Inductions ???

[mumest1019]

Got my induction early tomorrow morning. Any advice, helpful tips or words of encouragement. First baby, extremely nervous.

Bump

I would say just to go with the flow and don't have high expectations that things will move quickly. Induction can be a long process, but ultimately you are on the road to meeting your baby hope it all goes well

Thank you!!

There will be ALOT of waiting. But once you get the induction drugs it goes very fast

Agree that there will be a LOT of waiting around. If you have people looking after kids/pets be prepared that they may need to do so for longer than anticipated - I was booked in on the Sunday (so assumed I’d have the babies by Monday or Tuesday at the latest), postponed til Monday, started off Monday afternoon, everything then put on hold due to no beds and eventually gave birth on Thursday!
After I had the pessary but before my waters went I was so so uncomfortable- take painkillers when offered!
Eat as much as you can during the hanging around time so you’ve got lots of energy for labour.
I had an epidural (twins so it was very strongly recommended I have one) and it was bloody amazing - contractions ramped up pretty quickly - I went from irregular occasional tightenings to 4 in 10 (and from 2 to 10cm dilated) over about 6 hours and basically slept through it, then stopped topping the epidural up once I was fully dilated so I could feel the urge to push. I don’t think I’d’ve been able to tolerate the continuous monitoring without the epidural either.
Good luck!!

Get up and walk around when you can (subject to monitoring etc), sleep when you can. Mine went slowly for a bit and then everything happened at once! The calmer you feel the better, so take some films/books/snacks you love and some comfy clothes. Also hospital may be very warm!

Good luck!

Yes keep an open mind and go in mentally prepared for delays and changes of plan. Don’t be a hero re pain relief - if it hurts, tell someone and if you want an epidural say so! My induction was overall an amazing experience.

Don’t be afraid to ask the midwives for what you need once things kick off - IME they will do their best to make sure it happens.

My induction was really quick. I had 2 pessarys 6 hours apart which got me to 3cm with no pains, then they broke my waters and baby was born 2 hours later!

My induction was really quick. I was admitted at 6pm, pessaries put in at 10pm. Nothing til midnight when I suddenly went into hard labour and baby was born at 2am.

Good luck OP! Inductions seem to be different for everyone, mine was intense pretty much straight away with regular incredibly painful contractions which lasted 37 hours 😣 but lots of people I know had really fast labour's once induced. So like others have said, go with an open mind, take each hour as it comes and see each contraction as one step closer to meeting your baby

Just seen you posted this yesterday which means your induction was today!! Hope everything is going well OP!!