being induced at 42 weeks

[hazeldog]

just wondering what other peoples experiences of induction at this stage were like? i hate the idea and really didnt want a medicalised birth but am too afraid to let the pregnancy go any further as i had a close friend lose her baby at full term due to the placenta failing. i have had a lot of family stress recently and im sure it has stopped me going into labour naturally, i had 2 days of false/early labour a couple weeks back but stressful events stopped it in its tracks and nothing since. had one failed membrane sweep, going for 2nd tomorrow but if it dosent work im being induced on sunday. dont feel like the second sweep will work i am pretty sensitive to changes in my body and havent felt any changing sensations around the cervical area. would like to hear any experiences good or bad

I was booked for induction at 42 weeks with DS. Had 2 membrane sweeps with no effect, so was booked in for induction. Got to hospital evening time, sat on bed to wait for doc to come see me and waters broke!! Labour proper started not long after and apart from being in hospital for the whole thing instead of staying home in the beginning it was all pretty uneventful. I was really suprised afterwards at how many peole had very simiar experiences.

I was induced at 40 weeks on the dot due to SPD last week, and although labour took a LONG time to get going, this wasn't due to the induction process at all (DD had cord around her neck, stopping her dropping down).

The faff I had was hanging around waiting for it to get going. In the end I had the whole shebang, pessary, ARM and syntocinin drip (and the MW almost insisted I have an epidural if I was having the drip, for which I had no objections!). Once the epidural kicked in, I had a lovely, chilled out happy birth. DD was born with no intervention after four HUGE pushes and a very small tear. She fed within minutes, and has fed like a trooper ever since.

Compared to DS' slightly traumatic birth (started naturally, was back to back so lots of pain, ended up with no pain relief for 2 hour stage 2) it was an absolute breeze, and I'm glad it happened the way it did.

Also, and this is something that chills me slightly - during the third stage, the umbilical cord almost fully detached from the placenta, and was in very poor condition. Given that I was 40 weeks exactly, I'm so relieved that I am holding DD in my arms as I type, because I very much wonder what would have happened if I'd left things to start naturally.

Good luck either way - natural or induction, just remember that either way it can be a very positive experience, you just have to go with the flow sometimes

I was induced at 42 +5 with ds1.

Although my cervix was very unfavourable, I had one pessary at 9pm. Contractions kicked off after a couple of hours, and DS was born at 4.45 am.

I managed with TENS, a hot bath, then gas and air.

He came out at 8lbs 11 1/2 oz, very wrinkley and dry but absolutely perfect.

I wasn't convinced that induction was the right thing for me, but I was sure that it was the right thing for my baby. As it turned out, I couldn't really have hoped for it to go any more smoothly.

Good luck

i was induced at 42 weeks 2 weeks ago. i too was dreading a highly medicalised labour and birth but it was actually ok. in fact it was easier than my first, non induced, labour and birth.

i went into hospital at 11am. they gave me the pessary at 2pm. it was a new one that can stay in for 24 hours so no need for repeats every 6 hours and so reduces the need for repeated internal exams. when the pessary was put in i was on a monitor for 20 mins. then that was taken off and i was free to wander about, have a bath, whatever. dh stayed with me until 10pm (end of visting) then went home to bed. at 1.30am my contractions started and quickly built up. midwife encouraged me to keep mobile, took me to an empty ward where i could make as much noise as i wanted without disturbing others.

at 3am i asked her to examine me and i was 3 cms. at 4.30 i was 7cms and we rang dh to come back. midwife walked me to the delivery suite, dh arrived at 5am. once on the delivery suite i got gas and air and had dd at 6.15am. no fuss, no bother. and we were home for lunch time

I've been induced at 42, 42+2, 40 & 42 weeks the 2nd and last ones were absolutely fine, took a while to get things going but once they did were very quick.

I think for me it is partly I have naturally long gestatations and partly because I have a very curved spine and they don't sit on my cervix!

Was booked in for induction at 41+4 after a failed sweep. got to the hospital and was given a bed on the antenatal ward but had to wait ages for the drs to come round. when they eventually arrived, they set up a ctg and found I was having contractions (although I couldn't feel them).

Anyway very slow progress, ended up with ARM with little effect, then syntocin which didn't really help until it was on a really high dose. had gas and air (useless) pethidine (useless) and epidural (great). Again, really slow progress, then there was a panic about the baby's heart rate (although I did try to tell the senior midwife that the baby's heart rate had always been a little slower than normal and it had dropped at the same time the previous morning but she insisted on turning the drip off). the drs were called who decided they'd only give me another hour to make some progress before doing an emergency cs. so having had contractions for 36 hours but only getting to 4cm dilated, I had an emergency cs. I found the cs the most traumatic bit and was inconsolable when they made that decision. It took me a long time to physically recover better.

If I have a DC2, I'd refuse induction again.

thanks everybody its good to hear such a variety of experiences, at least i have a chance it wont be awful.
cargirl-its interesting you say that about your spine, i had not heard of it affecting pressure on the cervix but i also a curvy spine and maybe thats part of why things arent progressing.

With my last birth, I had a bishops score of 1 then the first pessary, loads of pains from the pessary, 6 hours later my bishops score was still 1. I nearly cried had the 2nd pessary and dc 4 was born 4-5 hours later and it was fab really didn't hurt much and my official labour was 2 mins, went from 8 cm to crowning to being born in 2 contractions.

I was induced when i was 12 days overdue following a failed sweep at 40+3 and things progressed very quickly for me - within 4 hours things were starting (it was midnight by the time they gave me the pessary). Within 3 hours of labour starting my contractions were coming thick and fast and by the time they transferred us up to the labour ward they were about a minute apart but only 4cm dilated. My baby was by this time was showing signs of fetal distress because things were moving so fast and in the end we ended up having an emergency CS. It was a bit of a shock but i have a beautiful son - i would add that a section does take some getting over (not that the celebs seem to suffer!) My total labour time start to birth was 7 hours - not bad for a 1st timer!

second sweep proved impossible due to posterior cervix. midwife said it "looks like we need to get the dynamite out." so almost certainly will have to be induced. oh well, at least i know when its gonna happen.