Induced labour - Need some guidance/reassurance pls

[AR23]

Hi there,

I'm currently 34 weeks and I have gestational diabetes and have been told by the obstetrics consultant that I will most likely be induced to go into labour at 38 weeks to reduce any effects to baby.

I've just been reading up about pain relief and inducing labour on the NHS website to familiarise myself with it all so that I'm less nervous, but I actually feel a little more nervous now and so was wondering if anyone could share their stories.

NHS website says Induced labour is usually more painful than labour that starts on its own and women are more likely to need an epidural or assisted birth (forceps of ventouse suction).

I'm not speaking from experience as I am still very early in pregnancy, but birthing pools are supposed to really help with pain & can get everything a bit more flexible... perhaps see if your hospital has one of them or consider a midwife led unit for your birth (if it's low risk...?). I really am not an expert, but if there is a way to be more relaxed after the induction this could help prevent further intervention? Low lights, music... this has all been proven to help with oxytocin and thus a positive natural birth. You need oxytocin to give birth naturally, however, I imagine with an induction this is what he pessary is doing in some ways? But yeah I imagine water, dim lights and things like that would help your body cope with it. Good luck! x

@IslayBrigid you cannot go to a midwife led unit if induced - its only offered in consultant led care settings. Similarly with a water birth, it's not usually an option with induction (although that depends on induction circumstances) as they tend to have you hooked up to an electrical monitor to keep an eye on contractions and babys heartrate - being evicted can be stressful for them!

I had an induction which ended in C section. The C section was actually great! But I did spend a lot of time agonising that this would somehow be 'wrong' etc. So I'd say, try to make peace with yourself about if it might end in a section, it's not your fault, and honestly I found the operation and recovery not too bad at all. I'm really glad I had the option.

Secondly, pack carefully! Lip balm, lots of bottled water, lots of snacks. Make sure you eat before having an epidural as they won't let you eat once it's in. Make a playlist of songs, the kind of thing you'd go running to, if you get into the zone pushing.

I'd also really recommend you plan for the postnatal ward. Everyone says to bring pants and pads. Forget it, you might be swollen from IV drips. The best things I found were Tena lady pants. They are like nappies. Not dignified but they will save your dignity in recovery!! None of my pants would fit and I brought them 4 sizes too big! Talk to your partner and the hospital about whether they can stay with you overnight and have a plan for this, overnight care postnatally is generally pretty poor and I wish to this day my husband had stayed with me.

Good luck. You've got this.

@IslayBrigid @Mamabear2020 yes that’s correct, if you’re being induced your not “low risk” simply because they need to monitor you and baby more closely. I went for a hospital tour and my hospital did have 1 room in the delivery unit with a water pool but the team said it’ll depend on circumstances and only if you’re “really adamant”.

I’m feeling more pumped up now after reading all your experiences and encouragement - massive thank you! I’m going to keep an open mind as I know I’ll need to be flexible with decision making when it happens, but you all can do it, then I can do it too 🙂! Can’t wait to meet the little one!!

Oh interesting, thanks for clarifying that! I would say definitely consider being "really adament" haha. I'm going to be like that about a pool as I've just heard such good things.

I had two induced births and two non induced. I think the induced were more painful but that was because they were really really fast and I didn't have time for any pain control at all.

I much preferred the fast but slightly more painful births to the still
painful but dragged out births.

I felt 100 times better after the induced births as I wasn't knackered after hours of pushing. I also liked knowing when the babies were due to be born. I could get things sorted and have a good nights sleep the night before. It also meant I could shave my legs and do my nails and hair 😅😅. (I'm sort of joking but it was nice to look vaguely human in the new Mum and baby photos)

Everyone has such different births that I don't think it's that useful asking about other people's experiences. If I were you I would just look at the positive stories and try not to worry too much. (Easier said than done I know) It's a bit of a 'what will be will be' situation.

Oh yes, I want to wax my legs and feel good too haha. Before I got pregnant I used to have a full hollywood wax regularly too, but I don't think I can handle that at the moment...slightly off topic haha!

Just found out my mum had an induced labour too (her waters broke but no contractions had started and therefore induced). She said my brother was out within 1 hour and she took gas & air for pain relief :)