41 + 2 planned induction but desperately scared

[scaredveryscared]

Advice welcome please.

2 weeks ago had signs of labour starting (bit of a show, cramping period pains and cervix twinges) since that nothing!

Midwife tried to sweep membranes but my cervix was closed at top and it was VERY uncomfortable.
Booked me in for induction 19th dec...

1. fears over fast onset of labour with induction

2. scared about pain

3. desperate for my body to do it's thing (feel confident I will cope if my body starts itself)

4. fears over problems for my baby being overdue (doing a poo inside .... etc)

5. have tried sex (daily) pineapple (ate a whole one in one go (no tongue lining left) walking every day, thinking about acupuncture

Help please.

Definately try acupuncture. (It doesn't hurt - honestly!)

If you don't want to be induced, then don't be. You still ahve time to decide, adn for the baby to come on it's own.

scared I was in your position just about this time 6 months ago, it is a horrible feeling. Is it your first?

My advice - stay away from google/pregnancy books/etc re overdue babies and get yourself out for some nice long walks. Can you book yourself a pedicure or something nice and relaxing to do too. Alternatively lots of cheesy films and nice books?

I ended up being induced and I did feel like my body let me down a bit for not doing naturally what it should and my labour ended up being completely different from the relaxed water birth I had planned. However, although my labour was long and hard, the feeling of my DD being handed to me was soooooo worth it, and she is currently sleeping next to me in her pushchair looking all angelic and lovely So, try to focus on meeting your lo if you can and what a lovely Christmas pressie that's going to be for you.

One piece of advice about induction that I have been given since DD was born (helpful ) is to ask for an epidural before they start the synto drip as the contractions can come on v quickly once they ramp up the drip. so having the epidural first can help to make that easier - your mw might be able to offer advice on this.

Hopefully you won't even need the induction, you have 5 days yet, baby could be here this time tomorrow

Good luck x

I agree that acpunctue is worth a try. This time last year I was 41 weeks. Had tried everything. Induction booked.

On 17 December I resorted to acupucture, the treatment was in central London so I followed it by braving Christmas shopping on Oxford Street. Either the acupucture or the stress of shopping was the key as contractions started that night and my baby was born on the 18th. Good luck.

second what runningdonkey says about the epidural before the the drip. i didn't get epidural at all! hopefully you won't get to that stage though and even if you do end up with induction it'll just be pessaries.

talk to midwife and find out exactly what your options are. just because you are booked in for induction on the 19th doesn't mean that this is what must happen.

scared - don't be scared, you might not end up having induction after all anyway. I was taken in to be induced with 2 of my dcs and ended up going into labour in hospital naturally before they'd had chance to start induction!
Even if you do end up being induced, don't panic, just focus on it bringing you closer to meeting your baby and keeping you both safe with a monitored birth. HTH

I've been overdue with all four of mine (4011, 408, 40+3 and 40+9) so I know a little of how you're feeling.

Please try not to panic! they chance are that you'll have had your baby by the 19th, without needing to be induced and even if you end up having one, by then you might well be grateful for it!

Have you tried having a serious chat to the bump? you're going to think I'm mad now, but have a quiet 10 minutes (in a nice relaxing bath maybe?) and talk to your baby. Tell it that you're looking forward to meeting it and can it please hurry up and come out!

Try to relax a bit and think poisitive thoughts. Book yourself some pampering and a nice meal for you and your partner. Sods law says you'll go into labour before you get your night out, and if that fails, at least you don't have to cook....

Good luck

you're right to feel anxious if this is your first.

What you will not be told is that 45% of first time inductions end up as an amergfency CS.

ffs highlander!

I was induced and it was ok. I was always quite against being induced and thought I'd decline their offer. However, I got to the point where I was sooooo sick of still being pregnant and my mil phoning up every morning that I went for it. My advice would be to take a good book because it can be a while before the pessary starts working, and go for an epidural the moment they even vaguely mention a drip!

Other than that, I second runnningdonkey and would focus on how great it'll be to meet your lo.

Hope it works out well

yes, so 55% don't.

but scared, i really do urge you to talk to your mw and find out what local protocols are etc.

i've had acupuncture for back pain and it was quite fun really, give it a go.

how very helpful Highlander

scared you have a whole week until 19th so plenty of time for your baby to come on his/her own and I know lots of people who were induced and didn't have emergency sections

I have a friend who just had to be induced (41+4) and she said (I promise) that it was still a lovely experience. yes, she missed out on natural birth she had planned, but she had mobile epidural and felt in control and said the moment the baby arrived was as magical as she could possibly have hoped.
she cheered me up - I'm 35 weeks and convinced (for no reason) that I'll go overdue and be feeling exactly the same as you are now.
good luck!

