Induction? Will I regret to being patient?

[hearthattack]

I'm due on Saturday. I've been having twice weekly monitoring and sweeps for a 2 weeks due to some mild concerns about growth. I've since had a scan and growth seems fine.

The consultant has offered me an induction at term anyway. Initally I said I would rather avoid it. I've wanted a natural birth throughout my whole pregnancy, and really wanted to be under miwifery led care, using the midwife led birthing unit attached to our hospital. I was quite looking forward to experiencing a natural birth and was curious to see how my body would respond to pain, hormones etc. The thought of being on the delivery suite, hooked up to drips and not able to move around much had filled me with dread. Now I just want to have my baby in my arms and not be pregnant any more.

For some reason I'm fairly sure I'm going to be overdue by at least a week, probably more. I'm mentally very ready to have this baby but I just get a hunch that my body is waiting for something. I've had missed miscarriages in the past and had to have a lot of medical management to kick start things. So letting go of pregnancies just seems like something my body is reluctant to do.
I'm sleeping very little as I'm so uncomfortable and my pelvis hurts constantly in bed. We've made all our preperations at home, I've been nesting like a demon and cleaned everything within an inch of it's life, done a huge food shop etc. In another two weeks I'll have to do it all again!

I'm so tempted just to throw the towel in and let them induce me. It might be hell for 48 hours but at least baby will be here and I'll be able to get on with things rather than living in this weird stasis!

Am I just being childishly inpatient? Should I hold out for the birth I had hoped for (but might not get anyway!), or just go for it and get this weird business that is pregnancy over with so I can get on with being a mum?

Clear thinking is not my strong point at the moment, as you can probably tell from my rambling post! I need help mn!

See? Even the title of my post doesn't make sense! My brain is mush!

As someone who had an induction for my first born I so wish I hadn't. It caused horrible cramps that did not let up from the get go. Was slow to get things going. Was forced to be constantly strapped to monitor for baby's heart rate so could not move about. Ended up with an epidural after 36 hrs and eventually had ds after long drawn out pushing stage (made worse by having epidural) via ventouse. It was a horrible experience for me and so I chose to have dc2 and dc3 at home. Labour and the birth was so much easier to deal with when I let nature take it's course. And I felt in control. In hindsight i wish I hadn't felt so pressured by hospital to be induced for dc1.

However I know some people who breezed through induction. It just wasn't for me (and put the fear of god of having any more babies in hospital environment!).

mint, Sorry to hear the experience with your first was crappy. That's exactly what I'm worried about. Were your second and third DCs late?

2nd and 3rd were about 40 + 4. I expected to go a lot later as dc1 was 14 days over. Tbh I was more than happy to go as long as necessary. If I went up to 42 weeks I was prepared to go for daily monitoring at hospital. I really do think (for straightforward pregnancies) babies come when they are ready and it's natures way of making sure they are completely prepared for outside world. I am gobsmacked when I read on US forums how people choose to induced at 38 weeks! In France I believe 41 weeks is considered full term. Bizarre!

Lots of nipple massage brought my labours on! Clary sage is meant to be very good too but you have to be careful as it can bring on strong contractions.

My induction was also not great. Was advised as baby stopped growing.
Had had a few scans as baby appeared beech at 37weeks.

Anyway it all proceeded quickly as baby movements reduced.

To be honest, with my experience and your history of medical management rtc, I would just crack on. 2 more weeks of growth scans etc is an unneccessary stress in my opinion.

I was offered elcs at 39 weeks for dc2. I declined, in search of that lovely natural birth. Ended up hospital trips every other day and eventually with failed induction and cs at 41 weeks. Those 2 weeks were stressful, unneccessary and ultimately a waste of precious mat leave that I coukd have had with baby

I'd just go for the induction. I had a planned c section at 38 weeks, any longer would have been awful.

Oops posted to soon.

I had a pretty horrid time but it was all over quite quickly for me because I had a rip roaring temp.

In saying that, a) I'd had ebough of being pregnant. Awful spd that meant I was hobbling about. Terrible restless legs, Heartburn. Etc
And b) I firmly believe I'd have ended up with an emergency csection as baby hadn't been moving much. If we'd been at home, I'd have hotfooted it to the mau.

Not sure if this helps you decide or not.

Good luck whatever you decide

I was induced a few days early as they were concerned about growth. He was fine, so it was utterly pointless. I wish it had never happened. Nothing went the way I wanted. I ended up having pain relief when all I really wanted was gas and air. I felt completely out of control. It also meant I had to be on the labour ward rather than midwife led. No water pain relief etc. Stuck to a bed being monitored. I should have spoken up and moved around more but felt quite out of it from tiredness I expect - induction can be a long process. My midwife was crap and when I insisted I needed to push she said I didnt. Turns out I was 10cm and could have been pushing. That's a bit irrelevant but still bugs me. 4 weeks on I still cry about my experience. I wish they had left me to go to term - I may have still had the same experience but the 36 hrs leading up to the birth were incredibly difficult and exhausted and meant I was not in the best position mentally and made decisions (ie pain relief and not moving around) that I wouldn't have otherwise made.

I would love to know how it feels to go into labour naturally

Sorry for the negativity! your experience may be totally different though. I took 24 hrs to respond to the pessary which probably didn't help plus I suffered with antenatal anxiety and depression which perhaps made everything worse!

I miss my pregnant tummy so enjoy your last few days with it! Xxx

Holy f**k. Ahem. So,

I am being induced at 8.30 tomorrow morning. Saw the registrar for routine monitoring today and he didn't really give me much choice (obv I know I could refuse if I want to, but there's a difference between being told two possible paths and invited to make a decision, and being given one that's very strongly recommended. Going against that would feel like a risk).

