anyone ever chosen c-sec over serratonin drip induction?

[widgetsmummy]

sorry if my spelling is off!

am wondering if anyone ever done this/been allowed to do this?

drip induction sounds horrible - ups liklihood of epidural and c-sec anyway so why go through the extra pain and exhaustion?

any thoughts?

widgetsmummy - have been induced using the drip. To be truthful, it was painful and I needed an epidural and eventually an episiotomy and forceps delivery. However, I recovered from this in under a week, no lasting effects whatsoever. Would hate to have a CS!

widget - a serratonin drip sounds like a wonderful idea - its a feelgood hormone

A syntocinon drip might be another matter altogether.........

I had an emergency c-section with no labour or other intervention first time round. My waters broke but were meconium staining and it turned out that ds was transverse oblique - no lovely home birth for me, and a bit of a surprise too as ds was 12 days early! But a generally good experience. With dd I really wanted a go at a VBAC, but similar thing happened, waters broke, no labour, and four days later they offered me a c-section or syntocin. Foolishly I opted for syntocin, and it was the most horrendous experience as the contractions were huge and very scary. But I only had gas and air, which wasn't (for me) very effective, and I absolutely hated being strapped down. Ended up with a c-section six hours later, and the moment that needle went in to my back was utter bliss (I can actually remember this much more vividly than the pain). So I would be very very wary of syntocin.

i am another who will stand up for the drip,having been induced with all 5 and having the drip with all 5(please note-i was only 38/39 weeks each time and being induced because of high blood pressure.i never saw an overdue lady needing the drip any of the times i was in hospital),the first 2 experiences were indeed awful,but only because they were badly managed and i was needlessly pumped full of drugs.

my last 3 drip-induced labours were great.i had only G+A and gave birth on all 4's.only the 2nd stage was actually painful with dc3 and 4,and only the 3rd stage was painful with dc5(i had a retained placenta).

there are lots of horror stories(i have 2 of my own)but you will find the majority of them are due to staff shortage/incompetance/ignorance when you get to the bottom of it

I had a syntocin drip and if I need it again, I'm going straight to the caesarian instead! I ended up with a section anyway and frankly, it was a bloody painful unmedicated 14 hours. However, you don't seem to have any need to be worrying about this yet.

The section was pretty nice actually

Question really - Would it be better for OP to get this agreed beforehand if it's what she wants? My friend kept asking for a section while in labour and was told no. I'm sure lots of women do that, but in her case I think it would have been better than the forceps birth she had in the end.

Widgetsmummy - it all depends what happens before you get to the point of the drip. Trust your instinct, but yes, it is agonizing - personally I wouldn't even consider having one again without first getting an epidural in place. However, unlike squiffy, I was able to get a epidural put in 4 hours after starting on drip - but had to wait 45 mins for it with midwife huffing that "I should have said before they got started" . I had one after 3 prostin pessaries over the course of 6 days. Ended in emergency c-section. I knew in my heart on day 4 that DD wasn't coming any other way than c-section but was first time mum then and did not have confidence to presume I knew better than docs. Hopefully you'll escape the whole milarky and have a wonderful drug free pea-podding experience!

redadmiral - I put on my birth plan, I would prefer to tear than have an epidural and do not want an instrumental delivery and would rather have a caesarian if that was necessary and they agreed to it. But it depends on the hospital. Also they can say yes in principle in advance and then on the day refuse if it's not required for medical reasons.

Women need to be better informed about the risks of induction (esp for first time mothers) ending up in emergency cs. I was strongly advised to be induced at 40 weeks because my dd had a heart condition. Although I expressed strong reservations, I was pressured to have it (with dire warnings of the risk of my dd dying in my womb). No mention of the increased risk of cs.

I laboured for almost 24 hours on the pessary and then on the drip for 6 hours with pain relief and barely any breaks between contractions. In the end, DD gave up and went into the distress, missed by the midwife who had her nose in her book. Crash cs under GA.

If I had known of the higher risks of em cs, I would have given an elective more thought. Maybe I would not have gone for cs anyway, but in hindsight, knowing what I know now about cs, it is not the horror it is made out to be. I recovered quickly and well, and bf-ed dd without problems.

I had an elective cs with ds - bliss.

no pain relief

my consultant made me sign something saying she had explained in detail that an IOL could end up in an emergency CS(and she had explained as well)and i understood and accepted these risks.

i really really didnt want the drip when i was having ds2(my 3rd child),after the first 2 experiences.i begged them to give me another pessary or give it a few more hours!but i let them break my waters believing that it would get things going,but when it didnt of course i had to have the drip.honestly,being mentally prepared for the worst pain of my life(epidurals are not an option where i am)made so much difference.feeling in control and having MW's listen to me helped a great deal also.
im sure alot less inductions would end in emergency sections if they were better managed.

diva, how do you better manage an induction though? I was told that once started, the hospital will press on until there was a birth - and they weren't kidding.

