Induction and Pain Relief

[margot84]

Hi all - second time mum here. I'm 41 + 2 and booked for an induction tomorrow. Another daughter - can't wait.

My first labour was spontaneous at 41+5. It was about 15 hours from first pain to my daughter being born and I had an epidural - I'd written a birth plan and knew what I wanted before my labour. All was fine and normal delivery but had a ventouse / episiotomy- no problems recovered fairly quickly. I enjoyed my labour once I had the pain relief. I felt in control.

I'm booked for induction tomorrow. My midwife was reassuring about my pin relief options but dismissive of a birth plan. I said I really wanted an epidural - that I wanted to be in control of the pain. She was so reassuring - I expressed my concerns about perhaps being told to try and make do without it etc. She said no way will that happen.

If you have had an induction before - how/ when did you ask for pain relief ? I asked immediately last time in the throes of contractions and my husband was there to support me. I'm going in on my own tomorrow - husband not allowed in til I'm on delivery.

I've heard from my friends that things can happen very quickly after pessaries. I don't want to come across a pain asking about an epidural before I've even had one pessary. However, I am worried about being told it's too late / not yet / wait. Has anyone got any induction pain relief advice for an absolute pain wuss - I'm absolutely sure I want an epidural but find it hard to advocate for myself and don't want to be a nuisance.

Thanks in advance

You can ask for an epidural to be done at the same time as the drip. I’m planning another baby and will always be induced at 37-38 weeks, and I plan to refuse the drip until they agree to do an epidural at the same time. Last time, I left it too late, they couldn’t site it properly, then it was time to push - the pain was unreal. Won’t be doing that again!

Yeah just ask for it as soon as you want. If an epidural is what you want then just ask.
I was on the drip and got to 3cm before I —fucking roared— asked for mine.

I had an induction for my second. I had the pessary and nothing happened. Not even a twinge. I had 24 hours say in hospital with nothing happening at all. Luckily I took a book to keep me occupied.

When I had the drip, I had an epidural but things moved quicker then and the baby was born before the epidural fully took effect. It was over quickly though.

Good luck OP

Hi OP

My first birth also involved going into labour naturally at 41+3, then an epidural followed by episiotomy and ventouse, but I was in labour for much longer (55 hours from first pain).

I was induced with my second at 41+5, which was a month ago. I too was worried about the drip and thought I would probably ask for an epidural at the same time if it came to that. In the end it didn’t! With a second birth the induction is likely to be much faster, which was true for me. I had the pessary at 3pm and started contracting at 9pm. Pain was manageable with paracetamol and breathing until about 1am when things ramped up. The worst bit was when I was still on the ward with no pain relief - once I was examined and allowed gas and air it was much more manageable again. Things then happened rather quickly and DC2 was born at 2.30 after 45 mins of active labour. My husband only made it for the final pushes 😆 and the urge to push honestly overtook the pain. I was glad I didn’t have another epidural as I only had a bit of tearing and was discharged quickly. I know you say you definitely want one but you will be able to cope with more than you think as you’ve done it before also things might happen too quickly. Hopefully this reassures you that if you don’t/can’t have it then you will be fine. My second birth experience was infinitely preferable to my first! Good luck 👍🏻

You can’t have an epidural during the induction process, until you’re on labour ward.
During the induction you can have (depending on the hospital) paracetamol, codeine, pethidine
On labour ward for rupture of waters/oxytocin drip or establish labour you can have all the above plus entonox, epidural, remifentanyl

Also please don’t be disappointed if the induction doesn’t happen fast- yes second babies tend to come quicker but that’s not always true with inductions. Can take up to 5 days

My most recent induction I just had gas & air until I ended up with an EMCS at 10cms dilated 🙄 so had a spinal. And let me tell you, trying to sit still while they do the spinal having had no other pain relief and contractions were literally on top of each other was TORTURE.

In a previous one, I had pethidine at about 4-5cms dilated.

I was fully against epidurals in all 3 of my labours but then had a spinal for my c-section and wondered what the fuck I had been doing 🤣 If I was having a baby again, induction or otherwise I'd be ordering that epidural from the first pain, and not waiting until the contractions were too much to bear.

@CornishGem1975 I agree about epidurals, even though my last one didn’t work! Do you mind if I ask the cause of the c section? Preparing myself for all eventualities!

Big fat baby @Cheekypeach He was almost 10lb (the reason I was induced) and I'm tiny, he just wasn't moving down at all and was obviously getting a bit tetchy in there so they decided to take me to theatre to see if they could reach with forceps (no thanks!!) but he was too far up, so c section it was.

I say EMCS, really it was more "unplanned" as there wasn't a major panic at the time. I guess there could have been if they'd left it longer. I was just glad to have it over and done with.

On a separate note - with the drip - you don't have to agree to it until you're ready. They only administered it when I was ready to do so and as I'm sure you know, they keep doubling the dose. It got a bit intense with no break in contractions so I demanded they turn it down or I was ripping it out myself and they did, so make sure you feel in control of what is going on.

Thanks so much for all the replies! Seems like a few people had similar questions so glad it helped.

I've just had a lovely calm bath and going to get an early night tonight and keep myself relaxed ahead of what could be a long process!

Thank you for all the very detailed advice on what they generally give when it helped me understand what I can ask for.

In my head I have tried over the last 9+ months to convince myself that I will try not to have one and to get home quickly without it but I want to be prepared to ask if needed.

If it's taken out of my hands so be it - it's one day and I have forgotten the pain of my first for the most part as soon as I held her. Hopefully I can do it again! Thanks for sharing all your experiences - I love hearing other people's birth stories !

It will be fine @margot84 - go in with an open mind, anything can happen! My induction took 5 days from start to finish (so take some good reading material just in case!) but my friend who went in the same day as me to be induced, had her baby a few hours later!

My induction progressed so quickly I didnt get any pain relief!
I was being induced due to developing pre-eclampsia and was aware labour could be quicker than average but advised things could still take up to 3 days!

I opted for the pessary. This was inserted at 1.30am.
At 6am I had cramps but I didnt think anything of it as they were barely noticable, just dull twinges.
By 7am I had back to back contractions that were so painful I could hardly speak. Midwife thought I was being overly dramatic when I was asking for pain relief so offered me paracetamol.
At 7.30am my waters broke.
Midwife still not convinced even though I was asking for an epidural and gas and air (i was dead set against an epidural from the start!).
Examination revealed I was 5cms dilated and was rushed to delivery where baby was born 1hr 47mins after the first contraction.
I just had gas and air and to be honest, pain wise it could have been worse.
The contractions were literally one constant pain that just didnt ease up. It would just intensify which is when i knew to push.

I think if you absolutely want an epidural make your midwife aware of this before they start the induction.
Inductions can vary so much in how long they take as everyone above has said. Some take days and some less than a few hours!
Make sure your birth partner knows what you want too.
But dont be disappointed if it doesnt happen the way youd like it to.
I was up for trying all the pain relief offered and just got 2 lousy paracetamol 😂

Hope you are getting on ok OP ! I was induced on my first . I had to have two pessaries before being given the drip and I demanded an epidural at the same time as the drip as I had read that the pain would be worse when the drip was starting . In hindsight I wish I had waited a bit longer as then I was bed bound and baby didn’t get into the right position. I ended up with a forceps and episiotomy and always wonder if I had waited a bit longer for the epidural could I have got her in a better position . That being said she was my first. Maybe with your second as others have said the stages can be quicker so it might not be an issue. Hope all goes well for you !