I have to admit I'm cacking it. Feel a bit like the rug has been pulled from under my feet and a lot of my hopes for the birth have gone with it. I was very upset coming out of the hospital and DP had to leave work early and come home to calm me down.

Feeling a bit better about it now and hoping we can still have a slightly-less-than-hideous experience. Not everyone's experiences of induction are bad. We'll just have to let go of our preconceptions, remember that we still have some choices and go with the flow, right? Healthy baby at the end is the important thing.

At least we know we have tonight to ourselves before the big kick off. Going to get everything tidy and sorted, maybe go out for dinner and have a lovely peaceful bath to myself while I still can.

Wish us luck! Any advice on surviving induction gratefully received.

What was his reason for insisting on it if the growth scans seem to be showing things are now ok?
Are you happy with the advice and subsequent decision you feel you've had to make? X

Good luck for tomorrow.. Can I let you know my story..I was induced at 39 weeks due to a blood condition..Pessary inserted at 4.30 ..Waters broke at 10 ..Ds born 12.20... It was painful but did it on gas and air. All labours are different whether induced or not.

Be prepared for it to drag. Inductions can take a bloody long time (sometimes now). So take snacks and other bits, plus change for the cafeteria. Don't tire yourself out and have your discussions about how long they'll let you labour and what would happen in the event of a possible c-section.

I've not been induced but been in a synto drip.

Before they start anything, get a second opinion and chat through options again just to make sure this is definitely the route you want to take.

Discuss pain relief - you may not very well want any but it's good to be flagging up that you might

Discuss moving about and keeping mobile. How can they facilitate that. Discuss intermittent manual monitoring do you don't need to be strapped to a bed.

Discuss whether artificial rupturing of membran3s (basically breaking your waters) is an option to kick things off. It's not normally used because once your waters go, you only have a certain period to give birth before there is a risk of infection but if I have to be induced with DC3, I'm going to enquire.

Good luck

I was induced slightly early with DD2 because concerns about her growth and fluid etc. It was actually completely fine and was as good as my completely uncomplicated home birth with DS1.

The midwives were very keen with my plan of keeping moving as much as possible, which we did until there were concerns about not getting a good trace of DD's heart rate, so they put a scalp monitor on her and I did have to sit on the bed. I was managing fine with gas and air at that point, but then decided to have an epidural as contractions really were cranking up, without the 'rest' period that I normally get in between. It needed to be done twice as the first time, it only worked down one side, but then it was great. It was nice and light, so I could feel and move my legs about the bed and could feel the contractions, they just didn't hurt until the very end. Anyway, she was born within 3 hours. She fed straightaway within minutes and my milk came in very quickly (compared to DS when we'd had terrible problems with establishing BFing) and I recovered far more quickly than after my home birth.

While you wouldn't necessarily believe it from here, lots of people have had really good induction experiences as well. I hope you have the same tomorrow!

Enjoy your last evening!

Good luck for tomorrow. Don't feel bad if you need pain relief. I had a not very smooth induction with DD. But it was just a day. The important thing was getting her here safely.

Thanks everyone. Sage advice.

I'm really keen to keep moving around as much as possible and have already voiced this. Will do again tomorrow. My birth plan has always been to aim for G&A but if things take a different turn, not to beat myself up for wanting the works if it means me and, in turn, baby are calmer and here safely.

All that said, I've already felt today how easy it is to curl my tail between my legs and feel like I have to do what I'm told. I think I'm pretty capable of holding my own in normal circumstances but I felt way more vulnerable than usual at the hospital this morning. I think I'll ask if we can have a bit of time with the midwife just to talk through things before we get going. I bet there'll be a different consultant on anyway, so we'll see what they say.

They're not going straight for the drip, thankfully. Plan is to start with prosteglandins to help me dilate enough to rupture membranes and hope I progress the rest of the way myself. Of course it might not happen that way...

The waiting around is the bit I'm dreading most to be honest. We've got loads of snacks, playing cards, magazines etc. At least it's on the weekend and DP can be there to help ease the boredom without eating into his paternity leave.

Don't know how well I'll sleep tonight...!

I have been through induction and would echo everything that Gobbolinothewitchscat says in terms of preparation. I had my waters broken (ARM) and it certainly started things off. Midwife I had was lovely and I coped with just gas and air and was able to stay mobile and make use of birthing ball and stool. I found the aromatherapy offered very relaxing.

Stay as positive as you can, suggest that you can request that lighting is dimmed and/or blinds put up, as apparently a darker room helps you focus (Delivery Suite can be very brightly lit), minimum staff and that everyone is as quiet as poss. This will help you focus.

Very best of luck!

Absolutely agree with lexi re: dimmed lights etc. nice and quiet.

I would try and relax as much as possible at the beginning. Don't over stimulate yourself playing cards/talking etc. Just focus on the job in hand. This is purely anecdotal but the people I've heard of having a harder time re: managing pain etc are generally folk who have managed the initial stages of induction well, sat about chatting/texting etc and then when things have started to get moving, panicked a bit at what it felt like because they've not used the earlier, easier bit to relax as much as possible and get in the zone so to speak.

The other thing you can do is tell DH that you want to be as quiet and calm as possible in labour so can he make sure the medical staff are aware of that and answer any questions etc that they have that he can - eg he can give dates of birth etc. it's very distracting (for me, anyway) to have a midwife bounce in at the start of a shift and start asking you how you are/do you know if it's a boy or a girl etc.