Induction problems!! Any advice

[gills22]

Hello All,

Hoping for some anxiety calming advice as I cannot find anything online.

I was induced yesterday afternoon with the propes peccary but my body is not accepting it. They are concerned that it is failing but will not give me any more info
In the course of 14 hours I have had two peccary fall out and now they do not want to put another one in.

The first one just worked itself lose and was irritating me for a while. the second one I have not even had in four hours and it just slid out while I went to the loo.

Honestly starting to panic now.

Try not to worry; if the pessary fails there are other options like gel or they can do with an injection. Make sure to let your midwife know your worries so they can reassure you. Get them to explain what will happen next if the pessary doesn't succeed.

hope all goes well and you'll soon be holding your baby in your arms xx

What was the stated reason for induction?

And what has been explained to you regarding your options going forward? Are they offering an alternative means instead of the pessary?

Because no further interventions have been done as of yet, I would assume you could stop the induction as a whole now and wait for spontaneous labour if you wanted to, and/or arrange to start an induction again at a later date.

Hi there it's a labour ward midwife with experience in working in the induction of labour bay. Process does occasionally fall out. It's not at all common for it to happen twice in a row. This is not your body rejecting propess or induction of labour. I suggest you wait untill the morning doctors arrive and ask to speak to the Consultant obstetrician about the best way forward. (Consultants only cover emergencies at night). I would also suggest you speak to the Ward Matron in the morning. Try to get some rest now. Nothing terrible or irreversible has happened . However medication needs to be in the right place for it to work

Has the same person inserted the Propess both times? It's unusual to fall out twice so I wonder is it down to whoever is inserting it? It's not the end of the world though, I would ask for Prostin gels next if you are not in a position to have your waters broken. Its also really common to need gels in addition to Propess if the pessary hasnt made enough of a change, so it's safe to move on to gels today. Good luck today, hope you start making some good progress soon!

So I am being induced because I only found out I was expecting at 32 weeks. So they cannot be 100% sure how far along I am.
I have also been on the borderline for Pre eclampsia.

So they decided for the sake of mine and babies health, they would induce me.

Thank you so much for the advice and sorry for the late reply, it's been a busy morning.

They have done some further investigations this morning and are possibly going to look at changing there approach. Just got to wait until 3PM when I hit the 24 hour mark before they make any major decisions.

No, they were inserted by two different midwives.
They inserted a third one this morning and so far it's stayed out. Just got to get to 3PM now for the 24 hours to have passed.
I had not heard of the gels. I will ask at 3pm if there is anything else they can advice instead

How are things @gills22?

It's been a long rough day. Nothing against the maternity staff as they have been amazing but it's not been fun.
I spent over 3 hours monitoring this morning and have now just spent another 3 on it again.
Whenever I have contractions baby's heart rate dips. So they are concerned and have taken me off the peccary now. So just waiting to find out what happens next.
I am just exhausted, confused and overwhelmed. I knew being autistic would make labour difficult but it's been harder than I expected.

Take a deep breath, it’s a catch 22 but babies come when mum is feeling relaxed.

Have you had a decent dinner? I know it’s not the greatest weather but could you go for a walk to get some fresh air?

I know preeclampsia isn’t something to mess around with and I’m sure somebody more knowledgeable will come along shortly but there’s lots of mothers that go past 42 weeks pregnant now.

I’m ND too and I couldn’t cope with the uncertainty of having an induction. If the baby needs to come out request a C-section - surgery takes 45 minutes and my body was completely back to normal in a month.

Seconding requesting a C-section. So many inductions end in C-section anyway, often when you are exhausted and your baby is too! That happened to me and it was no fun. Ended up hallucinating from tiredness! Really wish I’d gone straight for the C-Section and had a calm elective procedure instead of the mess that happened.

I had the same thing. I didn't want the hormonal drip so I requested C section and refused them breaking my waters etc.

You can request C section at any point. (NICE guidelines.)

