Induction: are there any positives?

[stowsettler]

I'm 40+5 and have an induction booked for Mon 25th. Pretty much absolutely nothing is happening with Nipperette, she's not budging for anyone at the moment. I've had 2 sweeps, the first of which produced a tiny bit of blood and a tiny bit of mucus. The second did nothing. Also doing all the old wives' tales to no avail.

I'm slowly getting used to the idea that this baby will not be born before next Monday, but I only really agreed to book the induction to keep my options open. I'm really quite opposed to the idea (I've always wanted a natural, active birth, ideally in water) and have heard nothing but horror stories from anyone who was induced. That said, if I'm pregnant for much longer I'm going to go off my rocker. I'm nearly 40 as well, which means of course that I'll get the guilt trips about increased risk of stillbirth etc if I refuse the induction. Whilst I do think a lot of this is just scaremongering and the medical community just wanting to get me in and out and delivered, I'm not immune to the fear that if I refuse induction I could put my baby at risk.

But now I'm faced with it, I really don't want to be induced! Can I go in and have the gel / pessary, which sound ok but refuse the drip? Is that even feasible?

Does anyone have any nice induction experiences? Help!

I will tell you my lovely induction story,
With dd2 I was already in hospital to be induced at 9am the next morning 2 weeks early, I was sent down at 8.30am and the midwife just got on with the pessary, dh was coming in for 9am so ended up meeting me in the labour ward when I had already had the pessary. We then had to walk back up to the ward which was about 5 min walk if that, it took about 20mins as I kept having to stop for contractions, when we got back on the ward nobody believed that I was having contractions so I got some paracetammol and a nice bath and then they gave me the birthing ball to rock away on.
At 10.30 I had to insist that I was in labour and they sent us down to the labour ward, midwife examined me and I was about 3cm all good, they left me pottering about (around the bed as I had to be monitored for other complications) and gave me gas and air.

said they would come and break waters and start other stuff at about 3pm I think. Anyway after about an hour of potttering about I said I felt odd and by 12.30 dd was born, very quickly, very easily and nothing more than the pessary to induce her.

I was induced with all 4 of mine and am being given an induction date for this one on Wednesday.

It is def convienient to know when you are going into hospital and gave me peace of mind to finally have an end date in sight.

Yes the drip is much worse than the gel, but I can't see why you can't have the discussion when you go in for induction, that you agree to the gel but don't want the drip. Be warned though, if they break your waters after the gel, then they will want you to have the drip fairly soon after, if you have not gone into labour yourself, because of risk of infection.

Out of my 4 births the 2nd and 3rd were not too painful and I didn't even have any painrelief (I'm not some sort of hero when it comes to pain). With my 4th I found it horrible and ended up with an epidural. Each labour was different and I don't think this changes whether you are induced or not. Some births are quite straight forward and not too bad and some are just horrible. Its just luck. Sorry.

Take it one step at a time and have whatever pain relief you feel you need at the time. You still get a baby no matter what pain relief you choose and there are no medals at the end.

Hello! First of all there is a fair chance littleun will appear by 25th. Assume you've tried every other way to start labour..though in my experience (midwife and several children), they come when they're ready and trying to kick start labour is just something mildly interesting to do with your time whilst you're waiting! My second was born at 42 plus 1 weeks. I refused induction but eventually his movements decreased and i was a haggard desperate looking wreck so went ahead. It all worked extremely quickly, i only needed a 'tickle' of the drip and i had a very straightforward 2 hour labour with a normal delivery. Job done! The hospital are there to try and help, not to hurt you, enjoy your baby, he/she will be here quite soon i think!

Don't panic - it can be more difficult but it is in the baby's interest at this point.
I have been induced three times and no - it wasn't t my first choice but conditions meant it was best for my DC's. Sounds harsh but the bottom line is it's not about you and your wants anymore. Perfect births that go to plan are great but actually a healthy baby is more important and having had a few friends who have had severe consequences by going too far over, I would not opt out of induction.
As far as the induction goes, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Yes there is some monitoring that requires being sat but for the most past I was pacing, sitting on birthing ball and generally trying to work through each contraction.
DC1 - turned up in 5 hours from first contraction.
DC2 - turned up in 4 hours
DC3 - was slower - 6 hours.(epidural)

I had a reflexologist in with me and this helped.