Nice touch highlander. The clue is in the OP's name.

My sister has had 2 inductions, first one was hard but that's because she reckons she tried to 'tough it out' for too long before asking for an epidural. The second time she did a hypnobirthing course (I'd done one for my first, she was present at the birth and thought it was worth a go) and didn't end up wanting anything other than gas and air.

As you mention that you're scared of the pain, have you considered having an epidural? I always said that if I was induced I would have an epidural, even though I'd done the hypnobirthing course just becaus I'd heard it can come on quickly.

I know it's easier said than done but try to relax as much as possible, I've heard the natal hypnotherapy CDs off of Amazon are good. Cheaper than a course anyway. Also, try not to be too disappinted if you do end up being induced even if it's not what you'd hoped for. It can still be a lovely birth experience, just go into it armed with as much info about how it all works as you can, then you can concentrate on relaxing.

Best of luck

my last 3 babies were induced. Unfortunately pessaries dont work for me so i had the dreaded drip. Ask your mid wife how many people have an epidural when on the drip. Every time i was told between 90 and 100%. My advice would be to have it put in before contractions start when drip is started as more difficult to get in good position when having contractions. I still manged to push out 2 out of 3 without any assistance. Dont feel like a coward. No medals for bravery but a beautifil prize awits you i promise.

good luck. I'm actually envious of you which i know sounds strange but you have the most amazing experience awiting you when you hold your baby for the first time and he/she gazes into you eyes.....

I agree with acupuncture. I had it at 41+5 (with electrodes - not what I was expecting and not nice) but she came later the next day.

May have been co-incidence, may not have been, but frankly I would have tried anything.

I was really scared as I didn't want to lose my homebirth and desperately didn't want to go to hospital.

I had my 5th sweep the morning of 41+6, was due to be induced the following day, but bought myself the weekend by agreeing to go in on the Monday if nothing happened.

Talk to your midwife, see if you can come up with something together. You don't have to be induced but can have Expectant Monitoring (I think its called) when you go in frequently to be checked over.

Good luck, keep us updated!

It will be fine, two of my three were induced. One by drip, the last by pessary and then drip. All went well, I did have an epidural with them but got to 8cm on my last without anything. You will be fine and good luck

HI Scared,
Just to echo what people have said on here, really:

1. You've 5 days yet - plenty of time to go into labour naturally...

2. You don't actually have to be induced, y'know if you don;t want to be... They can do 'expectant management' where they basically monitor you and baby regaularly to make sure that all is ok and wait for you body to decide when it's ready.

3. I've heard really good things about accupuncture too, and Ina May Gaskin (why not give her "guide to childbirth" a read ot kill time - very emopowering) swears by Castor Oil. Yuk, oukey, yuk, but I may well give it a whirl.

I went 2 weeks oevrdue alst time, and with no signs of any action, went for induction. It wasn't fun, (I'd also say take the epi if it's offered, and if it isn;t DEMAND it) but I was OK and DD was absolutley fine.

However this time, I'm planning on going down the expectant management route, and doing the acupuncture/castor oil thing too. I really do believe that my body knows what it's supposed to do and will know when the time is right.

Oh, and my DD passed gallons (or so it seemed!) of meconium - quite probably as a result of the inductio itself (or so my reading up leads me to believe) - she's absolutely fine... only worry about this if/wehn you have to - it can be caused by many factors and there's nothing you can do about it...

You'll be fine. Sending you big ole {{{{{contraction vibes}}}}}}}

heaps of luck with it - try not to worry too much about the birth itself, it's over and done with son enough and you'll have a lovely baby, one way or the other!

db
xx

I was induced by drip and the labour was short 3 hours or so but I had an epidural and it was fine. I didn't think my body had let me down in anyway because I was induced just glad the baby arrived safely. Induction is not necessarily going to be awful. My sister's first birth wasn't induced and ended in an emergency cs. Her second was induced by pessaries but she managed a VBAC and said the labour wasn't half as bad as the first one. I think if you worry too much about how you would like the labour to be instead of just going with the flow you'll get totally stressed. I focused on how it would be when the baby was here not how he'd arrive so the induction, epidural and forceps didn't really matter in the end. Good luck and hope it goes well.

Hi, scared, don't be, scared that is .

A lot can happen in 5 days...