I was really reluctant to allow them to break my waters, because I knew that the risk of infection would mean a cs within 24 hours, if I did not deliver naturally by then. I baulked and stalled like you did, but the doctor was not impressed. Then the drip was cranked further and further, because I was not progressing as quickly as they wanted. Like I said, my dd went into distress.

I was actually relieved at that stage for my em cs. The induction process was completely unnatural and unnecessarily invasive.

If I compare that induction experience with my em cs, I can definitely see a case for going straight to elective cs.

Blueshoes - you are absolutely right. I had the dire warnings 'both you and your baby will die if we don't do this' and 'there is no other choice'. Totally unforgiveable by the doctors IMHO, esp. as they didn't give me any information on risks etc. I felt violated for a long time.

I think what you can do though if you are a first timer, is be very clued up and ask the right questions:

• what happens if we do nothing
• what statistically are my risks here
• what are alternatives to the suggested course of action
• what happens if we defer this decision for two hours

etc. of course you need a bloody strong and together birth partner to fight this battle for you if you are in a lot of pain/knackered etc.

my waters were broken artificially every time i was induced,before the drip was given.i was told that was how it was done-pessary(ies),ARM,then if nothing happens,drip.i have never heard of the drip being used before the waters have been broken.and with 4 of my children(dd1 was the exception as she was eager to get out)i wasnt given the drip untill day 3 of the induction.
was your baby in distress before they put you on the drip?if not i dont understand why they didnt leave you longer.i had pre-eclampsia with ds1,with BP of 170/115 and ++ protein,and they were still happy for my induction to take 4 days.

diva, the procedure was as you described: pessaries (overnight), ARM (mid-morning), drip (lunchtime to around 6pm), dd went into distress at this stage (heartbeat not bouncing back between decels), so had to be whipped out by cs.

Pessaries to cs was less than 24 hours.

I had the drip to start off my 4th babies labour-and it was horrid, sorry but i would HIGHLY recommend an epidural with it (and so did my midwife but i didn't listen to her. I had been induced twice before with the pessarys and ARM and managed on gas and air. But the drip was a whole diffenent ball game.

I did end up with the epidural,)didnt make much difference) but then baby was distressed and had to push him out at 8cms.

I had c-sec next with my twins, was lovely.
and then another c-sec waith my next set of twins as my consultant wouldn't let me be induced again.

I am not saying to choose c-sec over it, but please consider the epidural with it.

hope it goes well.

blushoes-if they relentlessly whacked up the drip i can understand why you had such an awful experience.as i mentioned in an earlier post,i had a retained placenta with dd3(child no.5),and id laboured and given birth with the drip relatively low throughout,but they wacked it up to try and get the placenta out and that was soooo painful i used more G+A than when i was labouring.

i cant comment on epidurals as they just arent an option up here so ive never had one.

My first birth was an induction and it was wonderful. Arrived on Friday night and had the gel overnight. Saturday morning had waters broken, and pitcocin (US) drip. 12 hours later and after 2 hours of pushing ds1 was born. I didn't use any pain relief, and to be honest it wasn't any more or less painful than my natural labor with ds2. But with both I dilated quickly and total times of official labor for both were less than 7 hours.

Good luck, and don't be afraid.

hi all this is my first post on mumsnet. i am currently lying in hospital following 5 days of attempted induction. i have now had 3 sweeps, one 24 hour pessary, and 3 doses of gel. my baby;s headd is still high and there has been no change in my cervix. a doctor came to see me ysterday and suuggested more gel. ii couldn;t stop crying, its amazing how much this process can wear you down. i came on mumsnet following a long night of monitoring of the baby that is starting to suggest he;s less happy, to look for some advice. i am now 42 weeks +1 today and i see a consultant at half eight this morning. i now feel strong enough t0 demand a c section adter reading everyones comments. it may not be ideal, bu no one really prepres you for the possibility thaat induction can fail. i just wanted to share this with you as i think that sometmes you need to draw the line for your emotional health as much as your physical health! hopefully by the end of today i will have my son out safely

ps. i;m first time mum x

Hello littlemiss and welcome. Doubt you're still on here, but I think you are doing the right thing to try to get a section now (just my opinion, I'm not a doctor.) Hopefully a consultant will agree with you. Reason I'm saying this is that the baby's head is still high and he's showing signs of distress. It happenened with me and I'm convinced the cs was best decison for me and my baby.

Good luck.