Being induced - what to expect?

[nicoleferrari91]

Hey, so I am currently 41w 1d with my 2nd baby today and will be getting induced on Tuesday night at 8pm.

I have no idea what to expect as the MW's haven't told me anything about it other than when & where!

Is my partner allowed to stay with me? Is it more painful? What methods do they use to start labour?

I'm starting to get really worried that i'll have to get a c section as with my first I had a vaginal birth.

Any advice would be great xxx

Any reasons for agreeing to get induced? Any complications? A normal pregnancy lasts til 42 weeks, even 43 weeks in some countries. You can refuse induction and opt for daily monitoring - just checking you are aware of that.

Why risk it, Focus? Yes, babies come in their own time, but the longer you leave it, the greater the chance of something going amiss. It's a choice, of course the OP should be aware. However, being induced is not the worst choice here.

Watching with some interest, as I may be booked in for an induction next week as well.

I was induced with DC1. Had the pessary and DH had to go home as nothing was happening. Waters went at midnight but no contractions so I went on the synto drip at around 10am (DH was there by then).

It was all much more bearable than I imagined and I coped with G&A and paracetemol. DD born at 11pm after 15 mins pushing. I know I was lucky to avoid further interventions, but I wanted to reassure you that inductions are not always terrible.

Now pregnant with DC3, so it definitely didn't put me off!

Good luck

Booked in at 10am at term+12. Monitored for an hour and the pessary went in at 12. Encouraged to walk about and carry on with things. It was rather boring so we took books, cards and spent too long wondering around the corridors. I was in a 4 bed ward but DH could stay overnight in the chair if he wanted. I sent him home at 10pm as he snores for Wales.
At midnight I was monitored again and I was having tightenings. At 2am contractions started and I had some paracetamol and went back to sleep, woke at 3am as they'd ramped up. I was 7cm and DH was phoned. Whisked down to the delivery suite and DS2 was out within the hour and about 5 pushes. Much quicker and intense then with DS1 but it was all productive. Back on the ward within 2 hrs and home that afternoon.

I was induced six weeks ago with DC1 at 40 + 12. In my area, they offer outpatient induction. You're given a propess (pessary) on day 1 (0900 for me) and, if monitoring is satisfactory and nothing has happened after a few hours, you're sent home and told to come back once in established labour or at an agreed time on day 2 (1300 for me).

If the pessary doesn't start things, they break your waters. If nothing happens after 2 hours, they start you on the syntocinon drip, and gradually increase the dose. This should start regular contractions if nothing else has worked. In theory, you should then dilate and labour should progress. My partner was with me throughout my time in hospital.

I have nothing to compare it to but, for me personally, the pain was manageable and I used gas and air and breathing exercises. My main problem was that the midwife insisted on monitoring me on my back on the bed, despite there being no clinical reason for this (was allowed off the bed when the shift changed).

Things I wish I'd known/felt more confident about sticking to:

1. As a previous poster has pointed out, you can decline induction. Do some research if you're considering this.

2. It is quite possible that nobody will explain the induction process to you because they assume someone else will have done. Ask questions if you're unsure! It's a process and most hospitals want to follow strict timescales.

3. My experience was that consent was taken as a given. If you're not happy, say so. I wish I'd refused to consent to the drip unless the midwife would at least try monitoring me in a more upright position.

4. It's much more medicalised and you'll be closely monitored throughout. I was in a hospital gown and flight socks from when they broke my waters, also had a cannula inserted in case I needed the drip. Once you're on the drip, you're nil by mouth so eat well beforehand - you can drink water throughout.

5. Think about pain relief in advance. Ask about timings if you're considering an epidural and when you can have one.

6. Be aware that for some people (ie me), induction doesn't work and you may end up with a C-section. Sounds silly but I didn't realize it might not work! I was 1.5 cm dilated when they broke my waters and never progressed past 2 cm. But others find the pessary/drip starts things quickly.

Good luck! And don't worry, it's unlikely you'll need a c-section but if you do, my experience was very positive-it wasn't as scary as I expected and I recovered really quickly. Mine wasn't a "proper" emergency (neither I nor DC1 were in distress or anything) and it felt very calm.

