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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Original poster

Potential Induction - Tell me your stories!!

19 replies

Char1997 · 19/12/2019 19:30

Hey all,
Potentially going in for an induction tomorrow. Feeling a bit nervous as this is my first and don’t know what to expect! Surprisingly I don’t actually know anyone’s who’s had an induction and would love to hear some stories!!

OP posts:
Original poster
Char1997 · 20/12/2019 02:41

any stories? :(

OP posts:
snailywhaley · 20/12/2019 04:02

I have had 2 great inductions.

First was with a pessary which triggered almost 'normal labour'. I went onto have a water birth.

Second I had a balloon induction- in hospital with this for 12 hours, water broken, attached to drip (but I requested epidural with this). Very medicalised birth but so lovely to have no pain.

snailywhaley · 20/12/2019 04:03

What sort of induction method does your hospital use?

My top tip is definitely opt for an epidural if they want to put you on the drip. Otherwise you're in for a tough time.

Good luck!

20viona · 20/12/2019 04:04

2 pessarys 6 hours apart got me to 3cm with no regular pains. They broke my waters and she was born 2 hours later. I just walked tons with the second pessary in and bounced on rye ball to try and get things moving. It worked lol.

snoopy18 · 20/12/2019 06:14

I was induced back in March & had a great experience! They put the Pessary in on Thursday night 8:30pm & within 30 minutes things started off. They had to remove the pesssry in the morning as I wasn’t getting on with it & following on from that I was taken downstairs to the suite - I was 6cm dilated. They broke my waters I was on gas & air using the yoga ball & squatted baby out by 2pm. Loved my experience! Good luck 😉

CaramelCrunch · 20/12/2019 06:39

I've been induced twice first time was fine until they used the hormone drip when it all accelerated much too fast and became very traumatic. Second time round I asked for epidural with the drip and had a really positive experience, felt enough sensation to work with my body but without the pain. Obviously everyone is different but the drip can be very overwhelming if you react quickly to it.

m0jit0 · 20/12/2019 06:42

I was induced this week- balloon fitted on tues which fell out on weds morning, taken in to get waters broken just before 10pm, baby was here 3 and a half hours later. Didn't need the drip, things progressed quickly enough after Waters breaking. Bit of a difference from my first labour which was 30 odd hours long. Good luck op.

Sunshineandsprinkles · 20/12/2019 06:48

I had a great experience, for my second birth (first induction though). Waters were broken on first examination, contractions started straight away and baby was born 3 hours later!

AAA89 · 20/12/2019 08:46

I was induced with DD2 as my waters had gone 48 hours prior, pessary done nothing for me so was put on the drip.
Honestly it's not that bad I was on it for 5 hours above the highest level untill they realised my waters hadnt fully gone 🙈🙈
you dont really get a break between contractions but I didn't find the pain any worse than natural contractions.
The best advice I can give you is try to relax, best of luck for it all x

El2El · 20/12/2019 08:51

I was induced a week ago today and like you felt totally in the dark. Went in to hospital at 8pm and had to wait for a bed until 2am! But was in a waiting room with some lovely women and we all chatted away. Had a vaginal exam and given pessary by 2.30am then went to sleep. 24 hr wait, nothing happened. At 3am they did another vaginal exam and said next stage was the gel. I was exhausted so they put me in a private room and let me sleep. Gel went in 11am. 6 hr wait and again not much change. Next step was to break waters and I was told they'd likely put me on the drip at the same time. I asked for them to wait for a couple of hours to see if breaking waters alone might be enough. Midwives agreed. Had a vaginal exam and sweep at 6pm while I waited for another bed on delivery suite to have waters broken. Contractions started almost immediately, slowly and manageable. By 11pm they were very painful, waters were broken at 3.30am and at 4.12am DD was born. Active labour was incredibly fast but not sure if that was due to the induction or her being my second baby.

Main thing I would say is you need to expect it to be a few days. Some people are in and out quite quickly but I think it's much more common for it to take longer. Also dont forget to advocate for uourself. If you want time to think about each stage and consider options etc then take the time. Remember they can't do anything to you without your consent and it makes for a much more positive experience if you know what's happening and understand why at each stage. Good luck if it goes ahead today!

Pegase · 20/12/2019 08:53

I had the drip after the pessary failed. Definitely have an epidural with it. My mw said she rarely sees people manage the drip without.

Original poster
Char1997 · 20/12/2019 09:22

oh thank you ladies! it’s nice to actually hear some stories rather than the worst case scenario they tend to tell you!
On my way in now. Concerned about reduced movements and birth weight as have been having growth scans and all of a sudden her movements have changed the past two days. Doctor came and saw me yesterday and suggested I come back for an induction if i’m still not happy with movement, which i’m not.

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Dyra · 20/12/2019 09:52

Good luck for later.

As for my induction, first baby, induced at 37 weeks due to pre-eclampsia.

Two gel pessaries on the Wednesday got me to maybe 1cm. Went to delivery suite at 1am Thursday to have waters broken, and hooked up to the CTG. 3am was put on the drip, which was gradually ramped up until I was contacting enough. I think they wanted 3 within 10 minutes lasting one minute each.

Managed on gas and air, paracetamol + codeine and heat packs until 11am (3cm). I opted for morphine over an epidural. Thanks to said morphine, I managed to sleep between contractions until about 4pm.

Started pushing at 4.20pm, baby born 20 minutes later.

Original poster
Char1997 · 20/12/2019 18:26

thank you!!Flowers

Currently had the pessary in for 1 hour. They were going to go straight to breaking my waters as 1cm dilated however they decided that they wanted her head to come down a bit more so went ahead with the pessary anyway!

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El2El · 20/12/2019 19:14

Good luck Char! I think people, for some reason, love to tell their traumatic birth stories to pregnant women. I had a few friends and my own mother doing it when I told them I'd be induced but ended up having a very very positive experience despite it being very far removed from what I had hoped for. Keep us posted xxx

Perid0t · 21/12/2019 08:58

I went in for induction due to reduced movement. Before they could, my waters went and I went into active labour on my own.
I did then end up on the drip, they really wanted that baby out (meconium too) so I had an epidural. Can’t comment on how the drip therefore felt but it didn’t actually speed it up for me. Good luck

Dyra · 21/12/2019 09:02

Hope all went well, and you're enjoying newborn snuggles. ❤️

snoopy18 · 21/12/2019 09:21

How’s it going? Hope it’s going well / went well!

Original poster
Char1997 · 22/12/2019 07:30

well hospital was very understaffed so have had a lot of waiting around which I was completely fine with!
Had pessary in for 24 hours and still only dilated 1cm!
Am now on the hormone drip currently without an epidural seeing how it goes!
Hopefully baby makes an appearance soon!

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