Being induced at 37+4

[Thejoysof2boys]

Hi

I am currently 37+4 and have been told that I need to be induced due to the baby's small size. They are estimating he is around 4.85lbs, does anyone know what to expect being induced at this stage?

Is my baby likely to need special care and a hospital stay?

DS1 was a natural labour and wasn't a huge baby either (6lbs 7oz at 40+3) and I was 6lbs 1 at birth so I'm not overly concerned by his small size at this stage but wondering if I am being naive.

Any advice for how to cope would be great!

Plan for being there a LONG time, you may not, but you could be.
Likely you will be given a pessary to see if it kickstarts contractions. You'll be hooked up to a fetal monitor the whole time.
If nothing happens after x hours (4?8 can't recall) they will give you another one and wait and see.

If contractions do start then they wait and see if progress etc

If things slow/ no go they may break your waters artificially/ and or give you drip of hormones to really kick start things.

Because baby is small they will be keeping an eye on his/her heart rate ti look for any signs of distress as small babies get stressed more easily during contractions and birth. If this happens they will speed things up and get baby out quick smart ( CS/instrumental etc)

I know people where it was 2 days before baby and others where it was same day.

Re special care/ hospital stay- depends on you/baby health when out. Hopefully its a small healthy baby!

Hi @SpaSushi you are exactly right

I have started the process now and currently have the pessary in.

Fingers crossed for something happening soon

Mine was same gestation but opposite problem, DD was a giant.

I had the pessary then 30 mins of monitoring then i was let loose to wander the hospital , no monitor,drip or cannula.

Stayes overnight, no sleep just wandered from air con vent to air con vent trying to cool down.

Checked the next day, pessary removed, MW broke my waters, had some lunch then wandered a bit more. 4.5 hrs after waters were broken I had DD who.was 8lb 11oz with the help of gas n air.

Gave birth at 6.30pm we stayed overnight and then left about 8am the nwxt morning.

Wow @Lwmommy that sounds ideal to me! I'm due to be examined at 9pm tonight to decide next course of action.

Praying for a similar situation to yours 🙏

The waiting around listening to other people in labour come and go is just awful 😣

Hope your check goes well and you're making progress.

I was induced at 38 weeks as DD wasn’t doing well. The labour was very quick once my water broke. We spent a little time in NICU. Having a streachy singlet/vest meant I could do skin to skin with DD while up in NICU which really helped.

Thank you everyone for your advice

Only 1cm dilated so now onto the gel, fed up already!

@ICJump you weren't wrong! Immediately after my waters broke contractions started and 3 hours later I was holding my baby!!!

Such a fast labour I almost didn't make it to the delivery suite as the midwife had gone on her lunch thinking I had ages! I was pushing on route, thankful baby is here and safe and well.

Also shows the doctors are not always right! So they estimated my baby to be 4lbs 8 and said I would need to be induced and actually he was 5lbs 8 which is pretty normal for 37+6 not massively small! DS1 was only 6lbs 7 at 40+3 so after all that induction probably wasn't needed!

Congratulations!

So glad you and baby are well and hope you get to go home soon.