Induction v C-Section

[Bellabelloo]

I will be 36w + 4d on Mon and am booked in for a scan to FINALLY decide my birth plan. Due to my age, healer issues, gestational diabetes, AND the baby probably still being breech I will need to be induced or have a c-section. They have refused to talk to me about what each involves and the pros and cons of each until this appointment. I really want to understand more and to have some say myself and know time isn't on my side. I am scared of inductions as the majority of my friends who were induced had horrible labours that ended up either with both mother and baby having a traumatic time, forceps and large tears and cuts or emergency c-sections. Not one had a good thing to say (this is the problem with being an older first time mum! I've heard all of my friends' stories in all of their gory details!). My midwife seems to think that with an induction I'd have a 50% chance of having an emergency c-section, so my gut feeling is to have a c-section. But is that selfish and is it better for the baby to try induction first? I am really anxious and worried. I will obviously ask lots of questions at my scan on Monday but having been fobbed off every time I asked questions before I'm just a bit worried they won't be prepared to answer or let me have a say.

My anxiety stems from having had cancer 4 years ago. I was misdiagnosed for ages, so I don't have total trust in medical professionals anymore and was then told after my chemo that I was left infertile and would never be able to have children. So this is my one chance, miracle baby and I want to do all I can to get him here safely and healthily.

Thank you. X

Is the baby still breech?

Both my pregnancies went overdue to 42 wks with no signs of labour- in hindsight I think I just naturally have longer pregnancies as I was very aware of conception dates etc.

DD1 was booked for induction at 41+6.
In the early hours of induction day, my waters naturally broke, so I felt more comfortable with the idea that DD1 had decided it was time to arrive. Began induction process at 8am with pessary/ walking round hospital/ no real monitoring. 2nd pessary at 12midday and another wait/ walking/ bouncing on ball. Neither pessaries did anything, so at 4pm they hooked up syntocinon (?) drip & attached bump band to continually monitor baby heartbeat (not a head clip). This was the only point I wasn't keen on as my movements were then limited to sitting/ kneeling on bed, rather than being free to pace the room. Contractions came thick & fast, had only gas & air (I have hugely low pain threshold so was surprised). Just as I reached the point of feeling I wouldn't be able to cope with the intensity, the head was crowning, and within a few minutes/ 3 or 4 huge pushes, she arrived

Apparently needed a few stitches but I was too absorbed in DD1's face to notice or feel what the doctor was doing down there lol, and I never experienced any pain or feeling it was different in the weeks after.
Recovery was pretty instant- able to get up & walk/ clean myself up/ no afterpains/ breastfeeding was easy to establish/ I felt euphoric & only experienced a few days of very mild baby blues on poss days 5 & 6.

With DD2, I spent a good part of my pregnancy worrying that I would go into natural labour at home, when I really wanted a repeat of DD1s induced labour- short but intense/ controlled/ knowing biggers drugs were available if needed/ no coping with pain at home unsure if it was time to go in. So I was more than happy when DD2 appeared to be following the same overdue path and I was booked for induction at 41+6 again.

However, on the day, I was given a heartbeat bump band upon arrival to monitor while they sorted out the first pessary. The monitor showed baby was in distress, so my waters were manually broken, severe meconium was found. As no contractions/ dilation hadnt even started, the consultant advised emergency csection.

Csection itself was painless & sedate (although scary for us as so unexpected). The recovery on the other hand was awful- 24 hours of being stuck in bed before my legs were taken out of compression pumps/ first night of screaming baby but unable to sit myself up let alone get to baby/ 3 night hospital stay rather than getting home within 24 hours/ pain, frustration & unhappiness at being so clunky/slow moving for weeks after/ at least 3 weeks before I could purely bend or sit down without feeling pain/ didnt feel completely back to normal until baby was 5months (as opposed to 2 days with DD1 induction). Breastfeeding was far more difficult to establish- babies who have been through a vaginal birth have the natural mucus etc squeezed out through the process, but csection babies obviously don't so DD2 wasn't interested in feeding/ wasn't hungry as her tummy was full of it. It was too painful to feed in the traditional hold across my stomach, and my failsafe method of lying down & side-feeding was impossible with the pain/ worry of csection splitting. Hormone levels dropped so rapidly that 24 hours after the csection I was a hormonal emotional wreck, and this clouded the first 7-10 days of DD2s life.

