Does induction pessary tip you into 'normal' labour?

[starfish12]

So I'm 40 + 10 and have an induction booked for Sunday. I got upset at my midwife appt yesterday and she said I didnt have to have the induction if I didnt want to but said that the pessary only tips you into the labour you would have had anyway.
is this true? I think I might be more inclined to try it if that's the case. I thought chemical hormones brought on a harsher labour?
I had a sweep and am having acupuncture today so praying nature takes its course but want to ensure I make the right decision on sunday in case it comes to that.
At the moment I'm swaying towards asking to push back the induction for a few days...
Thanks for any advice!

You can get cramps from the pessary - prostin pains they are called. Not had it myself but wouldn't fancy it much TBH.

Have you considered Expectant Management?

Unless there is a medical reason for induction (as opposed to simply what the calendar says) then you may want to choose to wait. A labour that is induced will be more likely to require intervention and less likely to be a relaxed experience.

Of course sometimes the risk of not inducing is higher than the risk of inducing. Do consider all your options.

The pessary was all I needed to get me going - and this was after two sweeps with bishop's scores of 0 and 1.

What I'm not sure about is whether you can try the pessary but decline to go to the next stage (ARM, drip etc). The drip does bring on a harsher labour as the syntocinon forces your uterus to contract. Might be worth asking the question if you're keen to try to get things going but even keener to avoid full-blown induction?

I had induction due to waters going but no contractions. From waters breaking to first gel pessary was about 36 hours, next gel pessary about 12 hours later and then about 6 hours later an examination revealed i was still only 2-3cm. I'd had a few cramps and contractions but nothing regular. Within an hour of the exam my contractions started on their own, i wasnt far enough along to have syntocinin drip so they were going to leave me 24 hours (on the ward) before trying pessary again.

yes they worked for me. I had to have 2 sets of them then gave birth pretty quickly and would definitely go for induction again if I was offered!

I had 3 pessaries in my overdue induction with DS1 - brought on normal labour, as far as I'm aware, but I didn't dilate much for ages, even went backwards at one point! (from 2cm to 1cm) and then 3.5hrs later I had DS1. The MW who cleaned me up after delivery said it's quite common for that to happen in inductions. Only had half an hour of stage 2 pains and then DH was sent off to fetch a MW because I felt him "move down" - he was out next contraction!

It was a lot less uncomfortable than the induction I had with DS2 (unstable lie, had ECV, ARM and syntocin drip after having had cervidil 2 nights previously and narrowly avoiding the dilating balloon they threatened me with if the cervidil didn't work).

Definitely worth trying the pessary, IMO - but I don't have a non-induced labour to compare it with.

When I had ds1 my waters broke a while before I had any contractions....it all went on for ages and I ended up having an epidural and he was forceps delivery. He was 2 days before due date and weighed 7lb 9oz.
When I had ds2 I was induced with pessary because I was 40+10. It was administered at around 4pm, and I was having contractions from about 6pm. Went to labour suite at 9ish, and ds2 was born at 6:45 the following morning. I had some gas and air during the night but nothing else. Ds2 was back to back and weighed 9lb13oz.
I'd take delivery number 2 over delivery number 1 any day of the week - although this happened 16 and 13 years ago and I'm not planning on experiencing any deliveries again, thank you very much

I was induced at 35 weeks (so baby was clearly not at all ready to come!) and went into labour after just one pessary plus a sweep.

Had sweep and pessary at 9am, waters broke at 2pm and baby born at 3pm!

I had two pessaries with dd1 and she was born 12 hours after the first.
It was a very similar labour to the spontaneous one I had with dd2, except dd2 was much bigger and badly positioned!
I would check carefully on whether they will let you just have the pessaries, even if they don't appear to work/don't work fast enough in their opinion. I'd do anything to avoid the drip, and I've heard many women who've 'had' to have the drip when the pessary hasn't worked enough.

I was 40 + 12 when i was induced.
Had 1 pessary at 11am, slight twinges like period pain started at 6.30pm.
Had my waters broken at 7.30pm, needed to push at 9.30pm.
DD born at 11pm.

No drips or any other intervention. She was my first child too.
I can't tell whether the contractions were worse than if I had gone into labour naturally, but it was manageable with just gas and air.
So it can still very a very natural experience.

*still be a very...

I was induced on my due date, which was a wednesday, 3 pessaries didn't work so I had drip 9 am Friday and dc was finally hauled out in the wee small hours of Saturday morning.
I would have thought that being a fair bit over your due date, a pessary might well do the job?
I was induced when my dc clearly wasn't ready to arrive. I managed on gas and air during labour but I ended up having a manual removal of the placenta in theatre which wasn't pleasant.