I would second having a go at acupuncture and being as active on your feet as you can bear to be at this point.
Membrane sweep only has a chance to work if your cervix is favourable ie soft and open enough to allow at least one finger in, euch, I know.
You are not very overdue yet, in some countries you would not be considered "over" at all. The normal length of pregnancy is between 38 and 42 weeks, so do not fret too much.
Google Optimal fetal positioning. The link I sent is only one website of many. Do NOT google anything else ...

FWIW, I was induced with DS1 at 42+1 and I had a good delivery. Yes, with epidural and synto but really good overall.

Good luck with it all. Lay off the pineapple, you have to eat something like 24 whole ones per day to get labour started .

Oh, I also took Raspberry Leaf tea, this does not start labour but is said to make the second stage easier. Every little helps, non?

Don't want to scare you but my induction experience for DC2 (due to prematurely ruptured waters) was NOT GOOD as I didn't have an epidural (don't ask- crazy) just gas and air.

Try what you can before but if you end up having syntocin, then DO DO DO get an epidural.

And sorry, I know it's v stressful in the final few days. Like Pacific said, you are not really even overdue yet. Will pray that it happens spontaneously for you. But if not, Epidural all the way. x

I was induced for dd2 and was very upset and scared about the idea, but it went really really well and was a much easier labour than with dd1!

I had the pessary then had to wait several hours for it to work. Then late at night they took me to the delivery suite to break my waters, then sebt me off to walk round for a couple of hours and my contractions started spontaneously without needing a drip! It was then all over in a couple of hours, with just gas and air.

You may find you have to be on continuous fetal monitoring due to it being an induction, but you can request a wireless one at some hospitals to allow you to be more mobile. Even if you are attached to the monitor by wires (I was) they are long enough to allow you to walk around a bit which really helps.

Also the midwife wanted me to give birth lying flat on my back on the bed, which was sooo not in my birth plan, so I just refused! Gave birth on the bed but on all fours.

My NCT teacger gave me some helpful tips beforehand which were all about taking back some of the control (as I felt very out of control and powerless) and it really helped. Think about the things you can still control and decide how you want them (eg positions, being mobile, take your own music, etc). Maybe even write a new 'induction birth plan'.

The other thing that helped me was doing a Mumsnet search for positive induction experiences - there are lots! Good luck x

Good luck!

forgot to mention... i was also booked in for an induction with dd1 but went into labour 2 days before (10 days overdue) so that may well happen to you.

I'm sorry I didn't manage to be reassuring.

1. It will all be worth it.
2. Fear is worse than reality
3. Your body will do just fine
4. You will be a mum at xmas!!!!

Best of luck

Scared hopefully you'll have the baby before anyway - I was due to be induced at term + 12, but after a sweep at +10 days slowly started to contract and delivered at the exact time I was supposed to phoning up to find out if they had a bed for induction.

And my baby had meconium stained waters - common with overdue babies and he was observed for 24 hours but was fine. The other 2 women on my bay who were overdue were in exactly the same position and all the babies were completely well.

Hope you can stop worrying a bit and enjoy the last few days before your little one arrives.

ok, not read any other responses, just want to add my experience in. I had hypnobirthing training before birth cos I was scared witless about the whole process - it helped me enormously. THen I realised I was going to be late and had a planned induction - scared me again, had another session, helped calm me down. Bit late for you for that - but here's the basics - your body knows what to do - trust it. Fear will divert energy away from your birthing muscles towards the "fight or flight" response - this is unhelpful. Therefore stay as calm as you can, let your energy/blood flow etc. all go to the appropriate muscles.

Next - if you want to read my blog, it tells all about my raspberry leaf tea experience - invaluable, I believe! (the tea, I mean)

My induction didn't cause a particularly rapid onset of labour - I think that only really happens if you get to the syntocin drip (I managed to avoid it, gave birth 2hrs before it was due to go up). I was able to follow as much of my birth plan as my bod would let me (not much!), so the induction didn't interfere with that.

The monitoring is a bit of a pain, but tbh you stop caring after a while.

In the end, I had a rapid Stage 2 (about half an hour) and a relatively easy delivery, with very easy placenta delivery - I still think the combo of hypnobirthing and excess raspberry leaf tea did the job for me!

Think calm and happy thoughts, stay positive, focus on the baby - keep thinking it will be fine, however the baby has to come out, it will be fine.

I tried raspberry leaf tea and reflexology. I was still induced, but am convinced they both helped the second stage (like PacificMnW said). You will be fine. You will soon have a beautiful baby. Concentrate on that. And good luck!