have you had experience of ARM as a form of induction??

[wideratthehips]

hi all,

i'm booked for sun morning to have ARM and i'm thrilled but nervous!

this is my third baby...and i was induced 10 days over with dc2 who was 10lb 8oz and i have managed to convince drs to induce me on my due date with baby no3 because i'm huge and terrified of waiting another two weeks and the baby getting even bigger.

i had a pessery with baby 2 and my waters broke naturally and he arrived 6hrs later but i'm a bit nervous about what happens when your waters are broken manually...any experience good and bad would be helpful

I was induced by arm 7 years ago I know all births are different but this was my easiast and quickest labour.

I went in at 9am waters were broke at 10am gentle contractions until 1pm and I had her at 3pm.

The mw's offered me G&A while they broke waters . Basically all you do is get into the position you do when having an internal and they put a plastic hook and pop the bag .
Not nasty at all a bit odd but not really painful .

I found it much easiar then when I had the pessary with dd2 .

Good luck.

That should say the midwife gets a plastic hook and pops the bag .

thanks for reply....

what if my cervix is completely closed? will they still 'get in' or would they try and soften the cervix first?

Hi wider, I imagine they would try to soften the cervix first. I had ARM with ds2 & I was 3cm dilated, waters popped at 3am & ds2 born at 3.30am!

As CWWM says, its a bit uncomfortable but not painful

Good luck

you can only have ARM if your cervix is open enough, usually 2 -3 cm or so, it is done on labour ward, which is good as you can have your DH and birth partners thre and access to pain relief

bear in mind that induction on your due date might take a bit longer than being overdue

your waters will be broken on labour ward, and if contractions don;t start spontaneously , you will be offfered a synthetic hormone drip to start contractions

good luck!

I've had 2 ARMS's and I'm sorry but they really hurt!!!! Mainly because they're pushing down on the baby to reduce the change of prolapsed cord!

Have to say my induction at term rather than 14 days over turned into a 48 hours event!

also if your cervix is open but the head is still quite high then they wouldn't want to arm in case of cord prolapse.
basicially arm breaks the waters which surround the baby therefore the contractions are normally more painful as there isn't any cushioning surrounding the babys head, so babys hard head is pushing on your cervix causing it to dilate more quickly.

me23 think that was the case for me & why it hurt so much because they were trying to shove the baby down. Also had the chat about if they whisked me off then for a c-sec it was because of cord prolapse.

I had a prostin pessary to soften cervix, then ARM. It was uncomfortable but fine.

my waters were broken with my son and it really hurt - think it was the worst bit of labour

I had a pecessary to soften my cervix but I didn't dilate at all

after they broke my waters it at anout 6 in the evening he was born 6 hours later. he was DC2

I was induced at 38 weeks. Prostin gel to soften cervix, then ARM at 10am on syntocinon drip by 11am DS born at 2.40pm. I'm a complete wimp, but managed on gas and air only so it can't be too bad

Any news from the OP?

I am having this done on Monday, and was wondering how she got on?