anyone had induction for second or subsequent births after not needing one for first pregnancy?

[ktef]

Hi,
I'm 32 weeks, and there is a chance my baby may have a serious medical condition which we won't know for sure about until after birth. I have seen the consultant today and he suggested that it might be good to be induced so that I can hopefully have baby during the week with appropriate staff available in ICU and to be sure there is space in the labour ward in the particular hopsital where the care plan for baby is being drawn up. While we discussed this it was acknowledged that induction does not guarantee a birth within a certain time frame, but possibly does give a little more certainty as to place of birth and timing (for example if induction was started on a Monday then hopefully baby would be born before weekend and hopefully would mean I could be sure to aviod giving birth on the motorway - as the required hopsital is over an hour 1/2 away).

So, my question is: this is my third dc. Dc1 and Dc2 were born by labour that started spontaneously pretty much on their due date. So given that my body has done this twice before and assuming the induction took place relatively near my due date and once my "cervix was favourable" (consultant's words) is it likely to be effective? I have had friends who have gone through the whole induction process and nothing has worked and ended up with a CS. But given my body has done this twice before, I am sort of hoping that it would just be a quick pessary and off we go.... but I fear I may be being a bit optimistic!!

Anyone with experience of induction for a subsequent pregnancy after an earlier spontaneous labour birth? How was the induction?

Sorry, incredibly long winded and not sure my question is clear even now, but I would be grateful for any help lovely mumsnetters!

Hi Ktef, i have been induced twice, my first and third baby, second baby was spontaneous labour. They use a pessary to start you off, then put you on a drip that has a hormone in to start off and speed up contractions, then they break your waters. The contractions you get with the drip hormone are really painful, worse than natural contractions and they speed up quicker which makes it even worse. The pain was so bad i had to have an epidural with both of my induced labours, i just couldn't take the pain. With my second baby which was a spontaneous labour i just had the pethidine injection and it was the quickest and easiest labour i went through. Anyway, with the induced labours i was nowhere near needing a caesarian, the drip seemed to work well on me and the midwives got me to walk round a bit, sit on a birthing ball and all that stuff they get you to do to help the labour along. My induced labours lasted about 16 to 18 hours which is not too long.

Hi I had 2 spontaneous births and then was 12 days overdue when induced with dc3. I went in to hospital in the morning, had pessary at 8 am. Walked round and round the hospital grounds, went for lunch, tried to go and have a sleep after lunch but contractions started from about 1 pm. By 3 pm they were coming thick and fast and I got in the birthing pool. Dc3 was born at 4:30 pm!

I did not have a drip or ARM and other than sticking the pessary in it was really not that different to my previous births.

Thanks so much for replying Missie and Sam, that is really helpful. Interesting to know that the pessary worked for you Sam, and that you went 12 days over with dc3. I keep assuming I know what to expect from the actual labour as I have done it twice before, but I guess you never know. Thanks!

Not me, but my friend had spontaneous labour with no. 1 a week overdue, and had to be induced with no. 2 12 days over. In her case, the pessary didn't work initially so they were just about to break her waters when she suddenly dilated really quickly and had him. All fine. So two very different labours.

What I would say is if you are going to be induced, stress that you want to be mobile. I was induced and monitored on a bed on my back the whole time which does NOT help with positioning of the baby for an intervention-free delivery. I ended up having a failed ventouse, followed by C-section and although my DD had a very large head (!), I'm sure it was more to do with position than size of head (as the skull is soft and the bones can overlap if necessary during delivery).

thanks loveisagirl, for both your messages. As my dc may be in the ICU it would be good to get through it without intervention as far as possible, just because I want to be as mobile as possible afterwards so I can visit dc etc. Thanks so much for replying!

Not me, but another positive story. A friend of mine was two weeks early with DC1, and induced at two weeks over for DC2. She had the pessary and ARM, but no drip and all was fine. Other than being peeved she didn't get a chance to use the lovely birthing centre and had to be on the labour ward, she said it was totally fine and was quicker than her first birth.

I am sure there are stats showing that inductions are much more successful with second and subsequent babies that someone has quoted on here before.

Sorry to hear about your DC's potential health problems. I hope all goes well.

thanks secondtimelucky, another positive story! I know there are no guarantees but the more I know the better!