Can anyone tell me their experience of a drug free induction and ARM.

[Phoenix]

I'm currently 35+2 with DC2.

Ds was 9lb 2oz and born by emcs.

In this pg i've got gestational diabetes and the baby is another big one. They haven't given me a growth scan because they know he's big.

I saw the consultant last week and he's given me 2 birth options to think about.

1. I can go in at 38wks and they will do a membrane sweep and attempt to break my waters and see if i go into labour naturally. I didn't ask how long they will leave me to go into established labour but i will ask when i go again on Thursday.

1. I have an elcs booked for 10th July (39wks)

Has anyone had a drug free induction and how did it go?

Thanks for replying

That is what he said they would attempt, he's put on my notes 'NO PROSTIN' I'm unsure what to do so any other comments/stories would be helpful

Anyone else?

Well I was induced, but had the pessaries, ARM and a drip. So not much use to you I guess. I thought the labour was manageable, though had pethidine and G&A. Still ended up with an emCS due to foetal distress though. They came to "measure up" for an epidural but suddenly the consultant arrived and i was out within minutes.

I originally had an "elective" cs planned due to polyhydramnious and breech presentation. DD turned head down on the day and they sent me home. I wish i had insisted on this. A nice calm el CS would have been FAR preferable to induction of any sort in mho.

I was induced at 41+6. Went in to have Prostin, but mw found I was 2-3cm dilated, so scrapped Prostin and had ARM. Labour started around 2 hours later and escalated fairly quickly to the 'I need an epidural' stage. I couldn't have done without the epi! Stage 2 took around 12 hours, so the ARM didn't speed things along too drastically, and I needed a Synto drip in the end to get things moving.

Congrats and good luck

I wasn't induced but did have ARM with DD2. Not sure that my experience is relevant as she was obviously ready to be born although was 10 days early. Post ARM things really got going quickly...I think once they break your membranes you are on a deadline to give birth because of infection risk but not sure how long they will give you. Certainly something to ask.

Part of me wants to give the induction a chance but i'm so scared it will end in an emcs. An elcs would be calmer and you know what is going to happen

I have to admit that I am with you on that Phoenix. We don't plan currently a dc2, but i have often thought what I would do in that situation. For me personally, I would go for an elCS if I did it again. I know there are extra risks, but I wouldn't want to go through what I did before. There are many on here that have done VBAC though....

I was induced on a drip with DC3 (my waters had already broken so they couldn't use pessaries etc..)
I only had g&a; aside from that it was natural and I enjoyed it. Not excessively painful. Hope that helps a bit - some inductions do go well!

I have to say that in your situation I would be asking for growth scans to confirm that the baby is big - there has been huge variations in the sizes of my different children. Even with GD, how well you have it under control can make a big difference to how much fat the baby has laid down.

2 iductions here. both at 42 weeks.

1st, prostin pessary, contractions, waters broken then syntocin as contractions stopped, epidural and ventouse delivery all in about 12 hours.

2nd, ARM, then a few VERY strong contractions, ds born 45 mins later no drugs at all.

Both times I was very overdue and with the 2nd one, I had had 2 sweeps and was already 4 cm dilated before I was induced, so thats why he appeared so bloody quick

I had ARM with DS1 as labour was progressing slowly and it was either that or drugs. It was the most unendurable agony, like being tortured and I do not say that lightly. Having said that, I believe the reason was that ds1 was malpresented. In my case the ARM set off a chain of interventions, some of which were botched because of the state I was in. For example I was given a spinal but it was difficult to site as I was out of my mind and the contractions were so close together - and then the dose given was too high, again because of the state I was in, and it knocked me unconscious. And it got worse from there!

I am telling you this not to frighten you, but so that you know what the worst case scenario is. I had only been told that labour might feel more intense and was not prepared for what happened.

Needless to say, my birth plan for ds1 stated that I would not consent to ARM ynless an epidural was already sited.

If you can get into the mindset that you will go for ARM and potentially have a c sec and get your head around that it would hopefully not be too stressful/disappointing?

hey i was induced with both dc 35wks and 37 weeks because of obstetric cholosasis, not really the same situation as you, had epidurals both times and normal births.xxxx

Thank you for all the replies.

I think i will just go in and at least see if breaking my waters is even an option. If not it will be a section anyway the week after (unless i go into labour on my own of course)

If they can break my waters then i will have a decision to make. I think tbh if they can i will go with it and just see what happens. I'll be in the right place if anything happens.

Either way i finally get to meet my son