HELP - Am having to get induced at 7.30 tonight unless labour starts naturally!

[MsBump]

hello

After a few nights of what I thought was mild contractions and constant period type pains my waters broke on weds night...got told to go into hospital where it was confirmed and was subsequently told to go home and wait for labour to 'really' start.

Despite still having pretty constant back and period pains (that have kept me awake) I am now having LESS contraction type pains

Have been totally exhausted and am now anxious to get things going as really wanted to get a shot at the birth centre and know if I have to get induced later that that will be out of the question and am more likely to have intervention.

so after waffle...questions are

Do I have to go and be induced or can I negotiate a bit more time if they monitor baby and me?

and

Does anyone have any tips or experiences they could share that got labour kick started?

Sorry a long post and appreciate any advice

:-D

sorry am obviously tired...I meant waters broke on tuesday doh

Hi. Just wanted to say I was induced and delivered without intervention.

Don't know any ways to hurry it on that actually work though....although nipple tweaking with each contraction is supposed to help them become stronger (contractions, not nipples)

Goodluck

You certainly do not HAVE to be induced. Have the staff at the birth centre explained to you what potential risks there may be with prolonged rupture of membranes? Do you know if you're Group B strep positive? If you have all the facts at your fingertips and you consider yourself to be low risk (e.g. baby is being monitored daily and is doing well, no group b strep, and you're full term) then I would personally decline the offer of inducton for another day or two..

that's good to know cocktail...I spose it may just mean no birth centre

just heard a lot (as always) of horror stories lately so feeling a bit apprehensive

I was induced, and whilst it was a long process - mainly because my DS wanted to stay put - it was fine and not as bad as I'd been led to believe. As Riven said, if your waters broke on Tuesday, they won't wait too long to get the baby out. My waters broke 38 hours before DS was born and they put DS on antibiotics after in case of infection.

I'm already on antibiotics on the offchance I do go into labour naturally so I can still have the birth pool option...

I'm glad it wasn't as bad Harry as my poor friend had a terrible time and so its good to hear other stories :D

hello msbump. the same thing happened to me and the induction didn't work. no idea whether waiting a while would have helped, but if you can put it off then do because there isn't much chance to move around in hospital which is the best thing for you.

and in my case if they were so bloody worried about infection then they should have desisted from examining me every five minutes. i didn't stand up for myself at all and regret that.

although if you have already got pains then hopefully you're on the way to going into labour anyway... good luck.

I was iunduced both times
with dc 1 my waters went spontaneosly but contractions weren't coming and I had pre eclampsia so they were keen to get me going

with dc 2 they induced from nothing to having the baby

It hurt a lot ( but then I have nevcer had real contractions as such) and was very tiring

I didn't need any intervention I chose to have diamorphine both times but both births were without forceps or ventouse or whatever

So there seem to be 2 parts to this:

1. induction may not be as bad as you fear/have heard so don't stress about it, stress not good for you or baby
   (and baby may stay put longer if it thinks the outside environment is too stressful)

2. tips to get labour going:

• stairs up and down sideways
• a walk
• nipple tweaking
• breast pump
• visualising baby moving down/sending lots of calm & positive vibes to the baby to encourage it
• sitting on the loo with raunchy novel (not heard that one before!)
• yuk ones like castor oil and stuff not for me!

• any others?

Good luck!

Oh raspberry leaf tea? meant to make ctx stronger.

meanwhile find the contraction timer on the net, eat and drink to keep your energy levels up.

HILARIOUS RE NOVEL IDEA

Babys heads ingaged - when I was in hospital cos of slightly nutty midwife telling me I either had breach baby or twins cos if my shape (despite everyone so far telling me head down etc) got consultant to bring in scanner - so now I know baby head engaged ready to go and only one thank goodness...

am drinking gallons of raspberry leaf tea - but will try all the others - not sure about the raunchy novel lol but who knows :D

thanks ladies

will let you know if it works :D

I had acupuncture to induce labour, it worked really well, within 24 hours I had deliver ds2. The labour was also really straightforward lasting just 2.5 hours.

starlight you are hilarious - but I will try it! Wanted to also go for reflexology but maybe acupuncture is a good idea too

Starlight - will have to remember to add raunchy novel to 'birth bag' in case i ever go overdue

I made a lemon cake for a friend once and she went into labour after eating it!
(just remembered that, must add to list of labour-inducing techniques...not sure if i still have the exact recipe though...)

Actually i used a birthing still with ds1 and hated it but the loo is much comfier

have now booked a mobile reflexologist to come to my home at 2 so fingers crossed if nothing else it will help me relax!

before that I will be walking round the block and up and down the stairs sideways

and possibly leave the raunchy book until the last minute.... just in case :D

Eat a hot curry - rather cliched I know, but it did work for me last time! Although I regretted it whilst in labour and breathing through gas and air mask!

Good luck and keep us informed as to how you are progressing

best of luck msbump. Hope the reflexology works. I had one reflexology treatment the day before i was due with DD1 - my waters broke and went into labour the next morning. Obviously I will never be sure it helped but I had absolutely no signs that things were about to happen beforehand. I have got 2 appointments booked next week (39 weeks).

One thing i would say is that i was told by the reflexologist that stimulating the uterus (to bring on labour ) would be pretty uncomfortable (its a point on back of heel) - and it was. So i would say, if its all lovely and relaxing then she isn't doing it right!

I was in exactly the same position as you. I was induced 48hrs after my waters broke and it didn't work for another 48hrs, so ended up with a c-section. I was very angry about the pressure I was put under to be induced so looked into it afterwards. The NICE guidelines go on about increased risk of infection etc, which I'm sure that you already know about. However they also say that it is ok to wait for up to 96hrs before doing anything. Obviously avoid ANY internal exams etc to reduce infection chance. I have spoken to a few independant midwifes and they all said that they would definitely take the wait and see route. Keep an eye on your temperature as a first indication of infection.
If you look on the web you will see that there are stats saying that something like 80% of people go into labor 24hrs after waters breaking and the % increases a lot with time as you would expect. So, you are very likely to go into labor on your own if you just wait.
I wish you the best of luck - and please don't get pushed into something that you are not happy with.

good point! jasper... she is meant to be a specialist in pregnancy and pre labour so will see what happens - wil let you know. My friend also broke her waters the same night she had reflexology...so here's hoping it works for us both!

I'm just trying to get into the 'zone' beforehand so trying to relax...