Induction on Wednesday-ARM proposed

[EthelredOnAGoodDay]

Hi
I am 39+5 with DC2 and a couple of weeks ago I was diagnosed with a mild case of obstetric cholestasis. Over the last 10 days or so ave been attending the hospital for additional monitoring and everything has been ok other than slowly rising liver function values.

On my last two CTG monitoring sessions (friday and sunday) i have had stretch and sweeps, during both of which the midwives have said that my cervix is central, and 1-2 cm dilated. i found the sweeps ok, which is a big difference from when i was swept when overdue with DD and was definitely more painful than just uncomfortable. Anyway, both midwives have said that if the sweeps don't get things moving, which they haven't so far, and I last out til Wednesday for induction, they will probably break my waters from the off.
Does anyone have experience of this, and is it likely to result in a big ramp up in pain from the start??
TIA.

I had ARM with my dd2, which kick started contractions in quite a natural way. Hers was my easiest birth taking only two hours of manageable contractions. Had ARM with dc4 as well and had similar experience except he was a pound and a half bigger. Both these were miles easier than my other two non induced deliveries.

I was induced with DC2 8 weeks ago. My understanding is that the aim is to break your waters. If you're dilated enough then they'll start by breaking them, if you're not then you get the pessary to hopefully make you dilate enough to enable them to break them.

I had the pessary, which did its job and dilated me to 3cm. So they then broke my waters. But nothing happened. An hour later I still hadn't had any contractions, so they started me on the drip. Once your waters have gone, the risk of infection starts, so you can't just be left. Although I believe if your waters go naturally they give you 24 hours to start contractions before doing something. I ended up with the drip & was absolutely fine, nothing like the horror stories I kept hearing.

Good luck!

Oh we'll that's good to hear, had quite a long drawn out labour with DD, so something slightly faster would be good! I have been surprised at the sweeps being more comfy and also being almost 2cm dilated without really feeling anything, but I suppose that's just because I have already had one child? When I was 2cm with DD I was in absolute agony!

I had arm to induce me with all five of mine and it was fine. I am allergic to the gel that they normallu use and went more than two weeks overdue with all five and then they broke my waters to induce me.

It was fine, having waters broken can be uncomfortable so ask for gas and air if you want.

Apparently i have tough membranes! But the gas and air meant it was fine and my labours were fine, stayed active ans mobile etc and used the bath and had one in the birth pool :)

You can negotiate how long to wait before having the drip. Different hospitals seem to have diff policies but four to six hpurs seems average up to 24hrs if you and baby are fine :)

You will be monitered for a bit after they break them then i would say get mobile, go for a walk etc to encourage labour to get going.

With my last labour i did end up with the drip. Dd was back to back so i think as her heas wasnt pressing down properly thats why i needed the drip. It was still fine, i stayed mobile and used birth ball, knelt up etc and used gas and air. Labour was three hours.

My other labours were 7hrs, 3 hrs and 1 hr!

Ds1 took three days!

Thanks all. Am hoping things get moving of their own accord before Wednesday, but only time will tell.