What happens during an induction?

[CountDownnn]

Hi all

I’ll be 40 weeks this Friday, possibly looking at an induction in the very near future if things don’t start up naturally.

Can you talk me through the process if you’ve been through it?

Thank you

Anybody?

I think there are different methods and it depends how things pan out..

For me, I went on the Thursday had pessaries inserted every 6 hours. Hind waters went in the middle of the night, Friday morning I was taken down to another private room for waters to be broken and started on the syntocin drip (which is very intense)

Ended up with EMCS on the Saturday morning but won't go into that because it's a whole other story :) x

It’s a bit fuzzy for me because it was 3 months ago.

I went in on the Saturday and had 1 pessary inserted , monitored for a bit then a second inserted 6 hours later. I would have had a 3rd but my waters broke naturally on the Sunday morning so they couldn’t give me the 3rd. I also had a drip to get things going as well but it wasn’t successful I never progressed past 6 cm.

My body just didn’t seem ready, I was 38+2 when the started it , my baby was measuring large and they didn’t want them staying in any longer .

I had a pessary Sunday 11am. Couldn’t leave as had markings for pre-eclampsia, so wandered around, watched a film etc.

Monday 11am they inserted a new pessary - waters broke at 11.30am. Back to back labour with paracetamol as they didn’t think I was in labour. Dozed on & off.

9pm needed to push so they finally examined me & realised I was fully dilated. Took me to a private room & off the ward at 9.30pm. Contractions stopped so needed the drip & DS born at 1.30am.

My appointment was at 10am so I arrived with dh and dm at 9.45am.
We were shown to a bed on the antenatal ward
About 11.30am someone came to do my blood pressure/temp etc
At 13.30pm they inserted the first pessary (with difficulty as they struggled to reach cervix) and told me to get comfy and they'd check my cervix again in 6 hours. They checked my obs every hour though.
We went to get lunch from the shop around 14.30pm but I could barely walk out the lift as had mega period and back type pain.
I returned to the ward and began contracting and had to use tens machine.
I was hyper stimulating to the pessary so was contracting constantly.
Begged midwives to check my cervix around 4.30pm but they said it's just prostin pain and gave me a tens machine.
5.30pm my dm had to force the midwives to put me on the monitors as was having no break between contractions/ they did and realised baby was in distress during contractions.
Cervix was checked and I was 6cm and moved to labour room and given pethidine to slow contractions (alongside some wonderful gas and air!).
Gave birth around 7.30pm.

I'm being induced next week too and have been told to expect a lot of waiting around and potential delays.

Also resulted in an emcs , that wasn’t fun but by that point I didn’t care how my baby came out as long as they were ok.

It didn’t help I had major BP spikes, was developing an infection and also wasn’t allowed an epidural and had a back to back 10lb + baby 🤦🏻‍♀️

I really wouldn’t go there unless you absolutely have to.
I was induced with my second having had a drug free labour with my first. They admitted me at 9 am on the Monday morning after a sleepless night worrying about reduced movements. They put a pessary in first to dilate your cervix enough to break your waters. When they went to do this with me I was already 2cm so it wasn’t needed. I then had to wait for a space on delivery. I waited until 3 am on Tuesday morning. They broke my waters with a hook. They then gave me 2 hours only to start contracting ( this is standard). 2 hours later with not much happening they put me on the pitocin drip to stimulate contractions. Note this is not pain relief. It is a hormone that forces your uterus to contract. Then all hell broke loose. Most horrendous pain. Didn’t even know it was possible to be in that much pain and remain conscious. Much worse than normal labour pains. No pain relief possible as I dilated to ten within an hour of upping the drip.
What they don’t explain to you is by agreeing to them breaking your waters you’re going to have to have the drip if it doesn’t work and in most cases it does not. I wouldn’t let anyone near me again with one of those drips unless it’s absolutely necessary and def not without an epidural already in.

I went in 8am Wednesday and had a 24hr pessary inserted. Spent the day and night wandering the hospital and watching tv, trying to keep myself entertained and cool as it was hotter than the fire of hades in the hospital.

Was due another pessary Thursday morning but everyone was really busy, they went to insert one around lunch time and realised they would be able to manually break my waters so did that at around 1pm. Contractions started pretty quickly after that and were very regular, had some gas n air and gave birth at 6.30pm.

For me it was just lots of waiting around, then when it started it went fast.

Was induced for both DC.
One only needed one pessary and she popped out 12 hours later.

Second, I was induced by pessary every day for 4 days. It didn't work so ended up on the drip and had him 4 hours later.

@Itsbeen84yearss can I refuse an induction?

I would never agree to an induction ever again. Lots of waiting about and the contractions are 100 times worse, they are constant. I have had a 23 hour natural labour and a 5.5 hour induced and it was by far the worst of the two.

First induction took over 48 hours. Second one I didn't even make it to the labour ward and instead gave birth within 30 minutes on the day unit!

