Being Induced - Sintosin a must??

[AdiVic]

Hello

I'm being induced in a couple of weeks and am wondering if they have to give sintosin (not sure spelt correctly).

I was induced with my 1st at 40w +10d as in this NHS trust they won't let you go over 10 or 11 days without a fight. I also lost a baby at 17 weeks last year and was induced again with no drip and delivered 3 hours later (much smaller I guess).

This time I am being induced at 38 + 4 (due to a very slight med prob with baby which was picked up at 16 wk scan and may or may not still be there). I responded well to being induced last time, and am wondering if after the pessaries/tablets, having waters broken etc you really need the drip? I have heard the sintosin makes contractions v hard and uncomfortable and I would agree with that after my 1st experience. I would rather avoid as many drugs as I can this time, as was pretty out of it before.

hope this makes sense!

Many thanks - adi

The pessary or ARM (waters being broken) may well be enough to get you into labour in which case you wouldn't need syntocinon . If you weren't in labour after those then really syntocinon or a CS are really your only options.

If you have syntocinon you can request an epidural is put in beforehand if you want (rather than waiting for the drip to kick in and then not being able to find an anaesthetist to put one in if you feel you need one!)

I was induced and only had the pessary, it was given at 10pm I think and I woke labouring in the early hours.

Syntocin wasnt needed in my case, they said I was late but by my dates I wasnt, I had had a show that morning though so I think I was 'ripe' anyway.

I have been induced with both DC1 and 2 and never had to have to drip. Just pessaries with 1st and prostaglandin pill with 2nd. X

Induction has 3 stages usually: pessary, ARM, followed by synto drip, usually escalating in that order depending on how your body responds. Once your membranes are ruptured you are usually only left to labour without further intervention for 48 hrs (I think) because the risk of infection increases after this.

Hopefully you will be lucky and not need synto, but if you get to this point there's not much else you can do to kickstart labour.

Thank you - I will ask to be left without it then see what happens. x