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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

people's experiences of being induced

16 replies

ronniemummy · 29/08/2006 20:05

I am now 8 days late and have already had a sweep and a show and I am now booked in for being induced on Friday if nothing happens in the mean time.

I am quite anxious about it and because of the constant waiting now am bursting into tears about the whole thing.

I would really love to hear how people found being induced- good and bad stories please!

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gigglinggoblin · 29/08/2006 20:09

ds1 - the main problem i had was that i didnt realise that i had to stay in hospital overnight after they put the gel in. i cant sleep at all in a room full of paople so was awake the whole night which left me knackered. they put the gel in and i had a few twinges but nothing happened, they put some more in, nothing happened.. eventually they let me go home at 5pm the following day cos i was so tired all i was doing was sobbing. labour kicked off 2pm that night so i went back in and he was born later that day.

ds2 - again took a fair amount of time but as i knew what to expect it wasnt so bad. again very slow. make sure you take lots of magazines and snacks cos you may be there some time. the worst bit really was the waiting so if you go prepared it shouldnt be too bad. good luck

JonahB · 29/08/2006 20:26

Please dont be anxious, there is nothing to worry about. I had a gut instinct i was going to be late, therefore saw my induction date as FINALLY getting to meet my DS
I was induced with DS in the morning. I would recommend an am induction cos you aren't knackered and are ready for the day ahead. They applied the gel, left me hooked up to the monitors for an hour. When nothing had happened, they then let me walk around, have a bath etc and came back to check on me after 5 more hours. By that time, I was in proper labour and 3cm dilated. It was definitely a positive experience for me.
The only thing to be aware of is the gel can hurt a bit. I've no experience of normal labour, so i've got nothing to compare it to, but after about 4 hours, it felt like a fairly severe period pain. Paracetamol and a bath helped considerably. I would recommend taking plenty of trashy mags with you to read for the 6 hours wait.
Hope that helps. Oh, and good luck!!!!

Olihan · 29/08/2006 20:30

Had to be induced with my 2nd pg at 12 days over. Went in about 9am, they examined me internally to see what my cervix was doing, put me on the monitor and did a baseline trace of the baby to check it was okay before they started. Then they put the gel (or pessary, can't remember which, don't think it makes any difference) in and strapped me back onto the monitor for another half an hour. Then it was just a matter of hanging around waiting for something to happen. They told me to go for a walk, climb stairs and things to try and get things moving. I had to go back to the ward to be monitored again about lunchtime but nothing was happening. Then it was just more waiting around waiting for something to happen. Nothing did until about 5pm. We were in the canteen, I had 1 massive contraction followed by another about a minute later, had 5 more on the 300 yard walk back to the ward. They took one look at me and whisked me off to a delivery suite where dd was born 2 1/2 hours later.

For me the whole thing was really easy and stress free, but incredibly boring. There's a lot of hanging around waiting for things to happen. We took a couple of boardgames, lots of magazines, some puzzle books, etc but it still dragged. I persuaded dh to take me to the local shopping centre 10 mins away to get some lunch, I was that fed up. Apparently this isn't a good idea though - the mws were a bit cross when they found out.

I had a couple of friends who were induced with their first babies and they went in in the morning (seems to be routine where we are) but had to have a couple of doses of gel to get things going. They ended up going through early labour by themselves on an antenatal ward which isn't ideal. If you can, it's maybe worth asking if they can do the first dose in the evening so you stand more chance of having your dp/dh there when things get going. It all depends on how quickly you go though.

northender · 29/08/2006 20:38

I won't go into my experience of induction! However your situation sounds different from mine as you've had a show so something must be going on, with me ds hadn't engaged at all. For me nothing happened at all with induction so I ended up with a cs so my advice is not to pin all your hopes on the induction working (as I did) so then you're prepared for all eventualities. Hope that makes sense! Good luck!

Quootiepie · 29/08/2006 20:41

i was induced and it was fine... I had the gel at 9pm and went into labour at 1am and had the TENS on until 5pm when they broke my waters. I was scared it would hurt, but I felt nothing but a gush of warm water. Because I had meconium, I had the monitor on, so I had an epidural. Baby was in distress so they induced me with the drip and I slept until they woke me to push I had an episiotomy and a ventouse, but felt nothing. Literally all I did was lie on a bed. The good thing is you get pain relief straight away, and are alreasy at hospital so theres no worrying when to leave home! It was totally fine... good luck xxx

Elibean · 29/08/2006 21:18

I think your experience will be very different to mine, as you're overdue and have had a show...if you're ready, which you probably are, there's a good chance of it going very well. My own was earlyish, at 39+4 due to raised bp, and I had a tightly closed cervix which didn't change one iota in spite of three gels over 24 hours.

Gels were not too bad to have inserted, except that my cervix was so far back the midwife was up to her shoulder to reach it (sorry!) which wasn't too pleasant - but again, thats because I wasn't 'ripe', as they say.

I had very little action after the third gel, they couldn't break my waters, and my dd's head disengaged due to excess fluid, so we moved on to a section - which, once I'd got my head around saying yes to it, was calm and happy and resulted in dd which couldn't have been lovelier.

