induced tomorrow, any tips?

[RayeB]

I will be 11 days over tomorrow. Had unsuccessful sweep so being induced tomorrow. I'm really excited but nervous too. Any tips? My first baby was on time so this is all new, thanks

I see you have had tons of great advice - just to add my bit in brief. Was induced due to high bp, just took quite a while (first pessary Tuesday morning, baby born Wednesday evening) and it was my first so did not know what to expect!

So if it does come to induction, then be prepared for long wait, take plenty of magazines, snacks etc. I had a TENS machine which saw me through all the build-up, then a bath really kicked things off Weds lunchtime - would recommend that. Then gas and air for the proper labour, which was a ventouse/forceps delivery. The gas and air was good for me but do not worry about asking for more pain relief as it can be a long haul.

The only problem I had is that on the Tues night I was having bad cramps, did not sleep, had very unsympathetic midwife on duty and only got paracetamol (!) to help. Kept thinking 'I need some sleep if I'm going to have a baby tomorrow!'

Take heart, what will happen will happen and as others have said, you might just go into labour before induction. Very best of luck to you.

Be prepared for anything...! As you can see every induction is different. My mother had 3 inductions, gel only, and we were all delivered within 6 hours of gel administration. When I had DS I had 4 doses of gel and 12 hours of syntocinon and really no contractions, no dilation. Ended after 3 1/2 days with an emergency CS. Was induced at 39 weeks as baby had stopped moving. The doctors want me to keep going with the induction but I refused as baby still had not moved throughout induction process.

I suggest that you insist on speaking to at least a registrar if not a consultant at the start of the proces. reach an agreement as to how you want to proceed and how much time you are prepared to try for. get it documented in your notes and make your birth partner aware so they can act as your advocate. get as much sleep as you can: you need the energy for your labour despite having spent sleepless nights in hospital!

good luck!

I had a bad time when induced too- wanted a water birth but ended up with an epidural and hormone drip- not fun. I was told some LAs won't wait unitl 14 days over , others will. i would advise seeing if nature hasn't taken its course by day 13, then going in. I bet it could be because that would take you into the weekend and there are less staff on. Call e a cynic but I really feel they take over as soon as you get in there. Lots of my friends have had similar experiences.

very quickly- dc2 was my only induction and i was extremely nervous and anxious about it BUT, lots of waiting before things got started (pessaries did nothing for me), broke waters- nothing happened, had first contraction when they started the drip- baby was bofrn 2 hours later. It was a very easy labour- i listened to my hypnobirthing cd throughout and felt very in control throughout. so basically don't worry- ur still in control .

Hi OP

Haven't read the whole thread but wanted to add another very POSITIVE story of induction.

I was induced with DD (now 5 months) at 40+12 and it was GREAT!

Had the prostoglandin (sp?) thing that is like a tampon - they leave it for 24 hours. After 24 had passed (during which I did loads of walking and bouncing on the ball), I started contractions by myself (no need for the drip or for my waters to be broken). My contractions were VERY mild to begin with, just tightenings really, but DD arrived 8 hours later. After about 3 hours of "tightenings", I was allowed into the pool for a water birth. As I hadn't needed the drip etc, I was classed low risk. Actually, I decided to push out of the pool in the end and DD was born on dry land. After about 2 or 3 hours of chilling in the pool (no pain relief excepy gas and air), I got out and pushed for an hour... and DD popped out, although I did need an episiotomy as her head was so big - 99.6 centile it turned out! Episiotomy was TOTALLY fine btw - couldn't feel it after about 3 weeks and (tmi, but I worried!) was having sex again after 7 weeks.

So all in all, I found being induced a really calm (DD was monitored quite a bit so I knew all was fine) and fantastic experience. At no point did I feel out of control and I actually enjoyed it! I wouldn't mind being induced again so PLEASE try not to worry! The only annoying bit was having to pace the hospital grounds for 24 hours with nothing happening and a tampon like hormone thing up me! DH was bored out of his brain that day! But that was the worst of it, so not a big deal!

Hi OP, good luck for tomorrow. I am a consultant obstetrician and would agree with a lot of the good advice given out above, esp. speaking to reg or consultant on-call if possible, take in nice food and drink and dvd/mp3 player, books etc, keeping mobile, keep open mind re pain relief.

Induction procedres vary from unit to unit, so make sure you are informed what's the normal process and options at each stage. Contrary to popular belief, we doctors do like people to ask questions and engage with us, and we LOVE it when women have normal deliveries. That's our aim as well as yours, as long as it's safe.

