Being induced on Thursday any advice/ tips?

[Shanmoo]

Hi ladies. Being induced on thursday due to drop in fetal growth/ and symptoms of pre eclampsia. I'll be 40+1and first time mum. Any tips of things to bring or anything generally helpful ? Not interested in scare tactics from those against induction! I know not to expect a lovely blissful birth, but this is the best thing for me and the baby.

Best thing you can do is keep calm. Really practise making your body relaxed, not just superficially relaxed but genuine floppy.
It helps so much if you can completely relax between contractions. You have loads more energy because of it.

Fwiw I’ve been induced twice. First time wasn’t brilliant but I’ve heard worse. 2nd time was a blissful water birth.

Bring stuff to do, stuff to listen to, headphones and ear plugs. I did cross stitch, crochet and a Lego car to kill time waiting for stuff to happen.

Antenatal is quite busy - although most trusts try to get private rooms for induction it's not always possible. We had people in early labour on the bay, admissions at 3am etc. Definitely not quiet!

Don't expect baby to arrive straight away! Everyone is different and I wasn't as far on with my two inductions but I was there a good two days!
The mw wanted to take a photo of our set up with number two. Pre internet on your phone days we had
Magazines/newspapers
Books
Travel scrabble
Travel connect four
Cards
Ipods
Money for the tv

So earplugs for the nights before baby arrives. X

Take lots to do and trainers. I took flip flops and slippers as I didn’t expect to walk as much but had three pessaries and did 6 miles of walking around the hospital - my Hubbie had a Fitbit on. I’ve just found out today I’m being induced again this Sunday. Also will be taking lots of things to do like book, music etc. Also worth checking if they have a birthing ball as I bounced on that too when I wasn’t walking. Good luck for Thursday. Won’t be long until your baby is here in your arms xx

It can take a long time! Be prepared to be stuck on a ward which can be noisy and stressful. Maybe take headphones and try hard to stay relaxed.

As the pp says, take a ball and do as much waking as you can to try and get things moving. I found a tens machine really useful to help me keep moving when it got sore.

Keep eating! I didn't know I would only be allowed clear fluids once my waters had been broken and laboured on an M&S veggie salad..not ideal! Eat plenty of carbs.

Be aware that if you're on the drip it can move quite quickly towards quite bad pain. I didn't know most people on the drip have an epidural and I didn't consider it... in hindsight I'd probably have had one however I did manage on other pain relief so it's not the be all and end all.

Good luck! You'll get to meet your little one very soon

Thank you everyone for some really good responses and advice! I'm defintely being sensible and expecting a slow process, but thrilled that I'll be getting closer to meeting little one!

I would add, in an annoying contrary way, to be prepared for quick too! Just basically go in with an open mind, have stuff to occupy you as it can take days but it could happen any moment. I went in expecting days in hospital. Had the pessary before bed (I was admitted for induction in the evening), woke up, waters went, thought “Ooh, exciting”. 2 hours later contractions started. About 3 hours later baby was born! However there was a very sudden ramp up compared to my first birth (no induction), where that gradually developed, in my induction I found it was the first 20 minutes of the final hour where I went from “Ooh, some contractions” to “THIS BABY IS COMING NOW”. Apparently the sudden surge can be quite common with inductions.

Also agree with pp that you might be labouring on the Antenatal ward, especially because it can take days they won’t necessarily put you in a labour suite from the beginning. Personally I wasn’t bothered, I had my curtain pulled and I was too busy with contractions and gas and air to care but it did make me wonder later if all the other pregnant women on the ward were freaked out! They did get me into a labour suite on time and personally, my care was great, I just jumped from regular contractions to ready to push so quickly there was a lot of scrambling to get me space on the labour ward. Also I had the option of the birthing centre too originally but had to go to labour ward because of meconium in the waters, so there are often options in the same way as with a spontaneous birth.

I was induced and it only took 2 hours to get to the pushing stage so you won't necessarily have a long wait. I'd happily be induced again no worries.

I was induced and it was brilliant. I felt in control (which was important for me) and thought it was blissful and calm. Hope all goes well

Mine was waiting (busy and I was an "extra") then niggling pains - too much and too much noise to allow sleep for 12 hours then pretty quick once it got going, pretty similar to my first spontaneous labour...