AIBU to really, really not want an induction?

[PterodactylTeaParty]

40+5, first baby. Yesterday the midwife booked me in for an induction at 40+13 if I go that long. I know there are good reasons to induce - risk of stillbirth goes up after 42 weeks (even if it's still tiny), I won't be sodding pregnant and sick any more - but I am feeling more and more strongly that induction is not what I want to do.

MW thinks everything looks good and there is progress, it's just not happening fast (baby still high but more engaged than last week, Bishop score of 2, sweep unsuccessful). There's a family history of 42-week pregnancies, on both mine and DH's side. I can feel my body starting to gear up for labour (spells of painful contractions that fizzle out). 40+13 is still over a week away. And then I start thinking, this time next week I'll be arriving at the antenatal ward, and the thought of it makes me want to burst into tears.

I do think IABU to some degree to be dreading induction this much, because I can't even quite put my finger on why. I'm convinced that if they induce me, I'll end up on syntocinon and continuous monitoring and then have a section anyway and the whole thing will go wrong and be awful. I know most inductions aren't horror stories, but I am convinced mine will be, and that it'll be my own fault for trying to push things before my body and my baby were ready, when maybe it's just the kind of baby that takes 42 weeks to make. Originally the midwife tried to schedule induction for 40+14, then the hospital had no slots that day so it became 40+13, and then they want you in the day before so that's 40+12, and now it feels like a ticking clock getting louder and louder and louder.

I know I can say no to induction, but then I'd be taking on extra risk and I wouldn't be super-happy with that either. I just can't stop thinking about it and dreading it. Everything about it feels wrong. I even wanted to put my hands over my ears when DH asked which building the ward was in! All this is totally unlike me and I have no idea where it's all come from. I don't ever cry, ffs, and yet I know I'm going to be turning up for that induction in tears.

So. AIBU to consider refusing/delaying induction because of this? And if I am, how the fuckity fuck do I get over it?

[deakymom]

i ended up on the drip but no section to be honest i would have avoided it if i could but he is HERE and HEALTHY two words you want to here after having a baby (as opposed to nicu which was where my other one ended up )

raspberry leaf and relax my daughter came early they blamed the tea and the fact i was so chilled out as i had no other children and wasn't expecting her for a good month!

[LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance]

Congratulations!
Enjoy your lovely new baby.

[TwittyMcTwitterson]

Congratulations!!!! So happy for you! xXx

[ikeaismylocal]

Congratulations! Enjoy the newborn cuddles :)

[Skinidin]

Congratulations!

Had been following thread and holding my thumbs ( metaphorically) for you:)

Enjoy your baby :)

[Eyelet]

Worst Cross post ever!

CONGRATULATIONS! I am very happy all is well with baby and I wish you a swift recovery.

[Eyelet]

Four years ago I was you. And I thought long and hard before I posted tonight.

Desperate for a HB, absolutely petrified of the hospital. Refused induction.

Unknowingly my placenta was failing, post gestation by 17days when I went into labour. Very fast delivery after waters broken when she stopped moving. Brain damaged baby. If there is one thing I could undo in my somewhat chaotic and entertaining life it would have been to go in for induction.

I suffer every day - but not as much as dd has and will.

wishing you a safe birth however it happens.

[Estrellita]

Congratulations!!! Been following your thread so thanks for the update. So glad you got through everything ok, sounds tough. But great outcome with the happy news. Take care, rest up and enjoy your lovely baby now.

[PterodactylTeaParty]

Thought I should add an update now that the baby's here, to thank you all for the advice and let you know the outcome.

Long story short: went in at 40+14, talked induction options with the doctor, doctor suggested membrane sweep, went for that and booked induction proper in for 40+16 with CTG & scan in meantime. Labour started spontaneously at 40+15. Then a lot of stuff started going wrong with the baby being in distress, and it ended up an EMCS at 40+16.

Baby girl, 8lbs4oz, came out yelling at the top of her voice. APGARs were 9/9 so she was fine. She is amazing and utterly beautiful. Fingernails a bit on the long side but other than that the midwives said she doesn't even look really overdue, no dry skin or anything.

