refusing induction.

[lolee777]

Hiya, I need some advice here, getting a bit complicated. I have an induction booked next week that I will be refusing, I have any told my midwife this and she says to go, let them carry out tests then explain why you don't want to be induced. If it really gets that far (hoping for active birth with pool before then) I would rather have an elective c section. Has anyone else done this? What is likely to happen? I know you can be monitored daily instead but I'll be 42 weeks on day of induction appt surely its getting worrying for baby at this stage. Would you push for c section now? Thanks for any advice/opinions.

September don't beat yourself up. There's absolutely no way you could have known how it would go. It's all over now and you and your baby are safe and together.

2 deliveries, both inductions (for different reasons), both great experiences on gas and air only. Both great recoveries. Will be doing the same this time because there is no safe alternative. A c-section could exacerbate my personal health problems.

Without those inductions my babies and I would have been in serious trouble. I am forever thankful that I had that opportunity and delivered safely.

Each case should be evaluated individually and you need to decide who you trust to give you the most unbiased advice based on YOU and that means unbiased on both sides, not just non-hospital.

There are always scare stories but the truth is that no-one can run a control experiment on themselves that proves choosing an alternative route would have definitely been a better experience. It's a pointless debate! We can all only go on our personal experiences and research.

Good luck

Have been reading this thread with interest.. How are you doing OP?x

chance for every medical professional to pressure you for an hour

Mine don't 'pressure' me, they just ignore me. I've come out today with induction booked for tomorrow. I'm going to ring in the morning and cancel it. Ended up having a pretty hefty sweep today on the delivery suite, just to show willing regards hurrying things up, but I'm not going to be properly induced. Midwife who did sweep was very understanding of my preferences and gave me advice regards how to negotiate in future. One of them even suggested booking in somewhere else entirely for later in the week.

Anyway, if I'm ever pregnant again, I'm hiring an independent midwife, and will aim for a home birth.

I am going to opt for the long story.....

I went to the induction appointment at 4pm on Thursday 9th pretty much in war mode adamant that I wanted a sweep and to see if I could still get the birth pool and active birth I wanted in the midwife led unit.

It was pretty clear straight away that being 15 days overdue this was not going to happen as I was considered' high risk' so I asked to be examined straight away to see what stage i was at and the cervix was said said to be closed but soft, the option of a slow induction seemed to me a good option.

I had written an essay on what I wanted if it came to induction (obviously time was my enemy here so I would need a rethink) and left it for the doctors to read. I explained my anxieties and they were very reassuring but warned a c section was only risky in that if there was no slot for one in the next 24 hours my baby maybe at risk and to go for the induction, I asked to the lowest dose option first (the pessary) and go from there, the midwife said an exam in the morning after that we could review the situation. I agreed.

Five hours later my waters went, contractions started and I was rushed to the delivery unit on a monitor to keep an eye on mine and her heart rate, i was warned now that my waters had broken I needed to get her out within 72 hours so asked for my drip to be set to a very slow gradual addition of hormone by drip so I could at least go for a longer slower drug free mobile labour I wanted and I would feel in control.

This is when it was clear that I did need the drip, my contractions before the drip were strong but I wasn't dilating, the drip was connected and they got stronger but to cut a long story short after nine hours a pattern was forming where every big contraction was mirrored with my babys heart dropping significantly (from 145 baseline to 80). I was only using a TENS at this point and several doctors came in and out debating on what to do. I have to say it was mixed but then they decided to ramp up the contractions just as one last go at seeing how she would cope and I carried on with the TENS which everyone was surprised at and kept offering epidural every 10 mins. Finally after ten hours a decision to get her out by a non emergency c-section was made mainly as after ten hours I was 1cm dilated, there was a chance the umbilical cord was wrapped somewhere stressing her. I was more than happy with this option.

Robyn was born just an hour later by c-section weighing 7lb 4oz the whole thing was calm and stress free until she came out very quiet and a crash team was called over the tanoy system which was horrific to hear and incredibly scary to watch as the room filled with twenty people (most of which I think were students) I just watched everyones facial expressions but it was clear to hear and see everything was calming and she was considered fine a few moments later. The chances were that she had swallowed a small amount meconium so was put on a antibiotic drip for 48 hours. There was apparently no indication that the cord was wrapped anywhere. Both me and Robyn are great, both recovering well and we got back home yesterday.

Obviously in hindsight the thought of a pool birth may have put us both at risk due to no monitoring or less of it. you could argue my request for a planned c-section early in my pregnancy before I got my head around a natural birth would have saved all this but I really wanted to give a natural birth a go especially with midwives encouragement and positivity.

All ended well in the end and I am so happy to have gone through what I did with a fair amount of control and with full support and understanding of all the staff. I didnt have to go through forceps etc and still kept myself drug free just in case things changed, I have no regrets at all. I actual am holding the belief that I was too small to give birth naturally but I may never know, could be just one of those things or could have been my body and what it needed to give birth.

