Induction v 'normal' labour

[LittleMissSnowShine]

Hi ladies

I'm 40+3 with no. 2 and I am booked in for induction a week today. DS1 arrived at 40+2 after a very long back to back labour which started on his due date exactly. This time round it did look like I was going to go early, head had engaged at 37 weeks, I was 2cm dilated a couple of weeks ago and starting to efface. Baby seems to be a v healthy size so midwife did a sweep at 39 weeks. No effect. She did another, very thorough one at 39+5 and said I was more effaced than before, she could feel baby's head and she was going to stretch neck of the womb a bit. After that I had a lot of back pain for about 12 hours and I even tried out the tens machine, only to have pain stop completely. I started losing plug at 39+6 and the rest the following day, both times accompanied by minor contractions.

Since then...nothing! I have been walking, bouncing on birth ball, trying to stay relaxed about it but there has been no further movement at all. I have had horrendous SPD this time round, I can barely walk (tho I am making myself do it!) and I am trying to look after a 2 year old and keep house relatively clean for baby's arrival so I am increasingly fed up!!

Anyway, with a week to go until induction and no signs at all that baby might like to arrive under his own steam, I'd love to hear your induction stories. Did it work? How long did it take? Better or worse than a natural labour? Did you need a lot of pain relief right from the outset? I didn't have an epidural the last time and I was considering a birth pool delivery this time round, but would this still be a possibility? I'm guessing not :( Any experiences would be great to hear about!!!

40 + 4 and no sign of baby so giving this a ... BUMP! Thank you

Hi,
Firstly, your baby is highly likely to arrive in the next week . A term baby is born anything between 37- 42 weeks and I would not consider induction before this for myself. I would even have to give it some very careful thought after this.The induction process increases the need for further interventions. I have had 2 spontaneous births and an induction. I do regret agreeing to the induction which led to a fast, fierce labour that neither my body or baby were prepared for. Spontanous labour unless there is a very good reason to induce would be my view.

I was 10 days overdue, with no signs of impending labour at all. I was induced on the Friday night with the pessary. I had a reasonable nights sleep, between slight, niggly contractions that night. I was having some contractions the following morning, and spent a lot of time outside, walking round the hospital with DH to try and get things going. I remember thinking then that if that was labour it was going to be a breeze!

They came to check on how I was progressing about 2pm, and I was about 2cm dilated so they broke my waters. I then started having agonising really strong contractions. I was begging for some pain relief so the midwife gave me gas and air. I then heard her saying to another midwife that she knew it was too early but I was getting distressed so she had to. I felt like a right wimp at that point!

3 hours later I was pushing! DS got a bit stuck so after 2 hours of pushing he was delivered by ventouse at about 7 pm. I was amazed by how quick it all was.

I can't comment on how it compares to a natural birth as I've only done it once, but I didn't find it too bad. I hope all goes well for you!

DD1 was a spontaneous birth at 40+6. DD2 was induced at term on account of me being over 40.

The main difference between the two was that labour with DD2 was only 8 hours from start to finish and was pretty fast and furious in the late stages. I pushed for only 10 minutes and went from 4cm to 10cm in 5 minutes.

With DD1 it was a much more gradual onset, had show on Tuesday morning, was in gentle labour all day, laboured at home overnight and went to hospital in the morning. DD1 born after 4 hours in hospital.

I used a TENS machine to help with pain relief for both and then gas and air when it all got really sore.

I had a pessary to get labour going with DD2, was monitored for 30 mins before and after insertion. So was able to be active and mobile during labour.

I had a good experience. Apart from being whisked from ward to labour suite on a wheelchair yelling I want gas and air with little dignity intact! Oh and having to phone DH in a lift. He made in 20 minutes.

Good luck.

Thanks everyone

I don't know why but I'm really surprised to have 'gone over' this time since DS was pretty much bang on time and there have been a lot of signs since 37 weeks that this one might even come early (head engaged, cervix dilated / effaced etc) but after two sweeps and plenty of bouncing on ball and walking around I am beginning to think he has no intention of arriving this week at all!!

Good to hear some pretty positive induction stories. I really hope it's just going to happen spontaneously but only 5 days left so just want to be prepared for whatever happens :)

There are many stages to induction. I was induced with arm, drip etc with ds1 and ended up with quite a lot of interventions - epidural, episiotomy, forceps etc. (though he was a big baby (9lb 9oz and my first)

Ds2 was spontaneous and straightforward.

Dd1 I was booked in for induction for various reasons. Anyhow, I was keen to avoid the interventions again so I asked the midwives to take it slow. They agreed to start with just ARM and review me in 3 hours. That was all it needed. She was born 6 hours later but with no interventions at all (and she was the biggest - 10lb 6oz).

Ime most midwives want you to have the birth you want. Talk to them about how you're feeling.

I was told at check up y'day that I'd come in at 8am on Monday and they would begin by inserting a pessary thing on a piece of tape. If the pessary starts to work very quickly and contractions are too strong or close together, tape will make it easy to remove. While I'm waiting, I am supposed to stay in hospital grounds but there's a garden, cafe, shop etc. I can go to. Midwife said there would be no internal exams until after contractions were really kicking off and getting close together and if it seemed like labour was established and I was 4cm or more (already 2.5cm now) one of 'my' midwives (I am with caseload service) would be phoned and they would come and take the rest of the delivery as normal. Only issue will be if pessary doesn't work and I end up having to be on a drip I think, which would def rule out birth pool and would probably make constant monitoring and an epidural more likely, but I guess I'll just have to see.

Damn it, I have done some house work, made breakfast and lunch for myself and DS, had a shower, put a wash on and...nothing today!! Going to just put feet up and rest now and wait to see if stubborn DS2 is in the mood to emerge