Balloon Induction after a painful internal exam

[Ella17393]

This weekend I am booked in for a balloon Induction and absolutely petrified at the idea. Last week I had a vaginal exam after thinking my waters had broken, turns out they didn’t but all in all the 2 minute exam was excruciatingly painful, so much that I was allowed gas and air. To think I have to go through that again and have a balloon inserted has left me feel worried. I tried discussing other options such as pessary first but my consultant was not having it and tried to ensure me that the procedure would only be ‘uncomfortable’ and guilt tripped me by saying I would have to wait longer if I wanted any other procedure first and I was putting my already overweight baby at risk. This is my first baby and the nerves are already high, to top it off I don’t know of many women who have had this procedure. Infact my friend who is a midwife in another city informed me that most trusts don’t tend to use the balloon induction. So ladies if anyone has had this what was your experience and can you offer any advice?

I've never heard of a balloon induction. I had a perssary but baby wasn't happy and ended in emergency c section before the could try the drip and breaking my waters.

I remember my examination and the perssary being extremely painful and that was nearly 5 years ago!

Please remember you have options and don't be forced down a route that you don't want, speak up and let your feelings be known. You can opt for an elective section if you want too, you have the right to have the birth you want!

How many weeks are you? How big is baby?

I would stand your ground. The consultant can try and guilt you all they like but its your choice at the end of the day. Makes me so mad that women are manipulated this way about their birth choices. You're agreeing to induction, you just want one you have more confidence in. Please don't let them bully you into putting something in your vagina that you don't want!!

Not many trusts do balloon induction now but I was meant to have one but they'd gone out of date and no-one had ordered more. Ended up with a semi planned csection instead.
The balloon induction was explained to me though. They insert a small catheter with the uninflated balloon into the cervix. Then slowly inject a small amount of saline into the balloon and increase it over time if necessary. The weight of the balloon on the cervix then is meant to naturally induce labour. The catheter is very thin, smaller than a finger so less invasive in that sense so hopefully won't be as painful at least and I'm sure if necessary they would allow you gas and air too.

If you are really adamant against it then stand your ground. The problem with pessary etc is it can bring on labour very intensely, very quickly which means baby can go into distress etc or problems with delivery. For a 1st child it sounds unusual they are recommending the balloon method so I'm assuming there are worries around yours or babies health. Honestly whatever you choose is completely up to you, but definitely ask questions etc so you are informed, but I personally think the balloon method won't be as uncomfortable as an internal examination. Good luck!

Thank you ladies!

I am 40 weeks, Baby is weighing 9 pounds and this apparently is a big jump from 3 weeks ago. Consultant kept advising the pessary as last option due to the fact of stronger contractions. I have to go for the induction on my own too due to covid regulations at the hospital and as much as I want to be able to stand my ground, without my husband there I feel like my decisions will be out of my hands as from past experiences at this hospital the staff are very pushy.

Just an update, mucus plug has come away and I seem to be getting frequent contractions. If when I go to the hospital and I am only a cm or 2 dilated will they still induce me? Trying to hold off and progress as much as possible at home before I call up.

Its good things are moving along, but please don't go ahead with induction if you don't want it. From what I know, inductions are done when baby is either overdue past a certain time frame, or if there's a medical need for it. If neither applies to you, then just decline. If you were to go to hospital and you're 2cm, they should really give you all your options and not decide for you. It's not the case of, we'll she's here let's get it over and done with. Your body, your say. They're just there to help you ensure that whatever decision you take, it goes as smoothly as possible.

Also, do let them know if your waters break as labour should then start in the following 24 hours

You can ask for gas and air again for any and all internal 'rummaging'. I only found this out after a couple of painful examinations for induction, I was pretty cross they didn't tell me about gas and air being available until I'd cried.

