Been given an induction date, what to expect?

[Mummy2bePL]

Hi everyone went to the hospital today and we have been given an induction date for next week. I was just wondering if anyone could share their experiences. I literally do not know what to expect at all . Thanks in advance

I had the pessary in at 37 weeks, 1hr 15 min labour and DS2 was our!

Do you mind if I ask how far along and why you’re being induced? In my case it wasn’t urgent and I had to ring on the day they gave me (2 days later). The induction ward was full so I had to ring the next day, and eventually got in that afternoon.

I was then consented and they explained (some of) the risks. They then put a pessary in (uncomfortable but not painful) which would stay in for 24 hours. The plan was then to check after 24 hours if I was dilated enough for them to manually break my waters but actually The pessary kicked things off and he was born about 12 hours later!

It may be different in your hospital but I imagine it’s a similar idea!

It may happen quickly but there may be waiting around so take books and snacks etc! Also take ear plugs as people can be on the induction ward for quite a while once having contractions and it gets noisy!

I never got as far as the drip but if you know you want an epidural, get it before they put the drip in.

Best of luck!

I went in to be induced on the Monday, ended up having DD by emergency C section on the Thursday due to non progression of labour. It can take a while for things to get going when your induced so be prepared to do a lot of waiting. Good Luck I hope everything goes well x

Also I definitely agree with getting the epidural before the drip. If the pecessaries don't work they will put you on the drip. I had it and I don't mean to frighten you but it really does make the contractions 100 times worse so get the epidural first, there are no medals for going without x

I had an induction 12 days ago and it started off with the Gel which did nothing at all then they moved onto the drip which took ages to work but once it did it was very full on and intense so i ended up with an epidural and DS was born two hours later. I think the whole Labour from the gel going in to him arriving was about 26hrs long but it varies patient to patient

@SproutMuncher I will be 39 weeks, went in with reduced movements once and then they scanned the baby boy and his circumference of the body isn't following the same trend and is a bit below what they would expect. But nothing too concerning . I just hope they don't cancel it before then as I was dreading going to 42 weeks

They’ll first examine you to see whether your cervix is ‘favourable’. If it is, they may be able to break your waters immediately; if not, they’ll insert a pessary to soften the cervix and get things moving. After breaking the waters, if labour doesn’t start on its own they’ll put you on an oxytocin drip to kickstart contractions. That’s the usual procedure, anyway - good luck!

The pessary worked very quickly for me. Just to warn you, if you have heavy / painful periods, you may not be able to differentiate between pessary cramping and early labour. I didn’t realise I was in labour until I was 5cm dilated and in agony at which point I was begging for my epidural.

@Mummy2bePL ah I hope they won’t cancel you, I’m sure they won’t if it’s because of reduced movements and stuff. Pleased it’s nothing too concerning and I’m sure you won’t get near 42 weeks as even if it gets put back a day or two it won’t get put back 3 weeks!

@SproutMuncher I hope not, finally can see the end so will be 39 weeks. I'm happy that it's nearly here. They didn't seem too concerned abo the scan it was just that the baby hasn't made as much progress as they thought but have still made progress. I've heard inductions am an cause more pain, is this true?

Induction isn't until next week so have a few days to read up about it

Apparently the contractions on the drip can be more painful because instead of building up like in spontaneous labour, they go from 0-100 and are more intense. But if you find them unmanageable you have pain relief options and don’t be scared to take them!

I was induced for DC2, I had the pessery but nothing happened so went on the drip. Much more painful that normal contractions, but I had gas and air and 2 hours later DS was in my arms. Good luck, and enjoy the new born snuggles x

Thank you for everyone's responses , going to have a read up on inductions before the big day

I was induced at 39 weeks.

Hospital called me on the day to come in. Applied my pessary at 11.30 am and dd was born at 3pm. 1st baby.