Induction, pros cons, ins outs?

[Gonnabmummy]

I don't know a thing about it.

I'm 36+5 next midwife app at 37 but my midwife is on holiday and she's the only one so a stand in is coming from the hosp (40 mins away) my next app after is 39 weeks so not much time left then.
I will have a sweep or two when offered.
But are there different types of induction?
What are the pros and cons of induction? When would you consider it a good thing.
Most threads on here seem to tend more to avoiding/waiting as long as poss why?
Does it restrict types of birth I.e pool, pain relief etc

I am completely clueless so if there's more to add please do thanks :)

I think it can restrict the kind of birth, depending on your hospital's own policy. I was induced (had a hormone pessary for 24 hours, but no drip) and was still able to give birth in the pool in the midwife-led unit.

I think people have a perception (rightly or wrongly - I've done next to no research on it!) that an induction can lead you down a road of interventions from which there is no deviation.

Still very early for you to be worried, and all things being equal there is every chance you'll go into labour spontaneously. Best of luck!

I'm hoping that will be the case but I don't think he'll be one too rush. It's just that I don't see my midwife again til 39 weeks after that it'll just be for a booked sweep so don't want to need rush my decision.
I am very comfortable atm and feel like he could be there another year!

There's an interesting bit about induction in Katherine Graves' hypnobirthing book, although as you might imagine it's fairly anti-induction and sweep. It basically says that babies will come out when they're ready and that the logic of being advised to have a sweep now "because it'll save you having an induction next week" doesn't really stand up, as chances are that if you don't have the sweep now your baby will probably come naturally the next week anyway.

She also alludes to what sounds like fairly anecdotal evidence that induced mothers can have longer and more difficult births than mothers who've waited to go into labour naturally.

I'd say the key thing to remember is that although it's very tempting to rely solely on the advice of midwives and doctors, although on the whole there's little doubt that they want you to do what's best for you, it is your body and your baby, and ultimately your choice.

I was induced at 41+2 after 4 days in painful latent labour. I was 2cm and fully effaced so things were already progressing, albeit very very slowly. To induce established labour they just broke my waters and then things progressed the same as they would have done normally and DD arrived 8 hours later.

I was induced with DC4 and it was the longest I was in labour - about 10 hours so not too bad compared to some.

My contractions were every 3 mins from the beginning, but with DC3 within 30 mins of my first contraction they were every 2-3 mins anyway. The only thing I really didn't like was the baby's heartbeat has to be monitored with induction and as I couldn't lie back, the machine kept losing the trace so the MW had to hold it in place at the bottom of my abdomen and it hurt like hell. That said I've always been a fidget in labour so didn't like being a bit restricted.

crazykat how were you induced?
Is it certain hospitals policy to monitor ? Just poster above said they gave birth in pool after pessary, so couldn't have been monitored in that way?

I was induced at 40+14. No sweep as head wasn't engaged. I had the pessary, I found it very uncomfortable. The policy for induction at my local maternity hospital is no birthing pool option and you have to go to the central delivery suite, not midwife led unit. I was hooked up to a machine for the whole thing as they wanted to constantly monitored the baby heartbeat during an induction. My baby was back to back. They had to put an internal trace on her head during it all as she was moving loads and they couldnt monitor her heartbeat properly. The induction was started at 11am, I went down to the delivery suite at 6pm, she was born at 10am the next morning. I had a very difficult labour requiring forceps. I had gas & air, pethidine and an epidural. Back to back labour pain is indescribably painful, in my experience. I was never told beforehand but I could have refused induction and waited another 5 days to see if natural labour would have started. My babies head didn't engage until I was well into labour. I was unlucky that she was back to back as it is more painful, so with the added pain of an induced labour, forceps and a 4th degree tear, the experience was pretty grim! I don't think she was ready to come out. If I was doing it again, I would avoid induction for as long as possible!

Sorry for lack of paragraphs!

I was induced at 40+14 as I held out certain that ds would come naturally at 40+12 like his sis, I didn't have the gel I had this microchip thing that releases hormone steadily for 24 hours so its less invasive than the gel and you don't have to keep being examined, my contractions started an hour after and after 8 hours of having it in I demanded it out!! Labour progressed normally after that and I had a 10lb3 whopper!

i was induced with my dc i had 2 x pessary's, then artificial rupture of membranes, then hormone drip, then needed stirrups, episiostomy and finally she had to be tugged out with two pulls using ventouse .... i think the only thing they didn't use was dynamite
my hospital policy was that I was not allowed off the bed and had to have constant monitoring. I think if id have been allowed to move things would have progressed better I was't even allowed to sit up I had to lie flat on my back the whole time due to the monitor. I think if I was facing induction again I would find out how much I was allowed to move about and get comfortable.

oh yeah I had 4 sweeps too before pessary

I forgot to say with that micro chip thing I had you can move around and do whatever! I've never met anyone else that has had it tho! It apparently used if your cervix is really hard and they think it will take ages

I was just going to say neverlookback I've never heard of a chip.

