Being induced at 9am tomorrow - any advice?

[LisaTheSimpson]

Hi,

Waters broke this morning (hospital confirmed, as I was in for blood tests first thing), but no contractions yet.

Booked in for induction 9am tomorrow. I'm 39+2.

I'm sure there have been loads of other induction threads but in my slightly nervy state I can't easily find any. Can anyone help with any advice?

Thank you in advance

I'm not sure what kind of advice you're looking for.

I was induced, using propase on a string (so they could pull it back out). They insert it behind your cervix. There was a woman in the ward who'd had it done twice, and still hadn't gone into labour.

I had it done on the 1st July at about 3pm. Within a couple of hours, I was having loads of contractions. They had to pull it out cos i was hyper stimulated (a rare side effect), which meant I had 8 contractions in 10 minutes.

DS still wasn't born until the following evening though!

If you are having the propase done, and it doesn't work, they will try again 24 hours later.

It can be a very long and boring process if starting from scratch - maybe take a magazine and snacks.
I had 12hrs between first pessary and waters breaking/first proper contraction, they were quite dull! Hopefully yours will progress a bit quicker.

Oh and good luck!

Be prepared for it to take a while so take something (iPad, books) to entertain yourself. The other thing that I didn't realise is that you may be hooked up to a drip so may need to rethink birth plan ideas. Good luck!

I agree with PPs who have said to take some kind of entertainment - took me 39 (I think) hours to get from 0-2cm! Take a book and snacks.
If you're on the drip, be aware that your contractions may be more painful/intense so have an idea of what you'd like to do with regards to pain relief. I had gas and air and 2 x diamorphine but sometimes its recommended to have an epidural immediately so have a think about what you want to do.
Good luck! Exciting!

Stay as mobile as possible. I was induced with a pessary, when I was allowed to get up I went for walks round the corridors with my DH and went up and down stairs. Induced at 3:30pm, the midwife who examined me about 8:30pm told my DH he could go home for the night as l probably wouldn't be ready to deliver until morning. I asked him to stay a bit longer and an hour later was struggling with pains. Took a while to get another midwife to check me then send me to delivery suite. Baby arrived within ten minutes of arriving in delivery room at 11:30pm.
I had only ever heard stories of slow moving inductions so was quite surprised by how quick it was. Good luck and hope all goes well for you.

Expect LOTS of waiting. Either because they're busy (I was induced last Thursday and went into hospital at 1pm, didn't get my Propess until 2:30am Friday morning!) or just waiting for things to work - Propess can take up to 24 hours to work, and then each subsequent intervention can also take hours. On the other hand, it's not always a slow process - once I got my Propess in I went from nothing to contracting 6 in 10 mins within 5 hours, so they had to take it out, but labour was established by then and I delivered within another 6 hours, so less than 12 hours from it all starting!

Good luck with it all.

Take some entertainment.

When I got induced, I was told to turn up at 9am. Because the labour ward was busy, it was 5pm before they were able to get started on the induction. Plus there may be lots more waiting afterwards if they're waiting to see if pessaries etc work.

Take snacks and chargers!

If they stick you on the contraction drip get an epidural first

Thank you everyone, really appreciate your replies.

I've loaded loads on things on my iPad to watch, and found a few books too.

Hoping I'm one of the faster ones!

Faster isn't always good. I started hypocontracting 4 hours after the pessary was put in and they took it out.

They thought it would slow down the contractions but it didn't so I went from 0-10cm on the ward and was rushed to delivery at last minute.

You know your own body and don't be afraid to say so. Good luck!

Don't wish for a quicker one! I only had 4 hours of contractions before I was "ready" to push. Pushed for 3 hours before finally getting forceps! Only a 7 hour labour but 3 hours of pushing wasn't worth the quick contractions!

I would advise trying kneeling when pushing, if your body is not 100% ready its best to get gravity on your side!

Also really try to communicate with your midwife/doctor what you're feeling re contractions, wanting to push, etc. Make sure your birthing partner can recognise when you need to speak and get everyone to shut up a minute (can get a bit hectic) as sometimes inductions can be a bit funny, give you irregular contractions etc. I found that when they said my contractions were dipping and hooked me up to the drip my wanting to push almost completely vanished! But I couldn't communicate that to the midwives and it was very frustrating.

Good luck

I had the pessary at 12 midnight, went to sleep and was woken up by the midwife at 6am and I was 3cm so she broke my waters. My ds was born just after 10am after 30 minutes of pushing. It was my first labour and I had read all the horror stories but I must have been a lucky one, quick and easy with no complications. Hope yours is a nice one!

Thanks guys, it's interesting to see both sides of it.

Gel has been in for four hours now and nothing's really happened. Couple of strong period pains, but that's it.

Think it's going to be the drip soon.

They should do two times of gel before the drip... They did with me, first gel did nothing, second application and my water broke over the bed almost as the midwife left the room!