inductions - how bad are they really?

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

just trying to prepare myself, 6 days overdue now and meeting up with the midwife tomorrow when I'm sure she'll book me in for an induction.

I obviously want to avoid one mainly because I'm hoping for a homebirth and want to avoid as much intervention as possible, but at the end of the day a safe and healthy baby is the most important thing. I'm going to see if I can have a placenta scan before agreeing to an induction because I'd still prefer for my baby to be born when it's ready rather than on an NHS timetable...

but in case I do have to have an induction - just how bad is it really? any positive induction stories out there?!

GWTMH - I suggest a power walk up the common tomorrow afternoon followed by some vigourous "soooooooooh" chanting at Kathleen's yoga in the evening - whaddya say?

thanks again, good to hear the better stories - at the end of the day DH was induced as was his sister and they're both fine now!

Boobz I'm so with you for a walk on the common tomorrow, think I might be too hideously depressed being a week over to show my face at Kathleen's!!

so, sweep tomorrow, reflexology on thurs...come on baby!

My 2 labours were identical. 1 was induced the other wasn't. However I would say I don't have easy labours anyway.

My SIL was induced. Took two lots to get her started then it progressed quite quickly and she managed with gas and air only. You hear a lot of induction horror stories but she was fine. Good Luck.

thank you - have been booked in for saturday when I'll only be 41+4 because the stupid labour ward is full on sunday and monday

I was induced with DD2 at 40+2 as she had stopped moving, for me it was a lvoely birth.

I was given the gel to start with (was told you get 3 goes of this before they try and break your waters or put a drip in)

For me gek worked first time and was contracting within about an hour.

Wasn't long before I was on the delivery suite. I had to be continually monitered because of the reason they induced me.

Had a lovely labour feeling completely in control using gas and air.

I first walked into the hospital to be induced about 3pm and she was born by 9:05pm.

GWTMH -- can you not tell them that their booking issues shouldn't impede your body's chance to have a natural birth at home? I would push for 42 weeks. Was it Juliet you saw today?

Am crossing EVERYTHING for you.

it was angeline - I'm seeing her again on thursday for another sweep, might get her to push the hospital to let me go in on tuesday instead of saturday, just seems really unfair to induce me at 41+4 - and what difference will it make if I go in monday at 8pm or tuesday at 7am?

thanks hun, am shitting it a bit....

No shitting allowed unless you are in labour! No point in working yourself up into a frenzy - that won't help when you actually do go into labour (naturally or not).

I have done some more research for you. Apparently using a vibrator might help? Have you got a Rampant Rabbit or similar?

boobz you're brilliant! clitoral stimulation last night made BHs more intense...induction moved to tuesday which has made me feel sooooooooo much better and way more positive...stocked up on RLT, booked in for sweeps every other day til tuesday - Valley midwives rock!

Glad to hear you are feeling so much more positive! This baby WILL arrive in the VHC nursery, not the hospital one!

Good luck GWTMH!!! Hopefully things will happen for you soon. I was 40+2 and ended up being induced.

Mine was okay really, I had been very anxious about it beforehand, when I went to the hospital my BP was thru the roof having generally been pretty consistent during pregnancy!

The hospital were very good and tried to help me make it as 'natural' as possible. A pessary kicked my contractions off, after 15 hrs i was dilated enough to have my waters broken. I used a tens machine throughout (highly recommend) and had a shot of morphine 6 hrs after my waters were broken because my contractions were so close together and i was struggling to cope. Things were much better after that because they put me on a drip and were able to control the contractions so i could have a breather in between. After another 6hrs DD arrived. I had a normal delivery and not too many stitches.

I was so nervous about it all that i asked if i could postpone the induction. They said i could, but in the end i just wanted to get it over with and was so sick of receiving texts to ask if there was 'any news' !!!

Thing is, what will be, will be!!

Good luck, let us know what happens. x

i agree with previous cooment in that it all varies...
i was 11 days overdue - went in and had pessary at 10 pm nite before and then again at 6am.. Pain didnt really start until 7am.. I must say worst thing was the thought of having to go and stay overnight without husband and maybe being in real pain overnight. Also there were no private paid side wars in ulster hospital ---it was just a first come first served re side rooms so could have ended up being in major pain in ward with 3 others. Nasty NHS :-( had paid privately but once u enter hospital u are having babe in NHS system private of not !!!

2nd pessary at 6 am...started being really painful close to 8 am and TENS machine was on for hour. Midwife monitored me and then went really quiet as babies h=eartbeat had dropped a lot - they rushed me up to labour ward and strapped me to monitors...... then decided to break my waters. whole thing v fast as was 4cm dialated around 10.30 11 ish ! The induction made cintractions go mental as when asked midwife every how many minutes was i contracting she said i was contracting 6 times every 10 mins (this was at 11 am when i was only a few cms dialated ). got an opiate type drug as pain getting worse at this stage (called rmythentinol ) then had epidural around 1.30 om as thought due to being strapped up to so many monitors i couldnt move around anyhow so why not. It was a partial spinal block and was FAB:-)

lay for an hour in pain free whilst contractions kept working and then at 3 started pushing...baby arrived at 5.22:-)overall the induction thought of getting one was the worst bit....u hear so many horror stories. but at least it speeded everything up and i ended up with natral delivery with no forcepts or anything so all good. Prob would opt for one but as bambino was happy in womb (11 days overdue) there was no choice !!!!!!