My friend, on the other hand, was given two gels in quick succession which sent her into strong and rapid labour - the second time she was induced, she insisted they slow things down and it was a LOT easier. So even though slow is boring, I'd opt for one step/gel at a time given the choice!

lucy5 · 29/08/2006 21:31

I had gel at about 9 in the morning by 5 i moved down to the birthing room. Everything slowed down and I had to have the drip and everything then moved very quickly and i needed an epidural. I had dd about 9.30 that evening. having the epidural was the best thing i ever did.

TuttiFrutti · 29/08/2006 21:35

I was only given one lot of gel but went straight into strong, rapid contractions 2 minutes apart. I think it just depends - all inductions are different, some never take at all and others result in very rapid births.

About 30% of all inductions fail and end in emergency C-sections. I don't want to worry you, but as others have said on this thread it's as well to be aware of what can happen.

I agree with the advice to take lots of trashy mags and stuff to read/occupy you. You will effectively be going through early stage labour, when you'd normally be at home, in a hospital ward. You may well have hours of waiting around. Also, they usually send husbands home overnight, so if you go in in the evening, you may have a night of early stage labour on your own.

hulababy · 29/08/2006 21:39

Induction didn't work for me. I went in for induction at 12 days over, on the Wednesday night. Had a lot of the gel that evening - nothing. Had another lot that morning - nothing. Had 3rd lot of the Thursday evening. Had all the pains, etc and thought things must be going along well. However, I only managed to get 2/3cm dilated, despite the whole works the next day. Eventually on Friday evening they gave it up as a bad job, and DD was born my c section that evening. The c section was a very positive experience and DD was born healthy and well.

noonar · 29/08/2006 21:44

i was induced at 42 weeks with dd1. my uterus was hyperstimulated, contractions were doubling up on one another, and baby was in distress. had a c section a few hours later. everyone's different tho, good luck.

Toady · 29/08/2006 22:04

Remember you are not 8 days late, a normal pregnancy is 37-42 weeks.

If it was me I would refuse an induction for Friday, I would then wait until I was 42 weeks. If babe had not come by then I would a request a scan to check fluid levels etc. In the meantime I would eat pineapple, curry, drink raspberry tea, go for walks / up stairs etc.

I am a great believer in that babies will come when they want to come.

Anyway that is what I would do, just my opinion. Have a lovely birth and babymoon when it does happen and try to sit back and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy.

harrisey · 30/08/2006 15:48

I was induced with dd2 at 37 weeks due to my own health suffering (I had a kidney problem in pregnancy).

First induction didnt take at all, I had a couple of hours of painful contractions then nothing

Scond induction (2 days later) was succesful. Given pessaries at 6am - went back to sleep till doc came round at 8am. By then I was contracting every 10 mins (bear in mind this was my 3rd baby). Walked round and round till 9am - 2cm! Walked round and round with dh (who had dumped 2 kids on brother just off a flight from Canada and very jetlagged!) till 1pm - still 2cm. Getting very hacked off, went to bed and sulked!!! Was 6cm at 4pm and had dd2 at 6.01pm. My waters never broke until the 2nd last contraction - then they went all over the midwife, student and doc who was there! They said that cna happen with an induction.
I was glad they did it as I was in a lot of pain with my kidneys before the birth and this helped a bit. Dd2 was totally fine, and weighed 8lb so I was glad she came out then - my other 2 had been 8.5 and 10 lb so she might have got up to there is they had left her another 3-5 weeks.

chocybickie · 30/08/2006 16:03

i had two lots of gel. i had my waters broken for me which was quite painful and incredibly emotional actually and not in a good way.
i then had the drip and they upped the drip to keep labour going.
pushing the baby out was the easy part.
20 hours in total i think.

mummyhill · 30/08/2006 16:10

I went in at 9 am had 1st lot of gell at lunchtime. Nothing happening despite lots of walking round. Second lot of gel 6 hrs later contractions were quite painful but wasn't progressing. They knidly moved me into a single room with ensuite and allowed dh to stay with me. At 2cm dilated I had a bath, my waters went in the bath and in the space of an hour I went to 8cm. I took dh and midwife to get me out of the bath. When she eventualy got round to examining me all my stuff was thrown on the bed on top of me and I was wheeled rapidly to lift and into delivery suite where the head crowned before the midwife had her gloves on. I eventually got gas and air to deliver the shoulders etc. DS was fine but DH and I were in shock!!!!!

mummyhill · 30/08/2006 16:11

forgot to say he was delivered at 42+2 and by the appearance of the placent was deffinatly over baked.

sallyrosie · 30/08/2006 16:54

I had a sweep at 41 weeks then loads of false starts and a show. Finally induced at 41+10 at which point was so relieved that they wouldn't send me home again. Went in on the evening for the gel but my cervix had started to open so they told me to come back in the morning to have my waters broken. It was incredibly surreal heading to the hospital in the morning knowing that the next time I left I'd have a baby.
Once that was done went into labour very quickly. Contractions were quite intense. I had an epidural which was lovely, and me and dh sat about feeling all relaxed and lovely. DD born that night (12hrs later) with no help. Turned epidural off in second stage so could feel to push.

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