So it was a very medicalised and scary labour in many ways, and not the one I'd hoped for - the continuous monitoring and staying on my side the whole time and the repeated foetal blood sample tests and the drips and drugs and so on were all unpleasant but surprisingly easy to deal with, but the terror all through it over the baby not being okay, that was beyond awful. I am so glad she was fine.

I'll never really know if her birth would have been very different if I'd gone for induction earlier. The hospital staff thought probably not, whatever went wrong would have happened anyway. And it's unclear exactly what was wrong, too - it was more a lot of problems together indicating things weren't right and labour just wasn't going to work normally. Maybe that's the reason she was so overdue in the first place, who knows.

The staff were all amazing throughout, and the EMCS itself was the least terrifying part of the whole procedure. Hearing that cry when she came out was the best feeling in the world.

[NotDoris]

I had similar views to you re induction.
Dd was a planned c-section due to a low lying placenta, so was born 2 weeks early.
DS on the other hand was way too comfy where he was! I knew that they are ultra careful with induction after a previous section, less drugs, less time etc due to possible scar problems. I had 4 sweeps which only showed the midwives that I wasn't ready, so I booked myself in for another section at exactly 2 weeks over.
He was still only 8lb 2, despite being so late!

[RubyReins]

I had gestational diabetes (there was a cracking thread on here about 4 years ago that I hung out on!) and all the HCP were very clear that going over was not an option. I agreed, reluctantly to be induced and then, on getting to the hospital, freaked out and locked myself in the loo... Not my best moment! I was talked down by a snippy consultant who then proceeded to talk about CFM and all that stuff. Things started pretty quickly but I was told I had to be on my back and on the bed. Lovely midwife came in after doctor left and said "now, how about a bath?", I told her that I wasn't allowed to move, doctor's orders. She took my hand gave me a smile and then patted me with words I will never forget: "fuck that, I'll get the water running". DS (now 3.9) was born after five hours, gas and air and a shot of smack but nothing else. I was dreading it but it was nowhere near as bad as I feared and the lovely sweary MW Denise was incredible. Best of luck OP!

[slowcomputer]

Having had a forceps and an elective section I'd go for the latter any day. Off painkillers and driving within a week, much longer recovery from a episiotomy. But everyone is different.

[LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance]

I absolutely understand the fear of one intervention seeming to lead inevitably to another. I felt the same way. I think it was fear of a CS that motivated me to stay away from epidurals when I had syntocinon (twice). If I were to do it again, I wouldn't be shy of asking them to moderate the dose if I felt it was all getting a bit too much. They did start the drip slowly and work up in stages but that was years ago and I expect it's different now.

[slithytove]

It's the pessary which can give uncontrollable contractions too so if you can avoid that, try. Maybe they can do ARM right away. Or try a foleys catheter?

[slithytove]

Synto isn't bad btw, they can control it very well. I had this for a non induced spontaneous labour when my contractions slowed down.

[slithytove]

Do you have to have the pessary? Is cervix not favourable at all?

[PterodactylTeaParty]

Yes, the risk of stillbirth is not one I want to mess around with - that's why I've agreed to induction rather than going past 42 weeks. But it's not like induction doesn't have risks of its own, particularly of the baby going into distress (which obviously can happen in a spontaneous labour too but is more likely during induction, hence why they want you on the monitors!).

It's not really about having a perfect Birth Experience - I've never had one of those in mind. But I would disagree that the only thing that matters is that me and the baby come out alive. Obviously that's the most important thing! But I don't want the baby or me to be put through hideous amounts of pain and stress either. If I ended up in absolute agony on syntocinon because they promised me an epidural and then couldn't arrange it after the drip was in (happened to someone I know), that wouldn't be just froth to me. And if they had to rush me to theatre to get the baby out because the syntocinon contractions made its heart rate start dropping, that really wouldn't be just froth to me, that would be awful and I would blame myself for putting it through that.

I asked about elective section as an alternative to induction, but they weren't very encouraging. If I end up still having a really low Bishop's score at the hospital once they've tried prostin, though, I will be asking again, because I don't see the point of going through an induction that's probably going to end up as EMCS anyway.