One thing I would add is something the anaesthetist told me when I was whinging my head off about it hurting enquiring about pain relief, was that if you have an epidural after induction, it's more likely to lead to further intervention (i.e. forceps, ventouse, CS). So I didn't have one. I didn't really want one, I was just in a bit of a waily state.

Thanks everyone. Think I'll see how I feel tomorrow and then decide. Part of me just wants it to all be over but part of me wonders whether my due date is a week out in which case baby is only 5 days 'late'.
Such a difficult decision!

I've been induced with 3 out of 4 of mine at 38 weeks, 42 weeks and 41 weeks.

All labours the same, no intervention, no pain relief required, all under 3 hours from start to finish.

My one spontaneous labour was exactly the same as my induced ones.

I have been induced with all five of mine but with ds1 they discovered I am allergic to the protein pessary! I got a hyper stimulated uterous buy didn't dilate at all. Baby was not happy. Almost did emcs but it all settled down and so I then went home for a few days before trying to induce again but by arm.

If the pessaries don't work and your waters haven't broken and baby is fine then yes they can stop trying to induce and wait for labour to start naturally.

I had expectant management with my other four and went three weeks over with ds3 but still no natural labour. So induced by arm all other times and it was fine, needed the drio for one but that was still OK, lots if gas and air and staying mobile helped.

If you aren't sure your dates are right it may be worth doing expectant management, particularly if you get a poor bishops score (assessment if cervix) as that being unfavourabke means intervention is more likely.

Even if you still get induced waiting a few days may mean your cervix and body are more ready for labour.

Also sent me straight into labour,

Keep massaging the accupuncture points!
But yes the induction pessary was all I needed to kick off labour for me. And it was fine. 7 hours later DD was in my arms.
I also had accupuncture a couple of days before. I'd also had 2 sweeps (but I really had to twist midwifes arm to do the second one as she was reluctant.) TBH I had tried every trick in the book, so one sniff of the pessary and I was contracting every 5 minutes within an hour!!! Have more accupuncture if you can. Good luck!

This is exactly what I am wondering!!

I had 2 doses of prostin gel. Had horrid prostin pains which I managed with TENS. But when my waters went (about 2 hours after second gel) it was all on. Like, it was something out of a Hollywood movie. Intense, agonising pain. Didn't need the drip. I went from 1-10cm in an hour. I got an epidural 20 mins after my waters broke and I was very lucky I know to get it.

So was my labour like a natural labour?! Or did the prostin make the labour pains suddenly start so strongly when my waters went??

I know the usual caveats, all labours are different etc but would love to know the answer

Basically I'm worried of having the same thing happen with DC2 - ie waters go at home, agonising pain, not getting to hospital in time. If a natural labour is as fast or faster than my induction, DC2 could be born in the car on the side of the road on the way to hospital

I had gel rather than pessary (but work on the same principle - hormones placed on the cervix) it brought on 7 in 10 contractions which they couldn't control (called hyperstimulation) they also induced me when they knew she was lying posterior (back to back). I'd bet my house on the fact that what I had wasn't in any way a normal labour - that said I was 40+12 and no sign of anything happening so I'm not convinced I'd ever have gone into labour without me or her being at risk.

I wonder if I had hyper stimulation too, herethere. When my waters went and my contractions started had non stop pain, or less than 30-40 seconds between contractions at most. No change in intensity. But they examined me and I was 1cm, 10 mins later I was 3, 40 mins later I was fully dilated,

might it be worth planning a homebirth zara? Better to have lo safely at home with a MW than in the car en route to the hospital?
I know a few people who had very quick labours and then went on to plan a HB because it was safer.

I did consider that silly, but I'm in Ireland where home births are not easily facilitated (health service has to approve you for one, very few midwives offer the service). And ambulance transfer not guaranteed to be available in case of emergency. So would be a more stressful situation for me personally IYSWIM. I live about 15 mins drive (faster if needed!!) from hospital.

My goal for number 2 is to get to hospital in time, then get out again back home has soon as possible!! Was same plan for number 1 though

So I was induced in the end but with Propess 24 hr tampon pessary. Waters broke 17 hours later. I needed an emcs in the end as baby was back to back and my labour didn't progress past 6cm but I still laboured for 22 hrs. Was bloody painful but think that was more the baby's position than the induction.

Oh bless you, congratulations Sounds like an ordeal for you, hope you have a speedy recovery from your emcs - enjoy your snuggly newborn