Talk me through the induction process please

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

I’m booked for one on Monday and I’m absolutely terrified. I have no idea what to expect, my midwife didn’t explain much when she booked me in for it, other than they’ll insert a pessary and leave it for up to 30hrs.

I want to know everything, like do I have to be hooked up to the CTG constantly? Will I need to have a cannula unless absolutely necessary? What will happen when I arrive at the hospital? Will I be expected to put a gown or pyjamas on straightaway? Will they have to break my waters?

I had planned a home water birth so this induction has floored me somewhat, I was not prepared for this at all :( but due to my BMI they really don’t want me going past 42wks and I’ll be 40+12 on Monday. Also, judging by where I’m feeling kicks, baby is still back to back (he was B2B at my MW appointment on Weds!) so I’m pretty worried about that too :(

I just want to know what’s going to happen so I can feel more prepared as I feel completely out of my depth about this!

I think every hospitals slightly different, mine was in Manchester. I got there first thing on a Monday they let me and DP settle into a private room, can stay in own clothes. Came to see me after an hour and inserted first pessary, they come a few times a day to hook you up to monitor for 30 mins but pretty much leave you to it apart from that, had another pessary, then another but nothing was happening and it was late Tuesday at this point, after the pessaries once your cervix is 2cm they will break your waters but there was loads of women waiting for waters breaking some had dilated but there were no space so some were stuck after the pessaries waiting for the waters to be broken to get things going. I never started dilating so they planned a section for the Wed but cancelled it at 8pm after me being nil by mouth from Tue 10pm, rebooked me for the section Thu then I finally had it on the Thu afternoon. It can be a long process for some but hopefully things will move quicker for you. Good luck

Allow me to preface this post by saying that I wish people had been honest with me beforehand because I was woefully ignorant about the whole thing. Therefore I'm giving you my warts and all answer because it is what I needed but didn't get. Other people have better and worse experiences than mine.

On arrival you will probably be booked into the ward and given a CTG and obs before they prepare for the pessary.

You can wear what you like during the induction. If it lasts several days you will find yourself needing several sets of day and night clothes, so pack accordingly or you'll end up needing supplies from home like I did!

Likewise some entertainment because it can be incredibly boring.

If someone is coming with you they need to prepare for parking fees and feeding themselves. DH spent 8 days going backwards and forwards and it wasn't cheap. When I was admitted another couple were discharging against advice because they couldn't afford to wait in the hospital indefinitely

I wasn't cannulated until I was taken for surgery. If I hadn't needed a CS I don't know if it would be fitted as standard during contractions.

You are unlikely to be on a CTG the whole time as it could take days and you'll be encouraged to move around.

Your waters may go by themselves or you may need to have them broken when you reach a few centimetres dilation - that's not predictable I'm afraid.

My experience wasn't planned and the beginning was quite rushed because I'd been admitted to labour ward HDU with very high blood pressure. After being monitored they inserted the first pessary and left me to rest. Nothing had happened by morning so I was advised to walk and try bouncing on the ball. 36 hours after the first pessary the second was inserted. This time there were some twinges. More walking and bouncing. Still no real progress. The ward was very very busy so I was often told something would happen but then it couldn't because other priority cases came in. About once a day they checked for dilation. That was the most painful part. After 96 hours with not much happening they finally had enough staff that I could go down to delivery for my waters to be broken. I'd waited so long I was no longer dilated. At that point I snapped and refused to let anyone else near me (bearing in mind I'd had either a CTG, Doppler or medication every two hours since admittance so was hugely sleep deprived). At 104 hours after the first pessary I saw the consultant. He agreed it had gone on too long and two hours later I had an EMCS and was finally holding DC. It was a fantastic delivery and I took away two things from the whole process:

1. You don't have to consent to an induction and can refuse examinations if you wish
2. The lack of control in my induction was far worse for me than the calm control of a CS

Hopefully you will have a much smoother experience and be holding your DC very soon

My experience 4 yrs ago in East mids:

• Called maternity ward at 7am to check they could accommodate me, they said yes so in we went
• Got there and was booked in and was laid down with a strap round my bump to measure babies heartbeat and a blood pressure monitor on my arm for 30 minutes.

-all checked out ok so had an internal exam, measure d just under1cm dilated so a process passage was inserted. It's like a tablet on a string. I didn't find this painful at all.

