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Pregnancy

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

Original poster

Induction

11 replies

Lulufluff · 21/12/2019 11:06

Just looking for nice stories about inductions?
I have one Monday and it’s looking like it will happen as my baby isn’t engaged (41+1)
My community midwife has kinda put me off saying it can be a scary situation to be in etc
I had a failed sweep yesterday and apparently am no where near ready to labour myself..
just wondering if anyone has some insight/hopefulness they can pass on..
really worried :(

TIA

OP posts:
Original poster
Lulufluff · 21/12/2019 13:55

Bump

OP posts:
Dyra · 21/12/2019 14:45

You're going to do grand. Flowers

Bring along lots to do, as the pessaries can take their sweet time in getting things started. Once they're in and the monitoring part has been done, go for a march brisk walk. That was the only thing that triggered anything resembling contractions on just the pessary.

Pack for an extra night or two. If you're not in labour by the time the induction ward/bays close, you'll need to stay the night. They also might not want to continue beyond the pessaries if there's too many labourers on the delivery suite.

Be mindful of pain relief. I've only had one labour, so I don't know what it's like to labour without the drip. The drip does hurt I'm sorry to say, but there's plenty of options for you to make use of if you need the drip.

I'm cuddling my little 3 month old daughter now. We're both healthy and happy, and none the worse for needing an induction.

Good luck for Monday!

Original poster
Lulufluff · 21/12/2019 15:00

@dyra thank you ❤️

I know it’s all worth it, just the unknown.. thank you for sharing your experience x

OP posts:
snowflakeeel · 21/12/2019 18:02

Did the midwife tell you what your cervix was like? Could she create a bishops score for you? I've just had an induction at 39 weeks for medical reasons and was dreading it. Had two previous spontaneous v births and had resided that this induction was going to drag on and be excruciating. I had a sweep 2 days before the induction which did nothing. Cervix was high and tilted back but she could coax it forward. She said it was soft but still long. I had the pessary and was told that nothing would happen for 12-24 hours and that I might need another pessary to follow. (These we to shorten and soften the cervix). I started mild contractions 9 hours later which lead to waters breaking spontaneously. I was allowed my water birth and the birth was quick in comparison to my previous two. Not the terrifying experience I had been dreading. Thankfully there are many positive experiences out there too. I would say once you have the pessary, walk as much as possible and /or get bouncing on the birthing ball to encourage things along. Best of luck.

commoncoot · 21/12/2019 18:17

I've had 3 very positive induction.
DS1 at 42 weeks. Pessary kicked it all off. Waters went naturally from that. Had epidural because I'm not good with pain. About was about 16 hrs in total. No interventions needed and no damage to me

Ds2 at 38 weeks due to placenta failing. Took a few days to get going but once I was in delivery 6 he labour. Ds was born in 6 mins of pushing. Had epidural again but no interventions needed of damage to me again

DD (7 weeks old) at 38 Weeks again to placenta failing. labour was 7 hours. Back to back contractions so irregular ... no one was ready when I said I needed to push as I'd only been 4 Cm less than 20 mins before. Didn't have time for epidural and DD was born in 2 pushes over 4 mins. No interventions or Damage again

Original poster
Lulufluff · 21/12/2019 18:23

@snowflakeeel yes she said that my cervix was closed and high up she could only get finger tip in and couldn’t manage to sweep, she was saying she doesn’t think baby will engage at all for me to labour naturally and that I could be in for a bumpy ride with the whole induction process..
all I’m having done is the gel on Monday and they send me home to see if that does anything.. they will not be properly inducing until day 12 (Wednesday 25th) Sad

@commoncoot thanks for sharing, I’m hoping it goes smoothly for me.. really ready to have baby here now!

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mistermagpie · 21/12/2019 20:19

I was induced 5 weeks ago after two previous spontaneous labours. I was 37+4 so was prepared for the process to be lengthy as my body and baby weren't really ready.

It took three lots of the pessary (9pm, 3am and 9am) and nothing much happened but at about lunchtime the contractions started. One thing I didn't realise was that's I would need to be on a monitor for some of it and I hated that. Anyway my birth was fast - I was 4cm dilated at 4:04pm, they broke my waters and baby was born at 4:09pm. That's not standard and even the midwife was shocked! Third baby though...

One thing nobody told me literally until after I'd given birth is that the pessaries can really burn your vagina. The pain from that afterwards was honestly worse than the labour and my baby was back to back.

Original poster
Lulufluff · 21/12/2019 20:23

@mistermagpie thanks for sharing your experience...
my baby is back to back also.. did you find delivery was more difficult?
Thanks for the heads up about the pessary.. not really a way around that is there Sad
Nice to hear everything went pretty quick for you though.
Not expecting a pleasant time tbh

OP posts:
WhatchaTalkinBoutWilis · 21/12/2019 20:51

Ok, so I'm not going to sugar coat it as it's good to be prepared for a long, tiring few days but 100% worth it in the end.
A couple of things I found useful:

  • midwife recommended not to get the pethadine as it can slow everything right down and put you back to square one. She just layout saying, you've come so far and you're almost there, and she was completely right. It took 2 days for me, whereas my friend had pethadine and it ended up taking 4 days start to finish
  • I would however recommend the epidural. I just found after 2 days of contractions I was exhausted as it's very intense, but honestly once I got the epidural I found the 'pushing' completely fine
Original poster
Lulufluff · 21/12/2019 21:19

@watcha thanks! They have sort of said it normally takes a couple of days and a few different methods obviously dependant on me.
It’s my first DC so I’m unsure what to expect from it that’s why I wanted advice.
I want the baby out so much now that I will literally try anything so.. it is what it is I guess x

OP posts:
mistermagpie · 21/12/2019 21:47

I agree with the pp. I had been admitted during my pregnancy to the same ward. I was the only one not being induced so I got to see a lot of girls come and go. The ones who had the drugs (pethadine, morphine etc) all ended up either with their labour slowing down or they were throwing up. I didn't want either and so refused everything except gas and air, but it really depends how you cope with the pain. I'd had two babies with gas and air before so knew I would be alright with it.

I won't lie, the back to back labour was incredibly painful. I had breezed through my second birth so it was a shock. They turned her as she was coming out which was unpleasant but ultimately she came out the right way up.

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