That’s great you’re getting some contractions. I had the balloon induction a month ago - insertion was much much less painful than the sweeps I had if that helps. In fact, it didn’t hurt at all. I was 3 cm dilated when they inserted it though. I started having contractions overnight but it didn’t fall out and turns out I was 5cm dilated the next day but sometimes the balloon gets stuck next to baby’s head which is what they think happened (didn’t cause any issues). I then had my waters broken around 12pm and everything went very quickly and she was born at 2pm.

While it worked and wasn’t painful for me, they should listen to what you want to happen so do stand your ground if you feel the pessary is best for you.

I had a failed attempt at balloon induction-it was agony. I’d never agree to it again. They couldn’t get it in. But I wasn’t given any gas and air.
I also had failed induction with the pessary too, they had to remove it after I had a bad reaction to it. But fortunately I had spontaneous labour same day.

Get marching up and down stairs and bouncing @Ella17393 - try and get things moving yourself.

I was being induced due to maternal age and gestational diabetes and would’ve had to have a section if it hadn’t moved on as I’d exhausted their induction options.

I had a balloon induction. It was v painful going in and I had gas and air but once in it was no problem.
However if your cervix is already favourable you can ask to go straight to ARM (where they break your waters) and then if that doesn’t get it going they will put you on the drip.

That's interesting @megan2018 they were going to take my first pessary out as it caused constant, albeit fairly low grade, contractions. But they died off and the pessaries did bugger all, only just got to 2cm for ARM and then I had the same weird contractions on the drip of they turned it up past half way- they didn't because it was causing foetal distress. Never did get to the bottom of what it was that made my body react oddly to a fairly routine set of drugs 🤷‍♀️ glad to read other people experiencing similar though!

@Heyha I had constant agonising contractions (but they weren’t real labour) within minutes of it going in-violent vomiting and diarrhea and baby was distressed so they took it out within the hour. They said it was “Hyperstimulation of the uterus” and it can be really dangerous. It took about 5 hours for my body to calm down afterwards and ironically they gave me codeine for that but not the balloon .
They then ruled that I wasn’t a candidate for the drip as a result of the previous reaction so I was left until they could decide on what to do next (it was September and they were full to bursting).

Fortunately I paced the corridors of the hospital as I was so uncomfortable lying down after they took the pessary out, and later that night I had a 6 hour spontaneous labour. I expect the trauma brought it on, but in my notes it was a spontaneous labour, not induced.

Hi ladies it’s been a few weeks, thought I would post an update as I have since given birth to a beautiful little girl.

I am so in love with my bundle of joy but my labour has left me traumatised to say the least. So I didn’t end up having the balloon induction as a very painful vaginal exam confirmed my waters had broken and instead was offered the pessary to bring my contractions on quicker. I had to stay in the hospital alone until I reached established labour and I was in agony very quickly. I constantly told the midwives that I knew my body and this pain was too much for me to not be further along then the half a cm I turned up with. Dear lord, contractions are a b! I was throwing up from how horrendous they were I was laying on the floor and had to beg a midwife to examine me. They scoffed and said it wouldn’t be worth it as I couldn’t be very far along as I was only admitted a few hours prior and told me they didn’t want to examine me as I was being difficult. My body was in agony everytime I was examined and I felt like they were mocking me about this. Half an hour later after constantly pressing the buzzer I was checked and they confirmed what I thought all along I was 5cm and was rushed to the delivery ward. The pain from the pessary was so painful, I was offered coedine which didn’t work. I wish I had gone home and waited for it to naturally develop as I feel like the induction made my whole experience go downhill. 24 hours later I was rushed in to theatre and baby was delivered using ventouse suction cups. I did receive an epidural but due to the baby’s placement it wasn’t as effective as we would have liked. I now have a third degree tear and have been in pain since my daughters birth. Nothing could have prepared me for labour and postpartum recovery

So sorry to read this OP.
Just here to offer a hand hold really. You will heal in time, but getting over a traumatic birth is hard and horrid, I remember it well and not fondly!