• Had some lunch and spent the rest of the day wandering around the hospital, reding, watching telly...Had
• Husband went home when I went up to the ward, so had my tea, then tried to sleep. Found it ludicrously hot in the ward so basically spent the night wandering the halls from air con bent to air con bent then realised the main door had been left propped open so got dressed, went for a short walk to the nearest take away and had a midnight snack.
• Next morning had some more monitoring, was having a few tightening but nothing major. Waited till 1ish when I as examined and had my waters broken.
• Little more wandering but things really kicked off quickly after that.
• I was never hooked up to anything, no cannula or anything like that.
• Laboured stood up leaning on the bed with gas n air
• 4 and a half hours after waters were broken i told the midwife i needed to push. She said she would just finish her paperwork then check me but baby had probably just moved positiom.
• When she got to me at last, I was fully dilated and she could see baby's head so went running into the corridor for help, I was wheeled into a delivery room and delivered baby myself while the midwife was getting her gloves on.
• Straight to my chest skin to skin while cord was cut.

I didn't find induction bad at all but would have preferred if the early stuff was quicker or at home. Hospitals are really boring places.

My experience:
Arrive Monday 8am thinking I would have baby by dinner time!
Pessary inserted 10am. Stayed in own clothes. Sat in bed waiting for labour pains. Mooched round hospital with hubby.
Tea at 6pm, watched TV til end of visiting.
Next pessary at 9pm. Hubby sent home. Slept badly!
Next pessary 9am Tuesday. Very bored by now, but had a laugh with others in my room having the same thing.
Hubby arrived for evening visiting. Watched TV again! Hubby went home 9pm after being examined by midwife. ( me, not him) no sign of labour.
Throughout these 2 days had occasional foetal monitoring for 30 mins at a time.
9.30pm went to toilet. Waters broke. Straight into labour. By 9.45 having contractions every 2 minutes. Midwife said she didn't need to examine me as I had only just started! Rang husband for him to return.
He arrived at 10.15 with me begging for drugs!
Walked down to delivery whilst hanging on to husband.
Baby born 30 mins later, I didn't even get on the bed!
So in actual painful labour for a couple of hours. It was amazing!
2 hours later, had post partum haemmorhage, emergency surgery and in ICU for 5 days 😱😱

Be prepared to be very bored for a couple of days, but quite free to move around the hospital. But also, if your baby is back to back be prepared for a very long, painful labour. Had this with my first, Not induced, delivery. You may end up with ventouse or section with epidural.

My experience was a good one (which I wasn’t expecting after hearing a lot of horror stories both on here and in real life). I was booked at 40+11 because I was just getting more and more anxious over when baby was going to arrive. I didn’t want induction (you know, the same way I wanted to give birth in the pool but totally didn’t fancy it once it was an option!) but by that point I just really wanted my baby out to stop me worrying that something dreadful had happened.

I went in, CTG for 30 mins, propess pessary inserted and then CTG for a further 30 mins to check baby was happy. All fine, told to go for a walk and that they would want to listen in to baby in a couple of hours time. They also explained that if, after 24 hours, nothing had happened then they would give me me a prostin gel and another 24 hours. They said they were hopeful I wouldn’t need that and that once I got to 2cm and started having regular pains they would break my waters and take me to delivery suite where I’d be hooked up to a syntocinon drip to speed things up.

By about 7pm I was having some lower back pains and they offered me an aromatherapy bath and some paracetamol. Got in that and my waters immediately went. Cleaned up, back to the ward and put on a CTG. They examined me to find my pessary had come away with my waters, I was 4cm dilated and CTG showed I was contracting regularly so taken to labour ward. They told me that they would give me an hour and see if I progressed any further, if I didn’t they would need to hook me up to the synto drip to speed things up. I asked that if they needed to run the drip then could I have an epidural. All agreed and fine. Examined me an hour later and I was 6cm at 9pm so no need for either. Offered gas and air.

Was 9cm by about midnight and told that if I didn’t progress they might still revisit the drip scenario. I hadn’t dilated any further in the next hour or so but trace was reassuring and I was contracting well so they didn’t wheel the drip in but kept a close eye. Shortly after that point (although it must have taken a while as it was suddenly 3am and I’d not noticed- gas and air is brilliant stuff!) I started to push- not by choice I might add! But my body just started to do it on its own and DD was born with 8 minutes of active pushing and a second degree tear. It all happened very fast in the end which is why I tore I think, but I have healed really well so I can’t complain really.

I’d do induction again in a heartbeat. It would probably be a vastly different experience a second time around, but my first time was pretty much the birthing plan I had in my head just with a pessary attached to the front of it!

Oh and my baby was back to back. It hurt like a mother in my lower back when I was contracting, but holy crap I cannot even tell you the relief I felt once she was out. The unbelievable feeling of the pain just vanishing in a couple of seconds has got to be the best part of childbirth for me!