Birth plans seem so important when you are pregnant but honestly a healthy baby is the reason you are pregnant and however he/she makes it into the world - Caesar, forceps, birthing pool - it won't matter when you hold them!

Good luck!

I was induced it worked with gel first time was no more invasive than a smear the worst thing about it was I was 40+12 before they'd agree to do it and I had to call them in the morning to know if they'd even do it.

Too many horror stories out there but just ignore em

There is an increased risk with going too far beyond your due dates. Yes the increase in risk is small, which is why there will be plenty of women who went overdue who had.no problem. The drs recommend induction to prevent what is a personal tragedy for those who are not so lucky. What I am trying to say is don't dismiss their concerns as scaremongering. Look at the stats yourself, age adjusted if necessary, before deciding.

FWIW I was induced for dc1. My body showed no sign if being ready for labour but 2 pessaries and 7 hrs of labour later I had my baby. Subsequent labours started naturally and were shorter. I would say pain wise, labour number 1 was the least painful, least intense and labour number 3 was the quickest, most painful and most intense.

Either way you get to see your baby soon. Good luck!

A friend of mine was induced (pessary) recently with her second baby & she ended up having 20 mins between first contraction & delivery. Given her first baby took 9 hrs to come out she was delighted with the 20 minute result!

Thank you everyone. I am much comforted by your stories! I'm now going to write a second birth plan specifically for if I need the induction, stating that my ideal would be gel / pessary only, and if drip becomes absolutely necessary then to use as little as possible. My fear of this comes from my friend who recently gave birth, ended up on the drip at full strength pretty much immediately, snd was in agony for quite a while. She ended up with a EMCS for FTP.

I feel a bit more empowered now about discussing avoiding the drip at all costs. BUT - I will still be hoping Nipperette gets moving before next Mon!

Hi, sorry for butting in.

Although only 28wks, I'm facing an induction at 38 wks - could someone explain about the drip? I understand about the pessary, but drip (and horrors) are something new.

Thanks

I was induced last time (pre-eclampsia so no choice) and had the pessaries first, then when they didn't work (or rather they only opened my cervix enough to get a needle up to break my waters, not to start labour) I had to go on the drip

3rdtimelucky - the pessaries have hormones that are meant to help you start going into labour spontaneously. If they don't work and you need to deliver (like I did) they put you on syntocinon, which is a synthetic version of the hormone your body creates when going into labour, and it basically starts and maintains your contractions so you can deliver. You stay on the drip throughout your labour (well I did).

Downside of the drip for me was the fact that I was sort of stranded in a lying down position on the bed, and didn't get the active birth I wanted (as well as having the drip, generally they also suggest (and I agreed to) have a monitor on your baby so they can check for any stress caused by the process - so it means you're tied to a few machines and can't move freely.

However, plus side was that it took 60 minutes for me to go from 1cm dilated to 10cm dilated - and to be honest, if you offered me that now, I'd take it again! (it was my first (and only birth so far) so can't tell you if it was more painful than normal contractions). Once I was dilated it took a further 90 minutes to deliver my son - so 2.5 hours labour in total.

Not saying that happens to everyone who is induced on the drip (my friend had a 12 hour labour) but goes to show you that it can happen, so it's not all bad :-)

Thanks Elethe have GTT, scan and then consultant appointment to discuss birth options tomorrow, so that is great to know. Don't want to seem completely clueless (I am) x

I was induced due to pre eclampsia and honestly it was fine. The worst bit was all the waiting around before I got into established labour (take lots of distractions) I had my waters broken as the pessaries didnt work and then the drip, and the pain was manageable.

Be prepared for a LOT of hanging around. I was in hospital 2 nights before anything really got going. They will prob send your partner home each night, something I wasn't prepared for.

As someone else said its annoying to be tethered to the machines but I was able to stay on a birthing ball pretty much the whole time, only getting on the bed for the pushing part.

Also, just on the subject of the drip, my midwife was great and told me to let her know if it got too intense. After a while I found contractions were coming very close together and there wasn't enough time to recover, so she turned it down and they lessened off in frequency which helped me.

I was induced with DS3 who showed no signs of wanting to come naturally. I had one lot of pessaries, my waters broken at about 5pm, fairly quick labour thereafter in birthing pool. He was born in the water at 8.14pm. It was a dream delivery.

I was due to be induced when I was 2 weeks over .. Dd decide to make her way about 3 hours before I was due to go into the hospital ! Little bugger !