What happens when you have your water broken manually? Is this better/worse than a pessary?

[cleoteacher]

Overdue with dd and had sweep today with mw. 1cm open cervix and central but she said would be surprised if anything happened as although shorter is still thick.

Anyway. After we were talking about avoiding induction like last time and she said as I am 1cm open they wouldn't use a pessary but would break my waters instead!

Not sure if this is better/ worse than pessary. Is this a more natural way of inducing someone and can/does it generally lead a more natural labour with less intervention? Or like other methods of induction does it tend to lead to a more painful labour where contraction pains come quickly and painfully straight away rather than more gradually like in a natural labour?

What's people's experiences? Please dong scare me too much, feeling anxious.

Fear not. My second birth went like clockwork after astute guidance from our midwife to introduce semen, which works as a catalyst. Easier said than done. I asked my husband to work himself up and climbed on very ungainly for the finish. It did feel a bit ridiculous BUT 12 hours later we were in perfect labour lasting five hours. Total contrast to my first birth where waters broke as a hind leak and a pessary was duly inserted, leaving me with a drawn out Labour of twelve hours, including the regrettable mistake of removing the Tena machine sticky tabs in order to submerge myself in the birthing pool. Needless to say, the sticky tabs refused to re-align on my soggy back, post dip ! The semen is far easier. Mother Nature's gift starts the whole thing off and comes in handy for the finish ! Good luck xx

It's just the next stage on from the pessary, which they use to open up your cervix enough to be able to break your waters. So you're effectively just skipping a step!

As Dropyoursword said - you have basically skipped a step! This is a good thing and you may just have shaved a good couple of days off how long itl take until your baby is here!

My wife went through the exact same scenario as you and after breaking her waters she was put straight on the hormone drip. 4 hours later our baby boy was here on just gas snd air (this was unusually fast mind you!) . Although this was our first so no comparison for pain wise, my wife says that it obviously was intense but was bearable.

The whole pessary stage can be really quite frustrating as we witnessed some other ladies having contractions which eventually tailed away to nothing so the poor women just ended up tired out with the labour still all to come. From our very recent experience I would definitely say this was a good thing! (And I say this sitting holding my little boy in my arms )

With my second DC I had pessary (overdue by 12 days) and contractions took me to 4cm but after four hours at 4cm no progress so they broke my waters and the senior mw did a really vigorous sweep - apparently hers are famous for working in this situation!

Baby arrived 4 pushes and 28 minutes later - no time for an epidural but it was fine as the whole thing was so quick!

Obviously that's not necessarily what will happen but be aware a fast labour is possible after breaking waters manually. Good luck!

You could quote the NICE guidelines at her which says even if it's possible to do an ARM it's not considered good practice to do a cold arm. Research shows better outcomes if the gel/pessary is used first.

My sister had pessary first, after 6 hrs of mild contractions they broke her waters and baby arrived within 90 mins. If it were me I'd feel a bit uncomfortable about not having the gel first

I was 1 cm 4 months ago and they wanted to induce me with a pessary, not just break my waters. (I said no as I wanted to wait a few more days to be the full 2 weeks over, I did go into labour naturally but ended up needing my waters broken and a syntocinon drip anyway!)

I had ARM without pessary and it was the WORST thing to have done. Seriously. It was done without checking which way baby was facing (palpating me). He was, it turned out, back to back and that is probably why labour was taking so long (id been in pre labour about 48 hours at this point).

Midwife broke my waters and then left me saying she'd be back in 4 hours.

Utter, brain warping agony followed, as waters were no longer cushioning cervix abd baby couldn't turn, so was squeezing nerves in my pelvis (this was explained to me after I had him by a consultant). I didn't know it then but the pain I felt was NOT normal. I had no break in the agony either,. After three hrs of hallucinating myself out of the room the mw checked me and i'd not dilated a cm.

I was then put on a drip and had the baby 24 hours later after two failed epidurals, gas and air and finally a spinal block for forceps.

Breaking my waters was, in hindsight, the worst idea. Baby's head was trying to fit into my pelvis sideways and hitting the nerves and crushing them (I actually developed nerve damage as a result). The loss of waters meant baby couldn't turn so slammed down harder, the wrong way, into the pelvis. His being the wrong way was probably the very reason labour wasnt progressing.

I've been through labour again since and now know what contraction pain is meant to feel like. NOOOOO comparison.

Make sure the mw palpates first to check baby is in the right position.

In my second labour my waters didn't break (naturally) until five minutes before pushing so it's hardly a hindrance.

Also remember that due to NHS metrics, I've waters are broken they'll want baby out within 24 hours, ready or not, so interventions of necessary.

I had my waters broken at 1cm ( after pessary and 3 lots of gel) and my contractions started straight away. Sorry to say they were horrendous from the start. I was then put on drip and still didn't have her for 19 hrs. ( by forceps).

TBH I think everyone is different and you just don't know what will happen.
I hope it's quick for you and good luck!

Thanks. Gosh from this thread thinking with try and insist on pessary first. Although can I have that if cervix open?

It's my second so hoping will be fast. My first was 8-9 hours after induction.

I was induced last week - they started with the pessary which didn't do anything. Then I had the gel which started me contracting but I was only 1 cm dilated after 6 hours.

I was transferred to the labour ward for my waters to be broken, I was still only 1 cm dilated - it was uncomfortable to say the least but after some jiggery pokery the MW was able to get them to break.

I was then left to allow my body to go into labour - this didn't happen either.

The whole induction process was very long and I think the pessary with the 24 hour wait was pointless - if you are able to skip these steps at least you are further forward in the process.

Good Luck