[slowcomputer]

If you can, try to concentrate on why you're there. Without wishing to be patronising, there is an awful lot of rubbish spouted about the experience of giving birth. Yes, if you have the birth you want it's great, but the only thing that matters is healthy mum and healthy baby at the end. To be honest at anything above T+7 I'd have been clamouring to get the baby out whatever way (would probably choose elective CS over induction but it is a personal preference) because I don't see any reason to prolong things and increase the risk of stillbirth.

Healthy you
Healthy baby

All the rest is just froth

Good luck with it all. Xx

[PterodactylTeaParty]

I think my main concern is a combination of two things: risk of the baby going into distress (which I know means they would go to a section or instrumental delivery and ultimately the baby would be fine, but the idea of it putting it through that at all is just awful) and going through the conveyor-belt-like feeling of hospital processes where you've agreed to A so now B and C and D and E will happen on the following schedule, especially because I'd be there to Fix A Problem rather than just have a baby.

I had quite a few inpatient stays as a child, and while it was never a particularly traumatic experience it was a very powerless one. Obviously I have more rights over my treatment and so on as an adult, but there's still a sense in which you're sort of swept along with the tide, and it's been feeling enough like that already with the midwives automatically scheduling an induction and then being all handwavey about the actual process.

I do feel a bit better after getting to speak to the doctor yesterday - more concrete information. But it is still really scaring me. Trying to focus on finding ways to relax in the meantime, while doing everything I can think of to bring on labour naturally!

[LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance]

Be very firm about wanting to be as mobile as possible if you have to. Try bargaining over the CFM - 10 minutes monitoring, 10 minutes not, and moving around.

Seriously, do try the lawn mowing if you can. If not, maybe push a heavy trolley round the supermarket isles. I think it helped because it gets your abdominals and pelvic floor going.

FWIW I had 2 births with the drip and 1 where he virtaully fell out minutes after I made it to the delivery room. All of them are equally great memories.

Can you put your finger on exactly what is your main concern?

[plantsitter]

Can you get some emergency acupuncture? Might help. Otherwise I would recommend working as hard as you can on relaxing and accepting the idea of induction. Relaxation CDs, hypnosis - anything that'll relax you.

I've had 2 late inductions that I really didn't want and in retrospect although I would've preferred a home birth I wish I'd spent more time talking myself down. Feeling anxious and frankly rebellious is not the best way to go into it, partly because when the induction is over there's a baby to look after! Getting into a 'fight or flight' state before all that doesn't help.

Having said that, my inductions were both all right. You can ask to sit on a birthing ball or stand up and ask them to secure the monitors with their hands.

[PterodactylTeaParty]

40+11, still pregnant. FFS.

In yesterday for scan to check amniotic fluid levels and placenta function. It all looks fine, so the plan is now to go in on Sunday at 40+14 to start induction if no baby by then. Bit fed up because I'd originally said 40+15, but they don't count the prostin stage as induction (despite describing it to me yesterday as 'starting off the induction'), so as far as they're concerned I am still going past 42 weeks and against their advice and taking on a lot of extra risk by going in at 42+0.

No telemetry it seems. Am reassured that I won't be stuck on my back in bed if on CFM and syntocinon drip, because "you can sit up or lie on your side."

Still hoping so much I'll go into labour spontaneously before then. Two days now of constant, awful lower back and hip pain and on-and-off contractions - come ON baby.

[slithytove]

Ask if your hospital has telemetry for cfm, none of this being pinned to a bed bollocks. It's that cascade all over again!

Think you are doing the right thing, most women when left alone will go into labour and do brilliantly.

Not too late to talk to supervisor of midwives if you feel you need more support.

[girlwhowearsglasses]

YANBU OP, well done for standing ground - I'm with you on the watchful waiting and being informed by your own personal situation and not a general statistic based on a broad risk assessment. Others have posted about continuous monitoring - this kicks in as soon as interventions start and IMHO that's what makes induction such a completely different proposition to letting nature do it's stuff. Relaxing and feeling secure is what you need - now is one time when mind and mood really does rule the body. Best of luck to you in any event

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Fresh pineapple is supposed to help. And clary sage oil (aromatherapy - not eaten/drunk).