Induction, pros cons, ins outs?

[Gonnabmummy]

I'm 36+5 have my next midwife app at 37 but my midwife is on holiday. She's the only one in our area so someone from the hosp (40 mins away) is standing in for her.
My next app isn't to 39 week when I'll see her again.

I just want to know what induction may entail. It seems to be viewed negatively and I would like to know why?
If I go over dates, feeling I will very comfortable no early signs etc. what will I be offered and what can I expect from this.

Is there different types of induction? Do they restrict birth options ie the pool, pain relief, monitoring?
I know about sweeps but not a thing about induction, I plan on taking up the offer of a sweep or two but I'm completely at a loss of what to do if they offer induction.
Thanks

hello there.. I'm a complete novice but hoped to kick your message back into circulation...

I do know you can either have a pessary or drip,which may, or may not work first time. I'm still working on my first baby (33 weeks cooked) so hopefully some other ladies can advice you better, I have had friends who were for and against induction, I guess it is just taking away from the normal processes and stages of labour so perhaps that is why it seems so unatural.

Good luck, I hope you find someone better able to advice you than me!

I can see while waiting for natural labour would be good. But also the offer of induction seems exciting and nice (maybe I'm crazy) I mean you would know baby was coming and perhaps meet them earlier. But there must be something more to it lol.
My cousin had problems in labour and she had a drip she said from that point labour was horrendous, but maybe that was just her? And she had already had a really long labour maybe that made it worse.

I wrote you a massive reply and lost it on my tablet ffs.

Short version.... my view so not everyone will agree...

• forcing body into a physiological process it may not be ready for
• evidence points towards possibly longer, more painful labour
• increased intervention as a result, eg instrument delivery and the potential injuries to both accompanying that

A colleague wants induction due to SPD & host of 'niggles' the medical profession do not consider serious enough to warrant it. They are telling her 'no' based on the reasons above.

They want to induce me on EDD as it's PCT policy but conveniently glossed over the reasons above, until I brought them up.

Of course induction is wholly right in some circumstances and each should reach their own conclusions as to whether it is best for them. It is not to be taken lightly and is not without it's own risks.

I'm a firm believer that you cannot force nature. My consultant conceded that on certain situations, it will not work and a CS is the safer option. Hope this helps.

DD2 was induced due to me being over 40. She was induced at term. I was given one pessary and labour was 8 hours from start to finish.

It was very different to DD1 whose birth was spontaneous. Long, slow build up over a day and half before getting to hospital at 4cm and then contracting for another 4 hours on gas and air and pushing for 40 minutes.

With DD2 it all happened much quicker and so was very full on once I was contracting. Went from 4cm to 9cm in the less than 5 minutes it took to get from induction ward to labour suite. Pushed for 10 minutes and DD2 arrived.

I was incredibly lucky and I think that because I had already had one DC my body knew what to do.

All in all I would have preferred to go naturally, but agreed to induction after long discussion and debate with my consultant.

It does cakebaby so if there was no reason to ie preeclampsia, blood pressure, waters going etc. how long would you leave it? What would happen if I got to two week over? They say the placenta loses effectiveness by after that?

I know this means nothing but his father was 12 days late and ended up being prized out after looooong labour, it just makes me think x

If induced you will automatically be treated as "high risk", meaning no access to birthing pool and constant monitoring of you and baby throughout labour. Your movement will be restricted due to the drip. You will be more likely to need pain relief as it'll be more intense than a normal birth and your body will not have time to produce its own natural pain relief. You will also be more likely to end up with emcs, forceps or ventous. You will not be able to have a physiological 3rd stage.

They do say that your placenta will become less effective and possibly "fail" past term - everyones absolute worst nighymare - but you can request daily monitoring appointments to make sure it's still working at 100% while you wait for labour to start naturally, which in over 99% of situations it will do. So long as the placenta is fine your baby will stay healthy in there.

The pro is getting the baby out quickly and stopping people pressuring you to hurry things up. The reality is that a lot of women are induced and they and their babies are very much alive and well in the end, induction is more a question of how you get to that point.

If at all possible please read the AIMS book, "Induction, is it right for me?" - it is short and to the point but has all relevant statistics and explanations for making a fully informed decision on having an induction.

You might be put on a drip. I wasn't so was able to be mobile when I wasn't being monitored. I was monitored for half an hour before pessary and half an hour after it was inserted. If that pessary hadn't worked I would have been given another before being put on a drip.

So, experiences are different and no doubt depend on your own individual circumstances and policy of hospital. Speak to your consultant so you are well informed and can make choices based on your own situation as well as the statistical information available.

Good luck.

gonnab the timing is the million dollar question isn't it? It's down to personal choice of course. My PCT have a policy of 40 yrs+ at EDD and you are induced, regardless of specific circumstances, which smacks of herd/veterinary medicine to me. I was initially told my placenta could pack up at 40 weeks, flew into a panic and queried whether it could happen before then too. Was told it could but unlikely until after EDD as if that was a magical date when an alarm would go off.

After finding out they cannot fob me off with half truths and limited information, if there are no additional indicators they are now content to review me after 40+6 and we'll see where we go from there. They also told me there was no monitoring that could be reliably done, as the placenta can go from functioning fine when monitored at 9am to crisis at 930am.

But then they also told me the whooping cough jab was a single vaccine, not combined with others and that the Foetal Medicine Centre were not necessarily reliable with their NT testing as they hadn't been doing it for long

I won't ignore medical advice though, if they can give me a reason to do something, other than just, 'that's the policy here'. Hopefully all this will be academic and it'll happen naturally.

I was induced at 14 days over last time. My experience of induction was good, and relatively quick. I gave birth normally, with no instruments or c-section etc.

I was however put on a drip, and I therefore opted for an epidural as the drip can bring on contractions very strongly. But lots of people aren't given a drip. Some people are just given a sweep and have their waters broken; some are given pessaries which start contractions.

I didn't know it ruled out a water birth - I am not sure that's the case unless you are on a drip/epidural in which case you become 'high risk' ie they monitor you more. Which I was, and it still turned out fine.

I'll opt for it again if I don't go into labour naturally by two weeks over this time.

Great info there bunnylion it's just with not seeing my midwife to 39 weeks I feel like I won't have chance to think about what she says but I suppose I can just book some sweeps while I think about it x