Wow ineedtogetout she must of been comfy!

I think mothers generally want to avoid induction because it makes labour far more painful and because it leads in most cases to emergency caesarean (around 70%).

I knew that was what I was heading for and tried to delay the inevitable, but there is only so much you can do, you don't really get any say in what happens. In my case I was arguing the dates throughout my pregnancy, as the dates they gave couldn't have been correct. After birth, they said I was probably right all along - not great.

I had a pessary. I'm not sure if monitoring varies by hospital but it might be because I was induced as I had gestational diabetes with him. It's the only time I had GD and the only time I was induced so it could be that.

I do know that with our trust if you're induced (not just sweep/waters broken) it has to be on the labour ward so could just be policy to monitor.

I had a very similar experience to jumperoo although mine ended in emcs. If you do end up going down the induction route I'd advise you ask the midwives to check and check again whether the baby is back to back, especially if you end up needing the drip. If it is back to back I'd strongly advise you have an epidural at the same time as the syntocinon as the pain can be terrible. I was vomiting a lot from the pain and because of that they made me have continuous monitoring, be flat on my back and not have anything else to eat or drink.

To be honest, with hindsight I'd have avoided induction for as long as I could. I ended up going a bit early (40+10) because I was getting so impatient. I wish I'd given DD a bit more time to get into position as it may have been a bit more straightforward and bearable.

Hi there. I had to have an induction with ds. Had pessery inserted, waited for 10 hours with nothing happening, then contractions started (fairly hard & fast) & ds was born 90 mins later. I had no pain relief & it was manageable, with no intervention. I did have to be hooked up to a monitor, but I still managed to stand up through contractions etc. I was worried about being induced - had heard lots of negative stories - but my experience really wasnt that bad. By comparison, my dd was born naturally (took 17 hours & ended up with forceps) and the pain was similar. Check what your hospitals procedure is - each hospital has their own induction procedure.

I was induced with DD because my waters broke but my labour didn't really get going. I had the pessary. Cue a rather painful, rapid labour! Had the pessary at 5.30am, DD was born at 7.22am! My first baby so not sure if it would have been quick anyway but if I'd had my time again I'd have asked to wait a bit longer to see if the labour got going itself. I wasn't very well informed about induction and didn't realise how uncomfortable I'd be. I had to have painkillers after the pessary because I was in so much pain and the contractions were fast and furious. However I didn't have monitoring etc so it could have been worse.

keepthefaith this is exactly why I've done the thread. With not having an app til 39 week I feel that I might feel pressured to pick and schedule before I've really thought it through.
Going to have a couple sweeps if I go over before I decide anything down that route I think.

Yeah I didn't anticipate being induced (waters went at 38+5). I had no clue about induction and to be fair they made it seem inevitable and didn't explain we could wait up to 24 hours after my waters had gone. Based on my experience, personally I'd avoid being induced again.

I was induced at 40+11. Had gone in for a sweep and they claimed her heartbeat was a little high. Although it calmed very quickly and was probably due to me being stressed at waiting an hour. Anyhoo, they insisted on induction. Didn't get a choice other than the drip. After 2 hours of being on it I had given birth. Drip meant I was monitored the whole time. I did get to walk about though as it was portable.

I had a fab induction, only needed the gel pessary (no drips) and was only in labour an hour before DC2 popped out!

But, it was my 2nd child (the Dr said that inductions tend to work quicker and need less intervention if it's not your first birth).

Plus I had a medical condition that often causes quick labours!

At my hospital, if all was well with you and baby you could go 14 days over your due date. I think I'd just wait it out till then TBH and have a few sweeps/ acupuncture/ hot curries to get things going!

My waters went with dc2 at 40+1 and I was induced via pessary the following day, frck all happened all day except annoying wee pains and by 11pm I was only 1cm. I woke at 6:30 the next morning 5-6 cms dilated and had ds a few hours later. I didn't know it could take a while to get going so was bored poopless I Think Thats my only issue!

Going in on sunday at 39+6 for pessary induction for big dc3 so am expecting to sit around a lot with frequent pains that take forever to get anywhere. Looking on amazon tonight for free kindle books to keep me entertained when my birth partner has to go home :)

This page has useful info about induction and how it works etc.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/induction-labour.aspx#close

I found this bit interesting:

One in every five births in the UK in 2004-5 were induced, according to NICE. Among these induced births, when labour was started using drugs:
less than two-thirds of these women gave birth without further intervention
about 15% had instrumental births (forceps, ventouse)
22% had emergency caesarean sections

Admittedly old figures tho.