I was induced as my son was overdue. My labour never progressed, and I ended up with an emergency C-section, as he became distressed. I was left in limbo, with a non-progressive labour far too long, before a C-section was mentioned. I was admitted at 1 pm on a Sunday to be induced and my son was born by emergency C-section at 9.46 pm on the Monday night. Don't let the hospital drag their feet, and leave you in limbo, request a C-section. I was utterly exhausted and then had to go through a C-section.

Thank you all for the advice,
I have spoken to the doctors now and I am just waiting for a bed to become available on the labour ward so that I can be transferred down there. Had a discussion about C-section and they do not think it's needed currently but have noted down that i am happy to go that route if required.
Feeling a lot more relaxed now and so going to try and get a couple of hours sleep.

Dd was admitted in a Thursday evening to be induced, but never got into established labour. There were endless delays despite concerns about the baby’s movements and heartbeat, and dd was getting exhausted and upset by being away from her toddler. She finally had a c-section the following Wednesday so was in hospital a week overall. I echo other people saying to push for a c-section sooner rather than later.

I am guessing if they induce they will need to put you on the hormone drip during labour. Strong strong advice to ask for an epidural BEFORE they start the drip. Strongly advise against “trying it out and seeing how you go” as pain escalates very fast so better just to take the epidural upfront. This is repeated all over mumsnet on various threads but thought worth mentioning here as you may not have had a chance to think through induction much.

I was in a very similar position to you. If I had my time again I would have politely insisted on a c-section at this point. A planned c-section can be a calm lovely and controlled affair, a crash c-section or them having to drag a distressed baby out with forceps in anything but.

If a c-section feels right for you just let them know that you will not be consenting to any further induction and would like a c section please. And then become a very polite broken record.

Definitely this. Also, if you let them "see how it goes" chances are it will turn out there's no anaesthetist available and you won't get your epidural.

Labour ward midwife here. I noticed that women who try the hormonal drip before epidural is sited somehow end up with less emergency Caesareans. I am applying for funding to check if my personal observation will hold out with a bigger group of women. We do have a good anaesthetist service on iur labour ward though- most epidurals are sited within 1 hour of the request if the woman is already on the labour ward. (It's a different matter if she is still on the antenatal ward or maternity assessment unit). Everyone knows that hormonal drip is painful so our anaesthetists prioritise those requests to the best of their abilities. Saying this, the hormonal drip doesn't usually kicks in for at least 2 hours - the woman could be mobilising during this time. Epidural might make sense for the OP though as she is so exhausted. Lack of sleep always makes pain worse

@gills22 Thinking of you ☺️

Thank you very much.

Currently still waiting for a bed on labour and delivery. So been on the ward since Wednesday.

Oh you poor thing! It’s awful how they just leave people on the ante-natal ward for days and days 😢. How are you feeling? Are you managing to get any sleep?

Just want to share another experience and starting out by saying I didn’t give birth in the Uk so policies are different.

I requested an induction on my due date as I’d had multiple losses and was almost 40. Went in on the Monday and had pessary. Didn’t work for me at all. Had balloon pessary, that also didn’t work, they kept trying with pessary until Thursday. Was super frustrating (at one point I was crying with frustration, could also ha e been hormones) but I was well monitored so knew baby was OK.

My waters finally broke on Thursday evening and after that was given the hormone drip, anaesthetist wasn’t immediately available for epidural and everything went super fast. Baby was out in 4 hours from starting drip. it was however a positive experience. Yes it was painful but I don’t have another birth to compare it to.

As annoying as it is to hear, patience is helpful (I could happily have punched anyone that told me that while I was going through it though). Also, having someone advocate for you if you feel unable to push for what you want/need.

Just wanted to update you all. Baby lily was born at 20:55 on the 16th February 2025.

I had been on the oxytocin drip for 15 hours by that point and they decided to give me a cat2 C-section. She is here and healthy which is the main thing.

Congratulations, she is beautiful 😍