Waters leaking, induction booked Monday (drip). Has anyone in this situation asked for an ELCS?

[rimsky]

Hello!

Despite planning a lovely natural home waterbirth I'm afraid my body has other ideas!

My waters started leaking yesterday evening, I went to hospital to be checked, and I have now been booked in for an induction with a drip (I assume they aren't going for pessary first due to infection risk...)

Everyone I know who has had an induced labour with drip (and from what I've read on Mumsnet!) has ended up having a traumtic experience, whether it be unmanageable pain, fetal distress or the (it almost seems inevitable) EMCS.

I really don't feel happy with this artificial induction, and all the dangers it brings to my baby and me. Is it possible when I go in on Monday to request a ELCS straight away? I'm only considering this (I am not taking abdominal surgery lightly) as I am frightened I will end up having a c-section anyway, but in emergency circumstances.

My baby is back to back and not fully engaged so this adds to my concerns that the induction with the drip might be tough.

Has anyone been through induction and wished they'd had ELCS? Is it even an option? Or should I stick it out and see what happens?

Hopefully you'll go into labour over the weekend. Are you at home or in hospital?

I don't know anything about induction but can they even induce you if the baby is not engaged??

I'm at home, hoping to go into labour today so can still have home birth, got acupuncture session booked this morning to move things along!

Baby's head is 4/5 palpable so the head is in the right area, but not far down enough to exert much pressure on my cervix. And I'm assuming it might stay like that til my waters go properly (I only am trickling at the moment)

Have you asked about your Bishop's score (ie how favourable is your cervix)? If it's not very favourable then you could ask why they aren't going to be using a prostaglandin pessary first to ripen it. This may even be enough to tip you into labour.

I understand why you might want to ask for a CS in this situation, but it would make it more difficult (but not impossible) to have another home birth/normal birth in the future, so worth exploring other options first I think.

My friend had the drip after her waters went, she gave birth 4 hours later. Quick and painful was how she described it, but I don't think she's particularly traumatised.

Good luck, Rimsky, hope things start to happen this weekend.

I did have a back-up plan along the lines you have suggested, that is if the HB plans didn't work out then it was straight to C-section, no induction etc. The obstetrician wasn't too happy but my MW pointed out that if I refused induction, they wouldn't have a choice if they wanted to act in my and baby's best interests. In the end our HB was wonderful but I agree that it is nice to have your preferred back up plan available. Have you discussed it with your DP and MW? If they support you, you'll find it easier, I suspect, to get what you want.

Yes you can decline an induction, as said above. if you keep declining, they will monitor you and then yes, either you will go into labour naturally or they will give you a c-sec.

get bouncing on your ball - big and fast figure of eiths, reverse positions as above, acupuncture / reflexology / clary sage etc.

good luck

I was in the same situation with DD1 and asked for a c-secrt and was refused, ended up with epidural and forceps
good luck and always worth asking

Hello Rimsky,

My waters broke with a trickle (and as DD was my first I had no idea what it was - I was 36+2 at the time so not in a 'waters breaking' frame of mind!)...

Labour wasn't forthcoming but I was kept in hospital for monitoring and because they hoped to get me up to the delivery suite to induce within 24 hours.... Several emergencies jumped the queue in front of me though so I wasn't induced till 36+6. I was induced with a drip and DD was born in just over 3 hours (!) As Panzee's friend found it was somewhat hard and fast but manageable with gas and air alone.

I know it's preferable to avoid interventions if at all possible but in my case I would certainly pick an intense but short vaginal birth over an ELCS. DD wasn't back to back though and this is clearly an important factor in your case - I don't know how engaged she was either but with almost 4 weeks to go possibly not much so.

Best of luck with the birth, I hope you get the home birth you wanted. I was disappointed for about 5 minutes not to get the birth I'd hoped for in the midwife led unit but the midwives on the delivery suite did their best to make my experience as close to what I'd wanted as possible- which I really appreciated...so take heart that being in hospital doesn't necessarily mean the end of your hopes for a positive birth experience.

