What to ask re. Induction and expectant management?

[upsydaisy33]

I am due at hospital on Monday for monitoring and a sweep as have initially refused an induction, will be 42 weeks exactly.

I arranged this with mw this week and she simply didnt have time to talk to me about induction at my local hospital. My 15 minute appt had already lasted 40 mins for her to do a sweep and i got the impression she wasnt sure she wanted to make any promises on behalf of hospital process anyway!

I am still hoping for my homebirth with pool but if it doesnt happen by middle next week I will accept induction, but i feel really unprepared. And would still like to take it slowly, eg give my body best chance of establishing a normal-ish labour. Try to use their pool if poss, etc.

Can anyone help with suggesting questions I should ask on Monday, about process, practicalities and so on? Or does anyone have any advice/things they wish they had known?

If it makes any difference, this is dc2. Dc1 was a transferred home birth ending in forceps (i was fine about this, felt i was treated well and respectfully at all times). But I have never started out in hospital and my hospital bag is really packed around only going in if really necessary! I have always felt the space and privacy of home to be ideal, and need to et my head round something really different.
Thanks

I was booked in for an induction at 42 weeks. Like you I was keen to be left alone as long as possible so that labour could began by itself. I was desperate for an active birth and my worst fear was being wired to a drip and confined to my bed, lying on my back.

From what I can remember the midwife told me that they would try a pessary first, or maybe even another sweep. If that brought on labour then I would revert back to midwife led/low risk and it would be exactly as it would have been if labour had started spontaneously. If it didn't work though (after a set time, which I cannot remember how long, sorry) then I would be wired to a drip and medically induced.

As it happened I went into labour spontaneously at 40 + 11 days, hence all of the above is what I remember being told and not what actually happened.
TMI alert: I'm sure it was having sex the night before that brought on the labour! Worth a try....

All the best, good luck.

Thanks, that is helpful, as can ask about having a set time for things to start while would still count as low risk.

Feeling a bit despondant, no twinges at all at the mo...now realise have been assuming second labour would be easier than first and may not be true at all...

Hi, i was in a similar position with ds. Was induced at term +2 due to low fluid levels and had originally planned a home birth. (With dd i to be induced, but went into spontaneous labour at term +11.) The midwives when i went in to be induced were lovely and really tried to accomodate me not wanting drips etc (unless necessary). Ds was born after gel pessaries, sweeps and ARM, but no drip - i was in the midwife-led unit and was 20 mins from first contraction to holding him - so definitely didn't live up to what i was fearing about induction.

Don't despair as second time you might not get any warning labour is going to start. Mine was 4.5 hours from first twinge to birth.

I would want to know what happens if you go over 42 weeks re their policy on still being low risk. Are they going to by iffy about you using the pool for instance. There is no reason for them to be by the way. A baby post term is more likely to pass meconium in utero or during labour and if this happens they will not want you to go in the pool and they will want to set up continuous monitoring.