Induction is often straightforward, but there is no avoiding the fact that with an induction versus spontaneous labour, you are more likely for it either to fail to get you into labour, for labour to stop progressing at some point, or for fetal distress. These things all happen in spont labours, yes, but less so. All of these things happen more with first babies too, so if this is your second then problems much less likely.

It's difficult to accept that we have no control over labour to some extent but it's true. I certainly found this difficult as a patient when pg with dd (dc1) - my waters went at T+8 and did not labour after 3 days so was induced. I had the hormone drip and was determined to avoid an epidural at all costs. However once the contractions really kicked in I really needed one and was very grateful for the fantastic pain relief. I ended up with a ventouse for fetal distress but both of us fine.

Contrast that with our second baby (ds) who was also overdue but arrived so quickly we only just got to hospital in time!

Hope all goes well for you and dh and your baby - let us know.

It's all worth it you will have your latest bundle of joy at the end of it all..... 3 X induced!

Why not postpone? Give yourself a few more days? In france 42 weeks is considered term, not 40. These are your last few days of rest, don't wish them away! If you are dilated 2/3cm they could just ARM, no gel, no drip...I did that at 40+16 and needed nothing else, full blown labour arrived within 30 mins of the water's being broken - but I was already 4cm dilated and effaced - not recommending ARM only if your body isn't showing signs of readiness before I get lynched, but then I also wouldn't recommend induction if your cervix is firmly clamped...not all the apples on the tree ripen at the same time - look up Michel Odent....If the induction is for medical reasons (as opposed to helping the NHS control the flow of labouring women through the hospital) then ignore me....

burmesgrumbler, what a lovely way to put it, you are so right. Induction is done to women in this country for no good reason. I hate that.

I was induced, be patient, walk around lots, mine was v frustrating but in the end worked a dream.

Oh dear - yes lots of horrible stories!!!

I have given birth three times. Middle one was induced at 37 weeks. I had an epidural before drip. It was brilliant. The only birth I felt in control. I was calm and very happy. Incidentally the result was the only one of my three boys who was a peaceful baby! Mind you he more than makes up for that now

Go prepared to enjoy the experience (clearly I am advocating epidural). My hospital offered mobile epidurals so I did not lose mobility at all except for monitoring. If you can get that go for it.

Above all - enjoy. From my past babies age of 47 I am so jealous

as long as everything is ok just refuse.
we are not robots and nor are our babies.
it is your body, your baby, your choice.

When i was 14 days late with my 2nd baby i was stunned at how many people asked "when are you being induced?"
as if i had no say in it. Labour started at 14 days and 9 hours and a happy, perfect birth experience followed.

it is time to reclaim our right to give birth naturally when our babies are ready.

if you go for induction and want them to break your waters first before a drip, do your research and TELL them what you want.

all the love in the world to you
x

The idea of postponing is nice in theory, but I really really advise caution; both my dcs had to be induced, and in both cases the placenta was failing, at 42 and 41 weeks. It's an added risk and there's really no reason to take it. Placentas have a use-by date.

It's easy to check if the placenta is still working though. Some women cook their babies for longer some have them out before term. As was said in France term is not until 42 weeks. In Hungary I believe it is about 38 weeks. That's a whole month. It seems to me the business abut when a baby is ready is pretty random and very little individual differences are ever taken into account.
makes me furous.

Another example of a positive induction experience. I was induced at 40+12 with my first baby, and was apparently completely UNready, physiologically, for birth (scored 0 on the Bishop scale, is it? i.e. cervix completely unripe, no signs of being anywhere near labour) - but still responded quickly and dilated very quickly - but with only v. manageable pain. So: gel at about 7pm, then a bit of cramping overnight - not great fun as no sleep, but completely manageable, just like slightly worse than usual period pains - and then contractions started about 7.30am. Got to 6cm dilated just with TENS, then had gas and air but didn't like it (I think as I hadn't eaten since 5pm the previous night so went to my head) so had an epidural at about 9cm (so should have stuck it out really, but was too much of a wuss!). Needed a bit of syntocinon drip in the end, as my contractions had slowed down, but baby delivered naturally and only 5hrs after contractions had started.

