Has anyone else been induced with twins ??

[Beckster99]

I am booked in for an induction next week, at 37 weeks and 5 days. Both twins have been growing well and the first one is head down; no sign of them starting naturally themselves with 5 days to go!

Any stories, advice etc would be appreciated.

I was induced - but at 35 weeks because one had stopped growing.

It was fine (much better than when I was induced with DS1 at 38 weeks).

It is just a case of them putting some gel inside and waiting to see if it works. They do it up to 4 times over a couple of days I think. Then try something stronger - eg syntocinon drip.

With mine the gel got things going first time and then they ruptured the membranes which kicked things into action.

Having said that - not sure why they would induce now if there is no problem - lots of twins don't come naturally until nearer 40 weeks.

HI Beckster - I was induced at 39.5 weeks - started with the gel but it did nothing and then they didnt have the time to do another one (didnt have the staff to give me the care I needed!).

They then broke my waters at 9 the following morning and I had the DTs just after midnight the next day. My experience of it was fine, everyone was very shocked that I had to be induced with them!

Hiya, anyone mind if i join in??? i wish i had been induced with mine i was begging my midwife from about 35 weeks onwards i was knackered from having a baby girl that wasn't even one at the time. I have been told that sex is a brilliant way to get labour started off so go for your life

I think it's the hospital policy to induce healthy twins during week 38. Your experiences are very reassuring, I suppose it's all individual, someone else told me that they had to have a CS for twin 2 after twin 1 arrived headfirst by VB, so I'm keeping an open mind until the end.

Feel relaxed about it, can't wait to meet them.

Have sympathy with gruesomefoursome, I am huge, get out of breath very quickly and quite imobile ..... couldn't imagine coping with a one year old - massive respect to you!

hey hon, I had both twins by vb although they did use a vontuse it was an amazing experience but totally knackering xx

Hi, I'm new to mumsnet and my consultant said She will induce me at 38weeks. Both twins are fine and growing beautifully. She said she's just not comfortable with me going beyond 38 weeks. I'm 35 weeks now and really hoping that I start labour naturally before then.

Hiya Anuram. As i told bexter, try loads of sex it works like a charm everytime

If you feel that your pregnancy is going well and the growth is fine, then there's no reason to be induced at 38 weeks. I had lots of very interesting discussion with my obs about this, and in the end I went to 40 weeks before allowing an induction, and I only did that because the induction was happening on the day that I thought I'd naturally go in to labour (which is what happened - they'd been conceived the same weekend as my DD but 4 years later, so I was pretty sure about gestation dates etc!). I was actually closer to 41 weeks because I couldn't remember when my LMP was when the midwife and I did my notes!

Anyway, there's some interesting research on the net from a study in Egypt about why it's OK to go over 38 weeks if everything's fine. You have to trawl a bit for it, but it's worth waving at various health professionals if you want some paper to back up any feelings you might have along those lines. And if you don't have those feelings, then you just go with what you feel comfortable with and enjoy!!

HTH!

i was induced at 40wks after a lot of pressure from the obstetrician even tho all monitoring showed both babies to be growing well and to have good fluid and placental function still. pressure from obs started at 38wks but put them off til 40wks then gave in even tho i was physically comfortable in myself as well. meant that the labour went on to need a lot of medical input which hadnt been what i wanted - needed not only inducing by ARM but syntocinon drip, continuous fetal heart rate monitoring and then forceps and ventouse delivery plus an episiotomy. it was hard to find research on the safety of going to 40wks and beyond with twins but there is "some". if you're not happy to be induced you can ask for more regular monitoring through more scans and CTG monitoring and keeping your own wriggles charts. i wish i had put them off a bit longer but both my babies were healthy so i am happy with that.

I was induced at 38 weeks, as hospital were very busy and wanted to make sure there were enough staff on for a twin birth. I didn't plan on being induced, but as it was 2 days after my partners birthday I thought it was kind of magical, so agreed.

Admittedly, I thought (hoped) I would have them mid 30 weeks and tried everything...long walks, loads of sex etc. but nothing worked, and I was so excited about meeting them that I thought it would be a good idea to get the ball rolling.

After 30 hours of labour, twins were born by caesarian as labour failed to progress..basically they just didn't want to be born!! 30 hours sounds horrendous, but on reflection the time went quickly, and I was feeling more boredom than pain. Both babies were healthy and beautiful, and weighed 6.8lbs and 6.9lbs.