Propess Pessary induction

[LittleCactus]

I have an appointment to be induced with the pessary tomorrow. Please can I hear any of your experiences of this? Good or bad.
I'm an FTM and the nerves are kicking in now!
Midwife tried to do a sweep the other day but cervix was too closed to I'm not holding out much hope of things happening quickly to be honest.

Hi

I had one for my second baby (first was spontaneous delivery. I mention this because it may have affected the outcome). I was being induced due to being post dates (42 weeks). I had been having lots of false starts in the few weeks leading up to it so I do think my body was getting ready but two sweeps didn’t get baby shifting.

the propess on its own was enough for me. I had it put in about 2pm on a Sunday, and up til 9pm ish nothing much was happening. This was lockdown times so I wasn’t allowed home and back again, I stayed in hospital. If you have to stay in - take something to read / watch / do! Then contractions started and lost mucus plug.

propess came out at the same time.

midwife examined me - 7cm! Quick transfer to delivery and I was even allowed to birth in the pool because I had no other risk factors (just the fact I was 42 weeks along). Baby born 2.09pm on the Monday so near enough exactly 24 hours after the pessary went in.

it was a really really positive birth!

good luck, I hope you get on ok.

oh I forgot to say - pain relief… I had some paracetamol and some coedine to give me a bit of relief in the middle of the night so I could close my eyes between contractions. Then when they did that examination after losing mucus plug etc, I knew I would struggle so asked for gas and air for the examination. Then that blessed pipe didn’t leave my lips until the baby was born (and then I used it again when I needed stitches after. I love gas and air). It wasn’t fun when i had to go in the lift (had to stop the gas and air obviously and contractions were pretty intense by then). But the lovely midwife let me keep the mouthpiece and bite on it instead which did help strangely!!

Congratulations.

I had a pessary induction too 11 months ago. Also FTM so totally understand where you're coming from. It was the best option for me. I'm not gonna lie it was painful but I've always found smears painful too.

If you're worried about the pain tell them straight away, I was offered gas and air which massively helped. Where comfy loose cloths. I wore joggers and a loose top.

Make sure you go for a wee before hand. I had to lie there for an hours after in was inserted before I was allowed to move.

I had 2 rounds of the pessary before things got moving.

Advice once you've had it and after the hour just keep walking around, bounce on a ball and keep moving.

@Bigoldmachine thanks for this! I'm also going in because I'm overdue, will be 41+3 tomorrow.

Weirdly one of my main concerns is things starting to kick off at night and not being able to contact my partner on time!!!

I really hope baby is here within 24 hours. The thought of just being kept waiting around fills me with dread.

I will probably also be clinging onto the gas and air!

PS I understand your nerves. I do. But what I will say is the fear I held in my first birth definitely had a direct negative effect. With my second I had done some hypnobirthing (read a book mainly and did a little bit of practice visualising and breathing). It helped so much. Some of my main takeaways were:

• think of each contraction as like a hill. Once you’ve got the worst bit it’s easing off again already
• i can do anything for a minute
• the sensation can’t be bigger than me because it IS from me
• the need to zone out - conscious thought eg partner asking questions requiring you to think / reply…. Really unhelpful when you’re in the active birth bit. I needed to shut everything out
• reframing contractions as surges. Thinking of them being intense or powerful rather than painful. They need to be powerful to get the baby out! I know that sounds a bit airy fairy but it did help me

having said all of the above - your instinct goes a long way! There are lots of pain relief options if you need them. The midwives should talk you through the options. Being induced can be intense so you need to go with what you need in the moment. But as I said for me it was very positive.

Hello,

I have had 5 children, currently pregnant with my 6th and in the third trimester and I am looking to be induced in roughly 5-6 weeks. I hope.

I had the pessary with our first son. Took about 2 pessaries and that was at Sunday 2pm and I didn't have him until Tuesday 2.40pm. I found them rubbish to be honest.

With our second born, waters went straight after sex at 37weeks on a Saturday. Went to hospital. They kept me in as I had lost a lot of water and given me 3 to 5 pessaries over 72 hours, nothing helped, until they gave me the drip. That sped things right up and within 6 hours I had delivered. The pessaries just don't work for me. Sex is more effective and the drip did work but it was extremely intense. I was begging for the epidural as gas and air and pethidine was barely helping. I was also recovering from a lost voice and chest infection, so my begging for help was just raspy whispers. I never got to have the epidural, as there was no anaesthetist available. I actually never wanted an epidural with any of mine. But the drip is so strong and they crank it up every now and again and its back to back contractions.

