I thought she was prety small at 7lb15 cos she was so much littler than my other 2 40 week whoppers!

Ask for pain releif if you need it as prostin pains arent nice, but once you are in labout it is like any other delivery.

about your homebirth though. That must me a real disappointment.

[mummypig]

I was induced at 38 weeks with ds1, just took one application of the gel sometime in the late afternoon, he was born at about 7 am the next morning after only 2 1/2 hrs 'active' labour. (I'm always dubious about how they work that bit out.) but to reassure you, i did it without any pain relief, not even gas and air, or my TENS machine either as it was at home with dp lol.

To be honest, in terms of pain, pain relief and length of labour, there wasn't much difference between the births of ds1 in hospital after being induced, and ds2 at home. It was mainly the antenatal and postnatal care that were hugely different.

I did give birth to ds1 on my back though, and wish I had either had a midwife who bothered to let me do it my way, or a partner who was more assertive with them. But if you've done it before you will know what you want.

Don't be scared. Do you have a good birth partner? I had quite a relaxed time after they applied the gel, as dp and I walked up and down the stairs a lot to get things started, and ate a spicy pizza together! I think the hospital staff were a bit pissed off that I wasn't just lying around on the bed waiting for them to come and monitor me when they felt like it, but I like to think the labour went better for me having been more active beforehand.

Also I believe there are statistics that show even if you intended to have a homebirth but went into hospital in the end, you are more likely to have fewer complications than if you had not intended to have the homebirth in the first place.

Good luck

[liahgen]

when you say tomorrow, do you mean Weds or Thurs?

Just to add the cat among the pigeons, you know you don't have to agree to be induced, and you can still have your hb.

Just tell them you would like daily monitoring.

You DO have a choice.

good luck

[lou031205]

iliketosleep, like a natural labour, all inductions are different

I had two brilliant inductions, one at 39+6,& one at 35+4.

39+6

I went in to be assessed & was given monitoring at 1445. Bishop score of 3 (tight as a nun's ), and the midwife said she was being generous!

I was given the prostin pessary, which was uncomfortable, because it has to go up behind the cervix.

10pm - moved to private room because I was having some "nice tightenings" - I was only aware of them because the machine told me I was having them. I didn't feel any pain. TENS put on by midwife.

3am - Went to midwife and said that I thought my waters may have broken as I was damp. She said to return to my room, and she would come and see me, but if I only thought they had, it was unlikely. As I got back onto the bed, there was no doubt.

I was asked how often my contractions were, and I said that I didn't think I was having any. I didn't feel normal, but I wasn't in pain. Monitoring showed I was having 4-5 in 10 minutes. Moved to labour ward and mention of having an overstimulated uterus. Was told 18 hours till labour would kick in.

8.15 - suddenly panicked and in lots of pain. Night midwives had refused to examine me because I "wasn't in labour", but newly qualified day midwife, on seeing my panic, got support of Supervisor of Midwives to perform vaginal exam. Gave me Gas & Air (first pain relief I needed) and I was 10 cms!

9.20 - DD1 born with small 2nd degree tear because she decided to high-five me on the way out.

So 1 hour of pain, only gas & air. Perfectly manageable. Midwives were taken by surprise, and had to guess my labour time. They put it at 4 hours. I was laid on my bed the whole time because we didn't know I was in labour, and only moved to all fours for pushing.

35+4

10am - Prostin pessary.

6pm - Moved to labour ward & waters broken. TENS applied.

8pm - felt like pushing. Something not right. Examination 20 mins later shows only 4cms, but cervix slipped, and baby pushing on wall of cervix, causing sensation of pushing.
Pethidine given & laid on back (I have a retrovert uterus). Gas & Air given.

12.55am - Sudden clearing of pethidine haze, and knowledge that I had to push this baby out.

1am - DD2 born.

So an 8 hour labour, slightly more painful, but no problem with pethidine/ gas & air. 5 minute pushing stage with no tears.

You can do this!!!

[HandbagAddiction]

Please don't be afraid - it really might not be that bad. I have had two inductions and both have been really positive experiences. Importantly I have needed nothing in the way of pain relief apart from a tens machine and then gas & air - and for the first one, I didn't even get that!

The second time around, I went into hospital at 8:00am - being 14 days overdue and having had my hindwaters break 24 hours beforehand and no subsequent labour action. They checked my waters again and broke the rest as I was probably about 1-2cm dilated at that point. No gel - just put straight onto the syntocinon drip at 10:30am. Importantly, it does not all kick off immediately. From a standing start, labour will progress quicker but in my experience (both times) you do not immediately start having massive contractions. Instead they build up over time and the midwives will just increase the flow of the drip until the contractions are frequent enough and strong enough to be classed as equivalent to being 'in established labour'. For me this took from 10:30 to about 2:45pm. For most of that time, I was sitting on a ball reading the paper and quite comfortable pain wise.