I had an induction- ended up with an emcs. One thing I have been told since is that I should have asked for my bishop score when I was first examined. A score of 6 or less means there is a very high chance of a c section anyway- in which case I would elect for a c section at the beginning and save myself a couple of days of pain.

On the plus side, I recovered quickly from the c section, have a neat little scar below my bikini line and have none of the pelvic floor or tearing issues that my other mum friends have. Sex, running and going to the toilet have been problem free after the initial recovery.

I was induced. They put the pessary in for 24 hours to see if this starts anything. They then check after 24 hours to see how dilated you are and if they can break your waters. If they can't they leave it in for another 6 hours.

Be aware if they can break your waters this isn't always instant. I had to wait four days in hospital from the pessary to my waters getting broken due to how busy the ward was.

Once they take you to break your waters they and if contractions haven't started then they may break your waters and leave you for 2 hours to see if anything happens. If it doesn't they will put you on a drip to induce labour. This will involve a cannula which you do get used to having in. They will increase the drip regularly to up the dose you are given until labour is fully established.

With the pessary in I was monitored once every four hours for the babies heart rate.

Once I was on the drip I was the monitor the whole time so you can't have a very active labour been hooked up constantly. You also can't have a water birth.

The contractions are very intense but you will be able to handle it as that's what your body is built to do. Good luck!

Inductions are all different and it also means different things. You might just have a pessary or two. You might need your waters broken. You might need the drip (which is where you need the canula)

At each stage, ask your questions. Ask if it's an emergency or if you have time to talk it over. Ask what would happen if you DIDN'T do what they are suggesting. Ask for the risks of doing something vs not doing it.

It can be scary and worrying if you're not used to being in hospital and dealing with the nhs but as long as you feel you are making informed decisions you should be ok.

I had a home birth planned for dc3 but needed to be drip induced as she was in distress. It wasn't hugely pleasant but I understood what was happening at each stage - also stupid stuff like asking if I HAD to put on the hospital gown when I first arrived. In the end it took 5 hours to find a doctor to prescribe the drip so i got to stay in my clothes for that time whuch made me more comfortable. I did have to be continuously monitored but asked for the mobile monitor which meant I could move around.

And also all three of my dc were back to back. The easiest one to get out was dc2 who was born at home on the sofa. She was also the largest at 8lb 13oz

Thank you everyone that’s really helpful. I know all labours are different but it helps to understand to whole procedure :)

Porg thank you for the tip about the Bishop score. I’ve had 2 sweeps, each a week apart and my B score was 5 both times, hopefully it’ll have changed for the better bh tomorrow!

No problem! My baby is fine now but was in distress and then they couldn't find a heartbeat so they did the c section very quickly. Can't help thinking about what might have happened- an earlier c section would have saved her and me a lot of distress.

I spent three days, being given the occasional pessary, before they put me on the drip. They said the pessary is kinder for first time mums, whatever that means. I would personally have refused it and preferred to go straight for a drip if I knew it was going to be pointless. A couple of other have said the same. I think the pessary was also a way of them stalling as they never seemed to have space in the delivery suites!
It wasn't bad once everything got started. Was quite quick! It can be more painful though as you are artificially going from 0-100. But if its your first you have nothing to compare it to! I did it with gas and air and pethidine

Not read all.. but put your birth plan out of the window and tell them you have been always wanting an epidural. Can always change your mind.

And yes agree with p.p. I would not start induction again that had a low probability of success.

I had gel rather than a pessary, my induction wasn’t planned I had a consultant appointment and got sent up for one. I was 1cm dialated before anything was started. Five hours after the gel I was 2cm and ready for waters to be broken BUT the hospital was bed blocked due to tricky deliveries in Southampton. So I waited all night with really bad period type pains which started dying down about 12 hours after the gel. Got no sleep and neither did DH who stayed with me. In the morning I was packed up in the car and sent to Winchester (from Basingstoke) where I waited until about 8pm to have my waters broken. 4 hours later after contracting 2 in 10 baby was born. Was a shock to the midwife as I hadn’t progressed enough for a drip in their opinion.

Having to move hospitals and the pain stopping was the worst part for me! Good luck, it will be fine.

I wonder how OP is getting on

I had the pessary at 11am-ish, and gave birth at 1.40 this morning. My labour is recorded as 1hr 50 minutes including 4 minutes of pushing

Here he is, baby no-name (although possibly Toby) 7lbs 13oz :) and weirdly enough, his big sister weighed 7lbs 12oz!!

Congratulations! He looks ready to explore the world and he's not even 12 hours old

Congratulations! He's gorgeous and this thread has hugely reassured me about inductions - thank you!