With all my other children, I had sweeps and waters broken which I found a million times better. This time I would prefer to be induced with waters broken if possible and a sweep. The pessaries just don't help me at all.

@Rani123 thanks for the advice! Going to double check what I've got in my hospital bag today - packed it so long ago I can't even remember.

Do you remember how long it was between first pessary and baby? Hate the idea of being in hospital for days, I've never really been in hospitals since I was a kid.

I had this with DC1, 9 days over. Mine was a really positive experience. I went into labour about 12 hours after it was inserted. Labour was 3.5hours from start to finish on just gas and air.

an understandable worry!! My DH only just got there on time. again because of lockdown he had to leave me at the door when I went in and was only allowed back once I went to delivery suite… we are an hour away from the hospital and it all went a bit fast at the end so he only got there ten mins before baby being born. It was my second as I said but actually I didn’t mind being on my own for the Labour bit! In a way it helped because I had no one else to think about. So again even if that happens it might not be awful!

@PopsicleHustler interesting how it's so completely different for everyone. Thanks for the insight! Good to know what I could expect

I had this at 37.5 weeks due to GD.

Propess was inserted Wednesday morning after about an hour of monitoring my BP and babies heart rate. After insertion they put the belly monitor back on and I had to lay there for about an hour for more monitoring.

Then I was just left to wander, get some lunch and wait around. Moved to a ward at about 5pm at which point DH went home, I had dinner and then waited around a lot more.

Take entertainment and be prepared for a night in a hot noisy ward.

Next morning, more monitoring then waited for a nurse/MW to be free to do a cervix check. I had had a few tightenings overnight but nothing consistent.

Cervix check at 1pm(ish) showed enough progress that they could manually break my waters. From there contractions started within the hour. I wandered around the hospital some more before contractions got regular, then had some gas n air. About 6ish I told the Mw on the ward that I felt like I needed to push and she thought I was exaggerating or misreading the feeling so told me she needed to finish up her paperwork first. I told DH to get ready to catch cos I was pushing, so she came over and took a look and saw DDs head. Cue lots of shouting for people to help move me to a delivery room, I kept pushing during the move and DD was born as I was being pushed through the doors of the delivery room.

I had this with my first a few years ago. My sweep wasn’t successful as the baby’s head wasn’t close enough to the cervix. I had the pessary at 12pm and started to have slight cramps an hour or two later. She arrived 10 hours later. Very positive experience and was no different experience to my second child who arrived without induction. Wishing you all the best xxx

@Bigoldmachine we are only half an hour and not got the Covid issue so fingers crossed we'll be ok. I see your point about it maybe being better without anyway for some of it...DH can get on my nerves at times haha!

Helpful advice re. hypnobirthing thanks😀

@Marilla1966 exactly what I want to hear! 😅

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime oh wow! She obviously just couldn't wait to meet you😀

@pollyfd hope mine is like this 😅

Its interesting how pessaries are so different for everyone. Some people just need one, while others require more to loosen up the cervix more.
I wish mine was a one time job. But then again even withone its a waiting game in some cases.

I wish you all the best, op;) and a happy and healthy baby and a good straight forward birth.

Have you thought about pain relief and water birth?

I had a water birth with my second son and it was incredible. I felt so light in the water. It ook the pressure off and helped with the pushing. I definitely would like it this time around.

I had the first pessary at about 5pm Sunday and then again 6 hours later as there was no movement.

Baby was born 6.30am Tuesday morning.

I had mine on my due date. For me I had a really good experience and felt I was still in control.

I decided on an epidural for the birth which I had done around 8pm Monday evening. That was also the best thing ever for me.

I was pushing for around 1.5hours but baby wasn't moving enough do they decided to get baby out by forceps. As I'd already had the epidural the whole process was very quick.

The only downside of the epidural for me was that I had a lot of sickness, not known anyone who's hd that issue before but as soon as the epidural wore off I was fine again.

Also if you get offered toast after birth just say yes. It's the best toast you'll ever have ☺️