Sorry for rambling on - you've probably given birth by now

Thank you all for your replies!

Unfortunately I haven't gone into labour and it really isn't looking like I am going to before my induction appointment tomorrow. Done a lot of the "alternative" methods of induction, had acupuncture, clary sage massage, clary sage hanky, raspberry leaf tea, pineapple and a lot of moving and ball sitting and nothing. I think unfortunately that because I've not had any response to these things (not even a twinge) I have this feeling that my body just isn't ready even though my waters are going.

After a sleepless couple of nights I have rang the hospital today and the Head of Midwifery has agreed for me and DP to come in for a chat after lunch if the labour ward quietens down.

A few questions if anyone knows the answer would be grand!
As my waters haven't gone in a big gush does this mean my baby is better protected from infection than if they had? This obviously will have a bearing on whether I want to hold out a bit longer.
I have no idea of the risk, everything I read says they should offer induction after 24 hours, for me it will be 60 hours from initial rupture, so does that mean my baby and I are at a risk now? I can't work out why I need to be induced but not as a big urgency!

Starlight asked about my placenta - it is anterior so was hoping that the baby would turn in labour as I was planning an active birth before this, as it was my understanding that 9 out of 10 babies do in labour. However, if I do go for induction and there is the possiblity of having to remain still for monitoring does this give my baby less chance of turning, therefore more likely to end up in EMCS?

My waters broke with a trickle when i was 38+ 5, and kept trickling sporadically after that. I also had a home birth planned so i was anxious not to have to be induced. where i live I was told 96 hours before i would have to be induced, I refused antibiotics, although had them on standby and instead kept monitoring my temperature to check for signs of infection. For me, I finally went into labour about 72 hours after the initial leak. DS born at home with no antibiotics etc at all and we were both fine. I guess its different for everyone though - i was lucky to have laid back midwives who gave me very good advice, and i also just felt instinctively that it would all be alright in the end.
FWIW - not all induced labours end with interventions, I know at least 2 people that went on to have straightforward (if somewhat a bit more intense) labours and delivered naturally in hospital. what will be will be, its probably best just to relax and see what happens. After all, if you really don't want surgery whats the point in having an elcs - its not inevitable after all...
good luck with whatever happens!!!

Just for the record I have had three lovely fantastic issue free inductions.....they are a lot nicer than the NCT make out!

Hi Rimsky,

Baby is obviously as happy sitting in there as my DD was!

In terms of infection following PROM, I was being given an antibiotic every 6 hours. At the same time they would just pop the monitor on my tummy for half an hour to make sure DD was ok. Initially the midwives had said they wouldn't want me to go for more than 24 hours without something kicking off but as that turned into 36, then 48..well I thought I was going to be there forever....it was over 72 hours in the end. Midwives were happy that DD was happy though and as she was still not term I think an extra couple of days was probably a good thing. When are you actually due?

When they checked DD's position with a scan before inducing (there was some disagreement among the midwives as to whether the bump they could feel was head or bum ) they did observe that she still had quite a bit of water around her so she had been well protected.

DD wasn't monitored while I was induced and I was able to move about on a gym ball and then on the bed for the short time I was giving birth, so induction needn't mean you having to lay flat on your back.

I hope your appointment goes well tomorrow.

Actually it occurs to me that I can't remember if DD was monitored - so if she was, it certainly didn't get in the way...

I can't see why they are not offering the gel/pessary as a first port of call. My waters started leaking at term and I negotiated expectant management and waited 8 days from first leaking. I gave up in the end and was induced with pessary. Not sure it did much but hospital was so busy I was left for hours and about 8 hours later went into labour and DS2 was born 1.5 hours from first twinge.

The chances of infection are very small and there are ways they can monitor how well the baby is doing with doppler scans, taking temps etc.

I didn't, but wish I had. I wanted lovely natural birth, suffice to say didn't happen and lucky we were both ok at end of it. Do what you feel is right tho, and good luck

maybe lack of reply from rimsky means she's gone into labour ...