Aurgh, friend is currently being mismanaged in labour...

[PrincessPlumPuddingHead]

well I think so anyway. Not due until 25th, but yesterday went in for check and they said "hmmm, baby not moving as much as we'd like, we think we will induce you". I immed said to dh "bollocks, they just want to clear her out of the way because they have a midwife shortage - they will try and induce her for days and caesar her in the end."

Anyway, 24 hrs after the 1st pessary she is still in hospital, still hasn't had a twinge, and they are still trying to induce her. WHY??? If there was any danger to the baby presumeably they would have caesared her by now. I just want to tell them to go home, go to bed and wait for the baby to come naturally. It makes me so angry. She must be very confused and a bit scared, it is her first.

Do you think there is anything I can tell them? I told them yesterday not to do ANYTHING unless a consultant looked them in the eye and told them him/herself, is there any other advice I can give without freaking them out? I just feel that this is spiralling in a sadly predictable way....

i was induced with ds1, was told would have 1st pessary and if after 6 hours nothing was happening i would have a 2nd. If after 2nd still no changes they would leave me to have a rest overnight overnight and start again.

If after the 2nd day nothing was happening they would send me home and I would be re-induced on the 4th day.

After just 1.5 hours after induction I bled very badly and was rushed to theatre for emergency section. I did have low lying placeneta whilst carrying ds1 but scan said it had moved WHATEVER!!!!

sorry to speak out of turn here, but was ur friend not given a choice? and why could she not make her own mind up with her husband(or partner)?
THey would only have done cs with consent unless an absolute emergancy anyway....

14 years ago now - still beat myself up over it from time to time though. pph's friend is obviously not in anywhere near as dire a predicament or yes they would do an emergency cesar; but it's those tricky grey areas where when doctors can't tell which way things are going to turn and they have to make a decision. There's probably a small (but obviously not totally insignificant) chance of things going badly wrong suddenly, balanced against the risk of a bad birth experience. I know I'm overly paranoid, but I don't think most doctors would induce for convenience alone. I do feel for pph's freind though, what a horrible thing to be happening over xmas - just hope it kick starts soon and she can be home by Sunday.

Glad to hear that they are both fine. Sorry that it seems your worries were very real. I hope she feels ok with the decision and recovers quickly from the op.

Oh just caught the latest - sorry to hear that pph. I am amazed there was no real reason for it though - they should press for reasons why actions were taken at their follow-up consultation and ask awkward questions if necessary. Hope they can be home for xmas.

Oh what a shame pph, came to catch up on this and so wanted a better ending. It sounds so unnecessary,

Before we all judge the hospital harshly here it is important to remember that they may have had good reasons for suggesting induction. I can tell you right now as an ex- midwife that Christmas Day is like a weekend in a hospital. The last thing anyone would want is a term pregnancy with a suspicious looking heart trace (the usual reason for induction if a baby isn't moving well - the baby might be keeping still to conserve energy because the placenta is over mature) and bugger all staff around to deal with it.
Imagine them then saying "oh well we were a bit concerned 4 days ago but decided to wait and see". Nobody would agree with their decision if the baby subsequently died - the'd say "you were worried 4 days ago and didn't act upon your concerns even though you knew Christmas was coming and inevitably there would be staff shortages - what were you thinking"?

Sorry - I know it doesn't excuse your friend being induced when at another time of year she may not have been but IME they don't make these decisions lightly. It can be debatable but as nobody can be sure what will happen but we need to know all the facts before we condemn the decision the hospital made.

BTW no hospital I've ever worked in (and I know there are hundreds of other hospitals out there I haven't worked in so can't speak for them) has ever induced someone to give one more empty bed on Christmas Day - it would be madness.

aragon - i have to agree with you, christmas is no different for staff who work in hospital on this day, if anything it can be a nicer day as they usually lay on a nice lunch for staff and patients and have visitors giving gifts to the new babies etc.

so to induce for there to be one less for christmas day isn't a reason i'm sure. and surely with her first aby and first c/s especially an emergency one i should imagine that they have just guranteed that there will be one more bed filled on christmas day.

i think the main outcome for this story has to be how the friend and her family feel about the situation, and there is always the other side of the story, that perhaps ther is/was a reason for the induction that they would rather keep private.

well having spoken to them they are all rather clueless about why they were induced, and just grateful that it is "all over" now. she wasn't post mature - she was 3 days off her due date. this is at a major london hospital that has NOT had a good reputation in the last 18 months or so because it suffers from one of the lowest midwife staffing rates despite still doing 4000+ births a year. I don't know why she was induced, but the point is neither do they really, and it all feels rather pointLESS. They are both first time parents and, as I say, pretty clueless, just went along with what they were told to do.

anyway, as I say I'm glad they are both fine.

ok so lets have some good details -sex name weight or have I missed that somewhere in this thread.

Seems ridiculous but, as you say, they're all fine and will be home for Christmas.

For them not to understand why the labour was induced is a different matter - someone needs to explain the reasons to them because an induction is not without it's risks - increased caesarean section is just one of them. Glad they are both well but I think it's dreadful that nobody has explained to them in any meaningful way why induction was necessary.

little girl. no name yet!

this happened to my ds. Induced then caesar even though 2 days after due date - it was her first baby. She was fine with it but I thought it was bloody awful. She was happy to go along with it though so there you go.

dsis I mean!

My baby had a heart condition detected during antenatal scans. When I got to term, the consultant said that there is a 1% risk that babies with this condition will die in the womb for no reason at all. So he advised that on the balance, the baby is better of out than in, now that baby is term. I was induced and ended up with emergency caesarean under GA because of fetal distress. The consultant just asked me when to book the date, he assumed it was understood I would act in the interests of my child and there really wasn't any choice.

I know that I sealed my fate the minute I agreed to the induction. PPPH, I don't know what risk your friend was quoted, if at all, but they induced for a 1% risk in my case.

I would add that my baby was fine - great apgars. Just could not take the intense contractions of an induced birth.

It is a shame they don't know the why's and wherefore's but I expect they are so overwhelmed by their new arrival he may not remember anyway !!

Because a lot of the time you don't, especially with your first. I felt totally railroaded into having my labour re-started, first time round. Maybe it would have been different if DP had been arsier with the docs, but frankly I doubt it.

I'm quite sure that if I'd ended up in hospital second time round I'd have felt similarly railroaded. I felt that way with quite a few of my midwife appointments too.

Yes, I felt very in control at home; hugely so, able to demand exactly the help I needed, till the stage when I felt completely happy to hand over control to the midwives (ie at that crazed pushing stage when your eyes boggle out and you go insane). Mind you I still didn't question anything like where and how to deliver the placenta, although euphoria and drugs might have had a lot to do with that (frankly, my dear, I didn't give a damn).

OK, I thought the whole thing sounded bad, but actually it is APPALLING.

Get this. What I didn't know is that they were private (albeit in private wing of big london NHS hospital). The father found out afterwards that their consultant, who has just gone through divorce, was getting his children sole charge for Xmas eve, Xmas Day and Boxing Day. By trying to induce on 22nd and caesaring on 23rd he had a nice clear weekend, even though she wasn't due until 27th.

I can't believe how awful that is - I can't believe it. He should be reported - I've never heard of such appalling practice. I feel so sorry for her, she is very upset about the whole thing.

PPh - that does sound appaulling, she should talk to someone about this. Is it CD's bubby who is a medical negligence lawyer?????