Given the choice again, I would choose induction over elective csection- for the faster recovery time of being able to pick up baby and walk around almost instantly, the painful hours of labour rather than painful weeks & months of csection recovery, the easier breastfeeding start, the more gradual hormone decrease.

Obviously, your situation is more complicated if baby is still breech etc, but on the plain question of induction versus csection, I would recommend induction every time. However, your midwife and consultants are the professionals, and their recommendations will absolutely be what they think is in yours and baby's best interests.

Good luck with your labour and I hope everything goes well for you regardless of what choices you make.
At the end of it all, you will have a lovely squishy newborn to treasure, so just try to relax and take the whole experience with an open mind/ go with the flow as much as you can

Hi OP different situation but happy to share if it might help you.

I was induced with my twins at 36+4, failed induction after 24 hours so had my waters broken. I was 1cm before induction started and didn't change.
I was in established labour for 21 hours and only just progressed to 9cm where I stayed for another few hours. Ended up with an EMCS as Twin 2 became distressed.
I was glad I still had the opportunity to feel labour and experience it all and the section wasn't bad at all and the whole thing was a really positive experience.

I always said throughout that we would go with the flow and whatever was right at the time we would try/do.

It wasn't the calm drug free water birth I envisioned when I had my BFP but I had two healthy babies at the end of it.

Go with your instincts and don't try and over plan it.

Thanks KCC. Good to hear an alternative experience.

Baby is now head down! Hurrah! Was so relieved. Had been swimming loads on their advice. But he is on the large side and the pregnancy is classified 'high risk' for a number of reasons (gestational diabetes, my age, ongoing health problems esp with my heart following my cancer treatment).

I just want to skip the coming out part and meet my little man. Praying he just comes early naturally and all of this fretting over induction v section is needless!!

Hoorah what a good little man he is!

Good luck with everything OP and congratulations!

Ah that is good news Bella! As to why they're pushing for induction I think Sunny has summed this up perfectly above! Have to say apart from the initial 24-48 hours I recovered very quickly from my C-section and was physically perfectly able to look after my twins - including tandem breastfeeding (yes, I really was awesome..:)) fairly soon afterwards. Mind you, I did have a fabulous female, pregnant (!) surgeon, who seemed to make it her aim in life to make my c-section as stress-free as possible and performed the neatest operation ever (scar is barely visible now). I think 'though like everything experiences can vary hugely. As you say though, fingers crossed the little fella works his way out naturally in time, so the decision will be taken out of your hands! Good luck! x

To be honest I think the main reason they try and dissuade you from having a c section is sadly cost. When you have the section it is done in a theatre with full theatre team, surgeon, anaesthetist etc. All very costly.

The only negative the consultant could come up with for me was that I would 'definitely get an infected wound' due to me being overweight. I said I didn't care. My scar healed perfectly and I had absolutely no problems with it! He wasn't happy but agreed in the end (he had to, I wasn't changing my mind) when I had my daughter he came into theatre towards the end to check everything was OK and he was very kind and nice to me in the end.

Best of luck in whatever you decide op

Ask about your bishops score. It's basically a measure of how ready your cervix is to go into labour and can give you some indication of whether induction is likely to be successful.

I've had some friends who were induced successfully and who say it was fine. I've also had a friend whose prolonged induction and labour ended in EMCS which is the worst of both worlds going through an exhausting labour and the major surgery. I had another friend who opted for a CS rather than being induced early and she said it was all very calm and easy going.

Hope all goes well! Ask as many questions as you want and make sure you feel comfortable with your decision. T

Roo