I do feel for anyone reading this who is about to get up tho as is scary thought but just go with flow (as everyone advises when pregnant !!!!) and just think of baby u will have at end of it all and realise there is pain relief option if cant cope with pain.

all the best hx

HBHTB, i think your comments are really positive. It's so important that good experiences are reported 'cos i think that it's only the really bad ones that make it onto forums and then it gives a really distorted picture of everything.

Before my labour i swore i wouldn't have any pain relief other than G+A and a tens, but i realised when i was in the thick of it that these things are there to be used. I'd definitely have morphine again and would certainly go for an epidural if that wasn't effective enough.

hi just thought id pop this on here, i was petrified of being induced and as the crept past my due date i tried everything in the book to get me started with no luck so 14 days overdue i did have to be induced last wed much to my dissapointment but it wasnt actually as scary as i was expecting, i was examined at 11am and was told that my cervix was still 1cm long and the baby was too high up so they incerted a propess pessery which is left in for 24 hours before you are reexamined then if labour has not started they move onto the gel and the drip, so i was gutted as i thought it meant i was in for a long slow labour but within half an hour of it going in i was having 50 sec long contractions a two min apart, they were a bit irregular so i wasnt examined till around 8pm and i was only 3 cm, they removed the propess and my labour continued on naturally which made the contractions regular and they were actually starting to really do somthing,there was no room in the labour ward and they wanted me to give birth on the maternity ward and they had to move people out of bed to get a 4 bed ward free for me, i eventually got some gas and air around 12.30pm and my waters broke and it intensified immediatly, they managed to get a delivery suite free just in time, i got up there and they let me get in the bath and i started to feel the urge to push after about 10 min, they wouldnt let me deliver in the bath as they suspected a big baby so i had to get out, the pushing was the hardest thing in the world but after around 10 min out he popped, little (big) Charlie James was born at 3.15am on 13th Nov weighing in a whopping 10lb 3oz, No stitches thanks to the really good midwife who helped him out, hes a whopper we could not believe his weight, So to anyone afraid of being induced its not always as bad as you hear your body may just need a little push to get going.
xxx

Popzie, interesting post. I could have written it, you've just made me remember that I also had visions of throwing myself out of the window if things got any worse. Hmm, had forgotten that The syntocinon drip does seem to make you go from 0-60 very quickly. I was coping fine and feeling chuffed, and then it all seemed to kick in at once and I couldn't get my breath back. The contractions never stopped after a while, just lessened and strengthened, so I had no respite. Had an epidural after about 3-4 hours of the drip and after the midwife stretched me to 3cm, because it was rather hellish by that point, and the epi was bloody blissful. But it was hard to keep still by that point and the epi man shouted at me for jumping when he tested the needle. If I had to have the drip again, I would have an epidural requested earlier, as waiting an hour for it was mentally quite hard.
I was glad I had one as my labour was something like 14 hours in the end, though the epi might have slowed it up as well. catch 22!

I was induced because of Pre-eclampsia. I think if I was to go overdue with any other babies (this was my first) and there were no specific medical reasons to induce, I would think about having monitoring, and do lots of trampolining/walking to trigger things naturally! The drip sucks, but what is just as annoying is the monitors, being tethered and not being able to move around without them moving and then losing the babys heartbeat. If I could have done more moving, maybe been in water, I think I could have coped better. I was also kept waiting in hospital for DAYS before they had the bed in the delivery suite available. Wish I could have just gone home, it was so boring, stressful and I didn't sleep at all. Take earplugs and an eye mask!

Sorry to sound negative. I didn't have issues with anything that was done to me except the drip. Everything else was a bit irritating, but combined together it just made for a rather uneasy, stressful experience. I eneded up with a ventouse and episiotomy in theatre, because the babys heartrate was dropping and they were worried. I couldn't really feel to push but I tried anyway...

I hope whatever happens things go smoothly for you, the best of luck!

I have been induced twice, both times only needed the gel, though I may have had ARM with DS1, can't remember.

TBH the induction itself didn't have a bearing on the rest of my labours, with DS1 I had pethadine which I regret terribly now, so didn't have it with DS2 and the labour was fantastic.

I don't have a 'natural' labour to compare for pain wise, probably for the best from what I've heard, but I certainly wouldn't turn down being induced again this time if needs be, and in fact am thinking very carefully about asking to be induced for a number of reasons.

I was induced with ds1. I had some prostaglandins overnight, the next morning they did ARM and started a drip. 12 hours later ds1 was born after 3 hours of labor. I didn't need any pain medication and had wonderful vaginal birth.

Having labored naturally with ds2 I can honestly tell you that I had no difference between them. Both were 3 hours long, both equally painful, and both were un eventful births.

Good luck to you!

Yep I was dead against the idea (and pethadine and epidural and synotin (sp?) that induces contractions...). Was 10 days overdue, but had pre eclampsia. Had one pessary thing at 6pmish, by 10pm I started contractions or around then, dd born 6am ish. Had pethadine and epidural, pethadine noticed nothing, epidural marvoulous, g &a manna from the gods. The active labour (as they class it) was under 6 hours. Am now worried about this time round as 6 hours and under for a first is fast...2nd could be v fast...eek!

But yes, from being dead against it, it went extremely well, midwife said it wasn't all bad stories...and she was right I would not worry about being induced this time round...but would expect an epidural as you don't get much of a build up to your contractions.