2nd time 41+3. Might be induced??? or do 2nd babies come this late?

[AnnamariaHun]

Just wondering if any of you had experience of being induced with the 2nd baby.
i had a normal delivery with ds1 . he was 7 days late.
it looks like ds2 doesn't want to come out and i really didn't expect to be having to think about induction.
Those who have had induction with second one, can you just talk me through how long it was .Im most afraid of the sudden pain that people say goes from 0 to hell in no time.
They've atttempted 2 sweeps (last one 5 days ago) and i was closed but soft.
Im getting contractions but very irregular and not too strong either.
I've got a mw appointment this afternoon and so we'll talk about setting a date. Where i live, they let people go over by 14 days. so latest will be nxt monday.

Any advice or comment is appreciated

4 children, on time, 3 weeks early, 2 weeks late and induced, 2.5weeks late came 30 mins after sweep!!!!!

Induction does tend to be more painful than natural labour BUT...you may be in pre-labour and basically just need helping along so the pain may not be so intense...it's about getting those brain chemicals going!

the truth is...if we need it , we need it, and if you have to take something for the pain then so be it.

good luck...hopefully DS2 will make an appearance before Mon!

thanks joruth, how come you went 2.5 weeks over with ur 4th?
the midwife i saw today (as mine was on holiday) straight away offered me a sweep without even feeling if his head was engaged or not or even listen to his heartbeat which shocked me as my usual midwife had previously refused to give me a sweep as his head wasn't engaged and she said that it might be dangerous if my water breaks and his head just falls in my pelvic as cord can get stuck. so anyway after she tried to do the sweep, (which was my 3rd) she said that my cervix is still very far back and im not dialated at all and it doesn't look like things will happen anytime soon. Really gutted about that and i don't quite understand why.
im booked in for induction for sunday 10am
she wasn't very clear about the gel or tablet they put up first to soften the cervix and make if favourable. will that possibly start the contractions as well or that's just for softeing the cervix?

Annamaria Firstly, normal pregnancy is anywhere between 37 and 42 weeks, so you're still within the 'normal' bounds, and you can go from having a posterior cervix with no dilation to being in labour pretty quickly.

AFAIK the pessary softens the cervix and helps it to open a little, and then they break your waters in order to help bring on contractions. If that doesn't start you contracting, then they put you on a syntocinon drip.

I'm unsure as to why the usual MW wouldn't do a sweep - many second babies don't engage until labour itself anyway, so it's entirely possible that your waters could break naturally and then baby drop into position, and the issue she talked about could happen anyway to anyone in those circumstances.

Also, as I remind anyone on a possible induction thread, the choice to be induced is yours - you cannot be made to go in, there is no such thing as 'only let you go X days over', you can ask for expectant management instead if you so choose.

Thanks Flisspaps
Perhaps my usual Mw didn't feel confident in giving me a sweep at 39+2 (when my consulatant suggested to get one) and that's why she made that excuse.
Anyway i had 3 (attempted) sweeps and none of them started the labour so sitting here 11 days overdue and have a hospital appointment for sunday morning.
Ds1 is celebrating his 2nd bday tomorrow so i hope ds2 doesn't decide to arrive then.
I feel very anxious about the induction and just hope that it's over and done quickly.
I won't go on any longer thanks for all your advice
(im currently getting some different kind of crampings/contractions) so never know this might be it....
Thanks again and i'll let you know how it went x