I am a complete coward and have a low pain threshold but really didn't find it too bad at all (though was lucky enough to have an epidural before it got too bad - v. much recommended!), even when just on TENS, and it didn't last very long either. They thought I would be in for days as my body showed no signs of being near labour, but it was all good. I read a lot of threads beforehand and there seemed to be at least as many positive experiences as negative (in that completely random sample, anyway!) - induction can often be better than going into labour naturally when there can be so long a period of pre-labour (though if it's your second that might not be the case, I guess). Good luck, anyway!

But they didn't check - just looked at fetal heartrate. Both placentas were covered in infarcts.

In our family, flippin, women haven't given birth without induction or intervention for 75 years. Left to be individual, we would also be dead. Nothing pees me off more than all this natural malarkey. I'm a historian, ffs, and I know how it used to be. Many, many more stillbirths, babies born partially decomposed. All VERY natural.

lol @ natural malarky

Flippin, expectant monitoring will give info about the how mother and baby are doing NOW - it isn't a prognosis.

I'm totally with sieglinde regarding this 'natural malarkey' but this probably isn't the time to go into it.

OP was planning to be induced today, so hopefully all is going well.

you don't have to be an historian to know how it was

I am not talking about non intervention. I am talking about not inducing birth simply for the sake of it. Intervention when there is no apparent need for it. Find a reason for intervention then intervene if you wish. If they had done the proper tests on your placenta then they would have known.

I agree about intervention by calendar or because of statistics showing x, y or z happening.

I was 'late' with DD1 and my doctor wanted to induce me at 40+10 I went into labour at 40+8. I was then induced for DS at one week overdue, possibly a good thing because he was a full 2 lbs bigger than DD1, but the induction was just based on dates everyone was flabbergasted at the size of DS when he finally greeted the world.

For DD2, I insisted on waiting for spontaneous labour and in the end barely made it to the hospital at 40+10. With DD3, my amniotic fluid levels were dropping alarmingly at 40+7 so was induced but gel did the trick, and for DD4 I was induced on my due date (gel X 2 then pitocin when the gel had no effect) as I had gestational diabetes and apparently going overdue is not an option in that situation. She turned out to be a large baby, in the same league as DS, not unusual with GD.

I had no choice for DD4 or DD3 but to take the advice I was given, but I'm glad I questioned the 'calendar method' for DD1 and DD3. Wish I had for DS because induction without the epidural was rough, but again since he was so big I don't know what might have happened if he hadn't been born when he was.

What 'proper tests' are you referring to, flippin?

As far as I'm aware, there isn't a 'proper test' or any sort of test to ascertain whether a particular woman's pregnancy is naturally going to be +42 weeks or whether her placenta will, for example, fail at 37, 39, or 41 weeks.

that's 'DD1 and DD2' there.

the tests can look at the overall health of the placenta, blood flow to the cord, level of fluid, growth of baby etc.
Of course it can't predict if something is going to go wrong tomorrow or next week, but what happens as with all tests is that the test is done, the results looked at and assessment made.
If the placenta appears to be functioning as well as ever and the baby is growing and is well and the waters good then I see no reason to induce a labour on the 'what if'.

So, flippin, you actually mean ultrasound? I think you'll find most GPS don't offer it as a matter of routine. If you mean anything else, then I was absolutely never offered it. And since there is as far as I know no way of knowing about eg infarctions, I still say that it's worth knowing placentas have a use-by date. Honestly, it just seems utterly self-indulgent to urge people to sit around waiting for natural things to happen. Really. It's the talk of the prosperous and the well-fed, and the obstetrically lucky.

Being a historian, by the way, simply means I think that I can place your experience against the weight of the experiences of others, in times when events were more natural.

yes ultrasound. In my neck of the woods once you are overdue and still pg you are passed over to the hospital. The midwife will come to your house if you insist but mostly you go to hospital appointments. With my first vbac I could not be induced anyway. I was desperate to stave off anther section so was offered ultrasounds to check all was well and good.
I do think that it is very important that a woman near term , whatever term actually is should be monitored far more frequently than most are. I suspect that needless inductions are given so that money does not have to be spent on appropriate care for heavily pg, supposedly over due women who might need more frequent monitoring to check that all is ok.

I totally disagree that it is self indulgent to let things happen naturally if they can. It is a small percentage of woman who do have problems. Most women who are induced do not need to be so. Many women have unpleasant births because the baby and their body were not ready. It's great that there are women who do have positive induction experiences. I have never met any personally.
I think induction of birth is a knee jerk reaction to a randomly chosen set of dates. As I said between Hungary and France there is a whole month's difference between what is considered term.