Yes you can definitely refuse induction @CountDownnn

If it is suggested just because you are 40 weeks then there is no need for it really

I had it early because I had GD and big baby so I weighed up the pros and cons and decided for safety of me and baby it would be best. If you don't have any medical reasons for it then put it off as long as you can I'd say (42 weeks) x

Unless there is some medical concern for you and your baby, you can refuse. I would do lots of walking close to home ( uphill if you manage it) and try to get going naturally.

I had a pessary at 3pm, was in labour by 6pm, and had my baby by midnight. FTM too, and early at 39+2. Don't listen to all the horror stories - it CAN be fine!

Please don't worry too much. I was induced with DS1 and we agreed beforehand that when my waters drove I'd have an epidural.

This is pretty standard with an induction as the contractions that are brought on by the drip are more painful as they come on quite quickly.

Unfortunately my epidural failed (only happens to 1/10 women so not common). BUT when I had the epidural I could still feel contractions but it was more pressure and I was able to sleep (before it failed 😂)

Depending on your age and pregnancy they may not let you go too far passed 40 weeks but do have the conversation about how far they'll let you wait for.

This is a good article www.sarawickham.com/articles-2/ten-things-i-wish-every-woman-knew-about-induction-of-labour-the-article/

I had 3 days of pessaries that did absolutely zilch. They sent me home for a night because they were running out of beds and told me to have the hottest curry I could cope with! 😂

Back in next day for the midwife to break my waters (ask for gas and air if they do this to you because it hurts)

Still not even a twinge.

Then onto the drip, took a while but baby eventually arrived 14 days late and back to back. I think he was just a little too comfy in there!!

@RightSaidPleb

Please don't worry too much. I was induced with DS1 and we agreed beforehand that when my waters drove I'd have an epidural.

This is pretty standard with an induction as the contractions that are brought on by the drip are more painful as they come on quite quickly.

Unfortunately my epidural failed (only happens to 1/10 women so not common). BUT when I had the epidural I could still feel contractions but it was more pressure and I was able to sleep (before it failed 😂)

Depending on your age and pregnancy they may not let you go too far passed 40 weeks but do have the conversation about how far they'll let you wait for.

I wouldn’t say it was standard. Nobody even mentioned pain relief to me.

There's a huge amount of threads on here about inductions so have a scroll and find the ones with lots of posts. I haven't a lot to add other than just to be aware it can take a long time because you're waiting around for staff just as much as the process itself, and I too had it agreed that I wouldn't have the drip without an epidural first (and that's the only thing on my 'birth plan' for my upcoming one).

You cane refuse induction but as to how sensible that is will depend on why you've been booked for one- I am having a second SGA baby so she will be better out than in once she hits term and a bit but that's from talking to my consultant and midwife separately as well as reading on here.

@Itsbeen84yearss It's terrible how there doesn't seem to be a national blueprint for this.

Myself and several friends who had inductions in south London's hospitals were all advised to have an epidural once on the drip. Considering the pain it really should be standard!!

OP, if you do have one, epidural is the biggest piece of advice I can give you!!

[quote RightSaidPleb]@Itsbeen84yearss It's terrible how there doesn't seem to be a national blueprint for this.

Myself and several friends who had inductions in south London's hospitals were all advised to have an epidural once on the drip. Considering the pain it really should be standard!!

OP, if you do have one, epidural is the biggest piece of advice I can give you!! [/quote]
Totally agree with the drip induction and epidural!

I have had 2 babies, one induction and one natural labour. The natural labour the contractions start quite gentle and you build up a tolerance for them I think (well I did anyway) whereas with the drip you go from 0-10 in half an hour! Team epidural all the way!

I had the pessary gel. They had me come in at 5pm and did some observations of the baby and then I had the gel at 7pm. They came back to check me properly 4 hours later and I was dilated enough for them to break my waters. I was then moved from a ward to my own room as contractions began. The gel does not always work first time, there were women on the ward who'd had the gel a few times that day

Currently there are no concerns and no medical reasons to have one. So if I don’t go naturally I’ll hold off until 42 weeks if the situation stays stable in that there’s still no medical reason to have one.

After 42 weeks what happens if you don’t go naturally? Then an induction is necessary I assume?

Sorry never been in this situation so a bit clueless.

Thanks for all the tips on epidural before drip and pain relief for breaking waters etc. It’s good to know all this beforehand.

Keep the info and stories coming x

I was inducted at 40+10 and by that stage I was well dilated so they just broke my waters at 10pm then I laboured naturally until 4am then got a very small dose of oxytocin to get contractions a bit stronger and DS was out by 7am. I only had gas and air and it was all much less painful than my spontaneous labour except for the last 30 mins because he was 3lb bigger than his sister and had his hand in a bad position. Inductions can be fine, especially if you body is nearly ready for labour anyway.