All good in the end though people and I couldn't be happier. Thanks again for all your support and knowledge making the decisons a bit easier. xxxxx

so pleased it worked well for you - I was coming to comment, having been in a virtually identical situation (which by the way ended in a virtually identical outcome!)
Good news is you're in a great position to demand an ELCS next time (as i did) ;-)

Well done! And congratulations. Sounds like marathon event, you handled it fabulously! Enjoy your lovely girl x

Well, I ended up going into labour naturally after a bit of a fight against induction. At my appointment last Tuesday they told me that I ‘had’ to be induced on Friday. I said no thanks, at which point they booked me in for monitoring at day assessment on the Friday morning. At that appointment, they tried to book me in for Tuesday (yesterday – would have been 42 weeks and 2 days at that point). There were no appointments – only ones available on Saturday or NEXT Saturday. I booked Saturday just to shut them up, but said I’d probably call and cancel. At that point I went up to the delivery suite and had a pretty vigorous sweep, since I figured I should show willing to help avoid stuff.

Contractions started at around 8pm, went on all night at 5 minutes, but wore off around 6am. Called and tried to cancel the induction appointment, but they said they’d keep it ‘just in case’. I spent the day trying to get labour going again. Finally around 9pm Saturday night things started up at 5 minutes – by this point delivery suite had phoned and left two messages about my missed induction appointment – the one I’d tried to cancel. Contractions went on until 5am, at which point I called my doula. Got into hospital at 10am ish, laboured and pushed in the birth pool all day, ended up out of pool at 10pm when they found I wasn’t 10cm as I’d been told and was in fact 8cm. At this point my body was at the point of no return and couldn’t stop pushing, I was pretty much in agony, and had a self topped up epidural at 11pm. Had a couple of hours rest, and finally gave birth at 2.15am with no instruments, and a tiny tear – eventual pushing phase of 30 minutes.

All in all a positive experience – everyone I’ve spoken to in hospital, from various consultants to midwives has mentioned something like ‘Oh, you’re the one who refused induction’. Clearly not enough people do it.

So, my daughter was born 15 days late, 9 days over the ‘final date for induction’ I was given all along. When they did the placenta examination, they gave me gloves and let me join in – there was no grittiness, it didn’t look dodgy in any way. My baby wasn’t ‘overdue’.

Great story goats - well done. Love that you examined the placenta! So with your sweep, was your cervix already doing something?

No, not really. Was still posterior, started off 1-2cm, 3cm by the end, still 1cm long. She had a really good (painful) go at it though because she knew the desperation to avoid induction.

I've had two syntocin inductions. Both very positive, although my first where I had the epidural was better. Felt very calm and in control. Could feel contractions but wasn't in pain. Baby came out in a few pushes despite being on my back and was able to walk/shower immediately.
If you do go for pessary you can ask them to do a sweep when they first examine you. Also, stay active whilst it's in. Anything that can bump the babies head onto the cervix - bounce on ball/go up and down stairs etc.

Baby will come when baby is ready! Don't be bullied into it if it's not what you want. I think I'm right in saying that in France they don't even consider you to be overdue until at least 43 weeks! Best of luck.

I was induced with my first and third child. The first time ended in a c section and the third was a very easy birth. No two births are the same and while everyone wants labour to come on naturally it's not always the case. The midwives know what they're talking about and don't like you to go over 42 weeks for a reason. I don't understand why you would want a section over been induced? Having a section I speak from experience and they are not pleasant. They take a long time to recover from which can put a bit of a dampner on your first precious weeks with your newborn x

Not all inductios with or without syntocinon are awful. I have seen many positive outcomes and labours when this was involved. Although an induction does increase your risk of csection and other interventions.
You need to weigh up the risks of a csec on this birth and subsequent pregnancies.

I had an induction, laboured for a 20hours, epidural, synto and emergency section at 9.5cm for infection. Baby spent 2weeks in hospital as had meningitis, I had a blood transfusion and lots of antibiotics. .. would I go back and have an elective section with hignsight... hell no. I got to the end of my labour which bodes well for next time.
36hrs from induction starting to baby out, all in all reasonably quick.

The pain of csection recovery was hideous

I've been induced twice, one needing syntocin (and epidural) and one not (and just gas and air after pessary and gel), both deliveries identical though, 20-30mins pushing, 2nd degree tear, despite huge variation in baby's head size and weight (1st baby 2.97 kg, 2nd 3.97 kg). It really depends on your individual situation and what happens. I'd rather not have been induced but as I was 13 and 12 days over both times and in back and hip pain I'm glad I didn't wait longer.

I agree with Pico2 - try with a pessary and gel - they might do the trick. If not, you can refuse further induction and ask for a section. That way they will be monitoring you - I think that is a safer course of action than just not going in for induction.