My experience was a lot of waiting around unless the pessery works then things should move along nicely . I ended up discharging myself at one point I was meant to be induced on 2nd nov I didnt end up having my son till 6th of november at a different hospital as my original hospital kept messing me around and were not very professional If i can help it i i am not beinf induced with this one as it waa a nightmare for me xx

I've had two inductions that were very different from each other. My first was pessary only, quite quick. My second was 2 pessaries, broken waters, then a drip. Tbh, it was pretty awful but only because the hospital was so busy and kept delaying at each stage, making everything take longer than it should have and there was no privacy (waters were flowing out from under the curtain of my cubicle into next door's cubicle- noone should experience that!). It helped that I refused to lie on my back while i had the drip - they found me a wireless monitoring unit instead. I was refused food and drink while on the drip - I wish I had insisted on drinking, at least. But both times I managed without any pain relief as I just dont get on with it. So, unless you want an epidural, there not necessarily a need to insist on an epidural with the drip, as some people advise.

I was induced with my son and would happily be induced this time.

I was admitted Tuesday am and had the pessary. I had an enormous private room. Dh was welcome to stay whenever he wanted but he went home to sleep and eat as we ivied very close.
I was dilated enough to have my waters broken but the delivery suite was full (!!!) so I ended up waiting until Friday for a room. Once I went down I had my waters broken and the drip. You have a mw with you all the time when you are evening induced, which was another factor in me having to wait for a room). Pain was pretty strong pretty fast so I had an epidural and it was amazing. Made the experince very calm and pain free. Actually spent quite a nice day with my dh while stuff progressed. As I had an epidural I was monitored all the time and was lying in the bed.

Near the end my son needed ventouse to help him out but they just topped up my epidural with some morphine and I didn't feel a thing.
My only recommendation would be that I had a fair few internals during the pessary stage which left me pretty sore. I got really upset as I worried if I couldn't cope with an internal how would I deal with labour ... And then the mw suggested I had some freezing gel prior to the next internal. Then all was fine!
Be prepared for some waiting around... Take food, books, etc. We ended up having a scrabble championship because it took so long!!

Good luck, katyxx

I was induced at 40+11 - pessary in at 5pm, wandered around hospital with DH and then settled in the ward, DH left at 10pm. Contractions (mild, like period pain that I couldn't ignore) started around midnight, kept going to the loo and found I was bleeding around 1am. Midwife took me down to delivery, DH arrived around 3am. Midwife broke my waters, contractions getting steadily stronger - pain manageable, I was using TENS and eventually gas and air too. I was at 5cm dilated by around 8am, when contractions slowed so I went on the drip (with epidural) around 11am. Everything very straightforward from then on.

I did end up with a caesarean, but that was because of DD's big head and awkward presentation - I got up to fully dilated by 9.30pm so with a more helpful baby a vaginal birth would have been fine. Neither of us was in distress, it was all okay. I'd happily have another birth like that :)

I'm 41 weeks today (2nd baby but third labour - long story - so place marking as my induction has been booked for the 16th. I heard that they use a tampon like thing now...dont know how true that is..

Just to advise that inductions can fail - I was the one in 100 apparently - I had a sweep on the Friday (couldn't access membranes) pessary went in on Wednesday morning (my due date, measuring big for dates) and absolutely fuck all happened for 3 days. 3 days I bounced on that damned birthing ball. I lost count of the women who arrived, dilated and were sent down to delivery suite. I ended up having a c- section on the Friday evening. Good luck with it but stand your ground.

I was induced a couple of weeks ago with DD2 as my BP had shot up. I was given a sweep a couple of days before my due date but that never did anything even though they were really hopeful as I was already 2cm dilated. Went in on my due date and BP was still high so they decided to induce. They said I didn't need the pessary as my cervix was already dilating so I went straight onto the labour suite with DH to have my waters broken. Waters were broken just after 7pm. Contractions started right away but I was put on the drip at 7.30pm to move things along. Was on the lowest dose of the drip and didn't need it ramped up as my body started contracting well. DD2 was born at 9pm. I'd been in active labour for 40 minutes and pushing for just 8. I only needed gas and air for the last 15 minutes or so. So in my case induction was an amazing experience and the complete opposite to my natural first birth (excruciating 25 hour back to back labour, failed epidural, forceps and episiotomy).

I was induced at 38 weeks because my waters went but labour didn't start on its own. I had prepared myself to be in the hospital for ages waiting for the pessary to take effect....midwife popped the pessary in, said she would reassess the state of my cervix in 6 hours, sent DH home and told him they would ring him when anything started to happen. They had to ring him an hour after the pessary went in he came back and DD was born 3 hours later!
It wasn't bad at all! MW told me beforehand to "rethink my plan of no pain relief"....turns out it was no where near as bad as I expected. I tried gas and air but it made me sick (think of the room spinning when you're drunk!) - overall, I had a good experience!