If induced, and it doesn't "happen", how long until intervention?

[wallaby73]

Am asking this on behalf of a friend who is currently facing this; she's had a difficult pregnancy following repeated losses, any advice much appreciated. She is due to be induced in the next few days and hasn't really had a straight answer regarding this, which i do find really odd. Neither of my DD's involved induction so i can't really advise (and of course have advised her to press for more info from her care team)

I'm not entirely sure, and I think hospitals and situations are awkward different, but I can tell you my 'story'.

Had pessary on days 1, 2 & 3. None worked, so on the 3rd day they broke my waters, still nothing. On that same day they have me the drip which gave me mild contractions. I think at that point they can ramp up the drip in order to give you contractions, but for me, they were then worried about the baby so they discussed, and I accepted, c-section.

It can take a loooong time. Take books, magazines, food, computer/tablet and things to watch of you can.

Like Doje said they'll try everything up to the drip which I'm pretty sure is guaranteed to work. I went straight onto the drip for a number of reasons and after ramping it up for about an hour there was no way those contractions weren't going to result in a birth!!

In my hospital they tried a set number of pessaries, first Sunday morning then Monday morning and evening and after that on Tuesday the moved on to the drip. I was back on the ward weds lunchtime after giving birth in the early hours, several midwives were surprised I hadn't had a section so I guess it's usually a case of drip etc on day 3 and section day 4 if nothing happens. Hope your friend's is nice and quick.

It depends on what you mean by 'intervention'. If you mean a caesarean, then I think they'd escalate up through the pessaries to breaking waters (if possible) to the drip and do a caesarean if the baby became distressed or she still didn't progress. In my case my waters broke naturally but labour didn't start and so they put me on the drip (many, many hours later). That got contractions going and dso I was born after about 12 hours, but did need ventouse as I was exhausted. Hopefully it will be straightforward for her.

It depends why she is being induced and how urgent it is. With DS5 I had an infection so I went straight to the drip and ended up having a C-section about 5 hours after the drip had started. With DS3 I was being induced due to prolonged rupture of membranes so it was a lot more relaxed. I went in at 3cm dilated already and they were busy so waited around for 12 hours and ended up not needing the drip by the time they had a bed on labour ward and a midwife free to do one to one care.

With mine (3 induced) I was given pessaries. They were given at approx 12 hour intervals
dc1 - I had 3 pessaries and then went into labour which didn't progress, so got given a drip with the other drug (cynoxin??)

dc2- 2 nd pessary worked

dc3 - 2 pessaries and then she examined me, I was 3 cm (probably because 3rd baby) so she offered to break my waters and I said yes, and gave birth 1.5 hours later! (dh nearly didn't make it back!)

The hospital did go through it all with me when I went in to be induced.

Depends on the reason for induction and how ready the body is to give birth. I was induced for pre-eclampsia/hellp so there was urgency, but my body just wasn't ready to go into labour. Induction started with pessary at 3pm at 38+6, waters went about 5 hours in, a few hours after that they put me on the drip, after 5-6 hours of mild and intermittent contractions on the drip but without ever getting into labour (no increase in my bishop's score from start to finish), they found meconium so I had an EMCS, which was far better than I had feared.

I had a pessary at 5pm on Wednesday which they leave in for 24 hours, waters broke naturally at 8pm on the Thursday. Was 7cm dilated by 5am on Friday but then failed to progress & contractions became irregular so had the drip & epidural. Then had an infection so had emcs at 3pm on the Friday.

I had a pessary at 5pm on Wednesday which they leave in for 24 hours, waters broke naturally at 8pm on the Thursday. Was 7cm dilated by 5am on Friday but then failed to progress & contractions became irregular so had the drip & epidural. Then had an infection so had emcs at 3pm on the Friday.

I was induced over 48 hours, but didn't even start to dilate. As I was the 42 weeks, I had a section.

She could call her Midwife and ask what the hospital do? She may know as a guideline. For me I was induced at 39 weeks. I had pessary at 2pm, painful back as DS went back to back, waters broke naturally at 3am, strong contractions started immediately but I didn't dilate very quickly. Got to 7cm by midday and was put on the drip. At 8pm I was 10cm and started pushing but he just didn't want to budge. 10pm I was taken to theatre for a CS but they managed to get the forceps in to get him out. He arrived at 10.50pm. I was shattered by then!

My one piece of advice would be to ask for a epidural if they say they are going to use the drip. It speeds up and intensifies the contractions which your body is not always able to cope with as it's not done it itself (ifyswim).