At 2:45 things started to get painful which resulted in me being in gas & air at that point. I was standing, kneeling, rocking on the ball and only at 4:00pm (whilst in transition and complaining that I couldn't get comfortable) did the midwife suggest that I get on the bed and lie on my left side. DD2 arrived 15 minutes later at 4:15pm.

A very positive experience - the whole thing took less that 6 hours and established labour was only 1 hour and 45 mins.

First time round, I was induced at 5 days overdue with a pessary - took 9 hours to get fully dilated. Was hooked up to a drip again for stage 2 as my contractions weren't frequent or strong enough and dd1 arrivs by ventouse 3 hours later - she got stuck hence the long second stage time and need for ventouse.

Hopefully this will put your mind at rest although I realise that it might be different for everyone.

Good luck - hope all goes well.

[ajm200]

I was taken in at 37 weeks due to high BP so had to give up my homebirth too. 5 days and lots of gel later, I'd had a few contractions but they stopped whenever they gave me medication for my BP. I remember watching all the other ladies come in, be induced and go to L&D quickly so I guess I'm just odd.

On day 5 they agreed to break my waters and mentioned that it could/should have been done on the first day [hmmm]. Still nothing happened. Spent about 5 hours wandering around the hospital. A blessing after 5 days of monitoring and having my BP checked every 15 mins. Just had to pop back to the ward at intervals to have my BP checked. DS was still to comfy and made no effort to move so they hooked me up to a drip at about 7.30pm. Ended up with an Epi quite quickly as my contractions were very long and strong and pressure of the baby on my pelvis made my SPD pain unbearable. Had my son at 1.05am, possibly could have been sooner as I'd been wanting to push for ages but they wouldn't check me as they didn't believe I could have progressed so quickly after a 5 day induction. When they finally checked as his HR was low they found that he was crowning without me doing any pushing. My induction was complicated by my medical conditions and the fact that it was very early and DS just wasn't ready to see the world yet.

As you will be overdue, it should be quick and simple for you. Good luck.

If you do end up on a drip to get things moving/regulate your contractions, ask them to turn it down as soon as it has done it's job as your body may well take over. Letting the chemicals wear off should allow you to labour naturally and with less pain.

[thumbwitch]

another tip - because I was left alone (apart from DH) from 11:30pm (because I was only 1 cm dilated), I was lying on my L side throughout; until I felt the baby move down and told DH to go for a MW, when she came back the head was "there" (don't know if it was crowning or out) and panic stations ensued - told not to push, wanted to push, they got everything in the right position doublequick and DS was born 3 minutes later!

No tearing; I did have a shot of pethidine which made sfa difference afaik, no other pain relief apart from hypnobirthing techniques. My MW said that lying on side is the best way to avoid tearing (in which case, if they KNOW that, why don't they let more people DO it that way??? )

Good luck, hope that helps to ease the fears you have.

[slinkiemalinki]

Pessary at 3.30pm, just Tens and G&A, baby in arms just after 11pm, no intervention required. Just had to argue a bit to get off the continuous monitoring to be allowed to move about (kept making belt fall off). Otherwise very straightforward. Wouldn't have needed pain relief before pessary - contractions just came on gradually in the following hours. Hope yours is easy too - don't worry too much!

[iliketosleep]

Well I did it and my little girl was born at 8pm last night, I was out of hospital by 11pm but it wasn't a pleasant experience

Short story is:

I had pessary at 11:30am started feeling some pressure but nothing major. At 4pm waters broke then pain kicked in, was 2cms dilated at around half 5, Contractions every 2 minutes was given....co-codamol...as pain relief (was in so much pain) finally managed to get some gas and air at 6ish asked to be examined at 7 as wanted epidural and had to be past 4cms, midwife said yes hold on and never came back by half past 7 started to push uncontrolably (cant spell it lol) made dp run and get a midwife, 3 and a porter turned up said "yes head is right there" rushed up to delivery as was on a ward DD3 born at 8pm exactly. Wasn't given a gown so my snow white dressing gown is now red was told if 8lb 3oz DD was any bigger she wouldn't have come out.

Pretty much worst experience of my life tbh feel totally let down but she is here and she is gorgeous and we are both safe and sound so cant complain. Pic on profile

Thanks for all your advice although I have only just read the rest from my last post as I was so scared last night

xxx

[thumbwitch]

oh well done you! Congratulations, isn't she sweet!

It's a good thing you didn't have the epidural tho cos you did it all by yourself (sounds like mine!) and there is much higher chance of further intervention being required if you have an epi in induction.

Honey, don't feel let down - yours was quit a quick induction and you didn't need much intervention - good things! about the pain relief tho.

If you soak your dressing gown in napisan for a couple of days it might just all come out - my nightie looked like it had been murdered and came beautifully clean!

[muffins]

Congratulations what a sweetie x

[ajm200]

What a beautiful baby!

Sorry it wasn't the birth that you wanted but well done for managing a natural birth without pain relief.

You should be very proud of yourself and your beautiful little girl.