Induction or Elective C-Section

[Informeddecision]

Hi all, I’m 37 weeks today and I went to the pregnancy assessment unit last night due to reduced movements and swelling in my feet. Baby is fine but my blood pressure was high, no other signs of preeclampsia. I’ve been given medication to reduce my blood pressure and will be monitored weekly.

However, due to the high blood pressure I’m going back on Monday to discuss possible induction. I’m happy to go with medical advice that the baby needs to come out sooner but I want to understand my options with whether I can opt for a c-section rather than an induction. I have provisionally mentioned this to the hospital but I want to spend the weekend understanding my options and the pros and cons of each.

The thought of induction terrifies me and I hate the thought of how long it can take if things don’t move quickly (I know this isn’t the case for everyone), however I don’t feel like I know enough about either option to really advocate myself.

I’m hoping you lovely ladies can share your experiences and also any good sources of information that I can look at to help me make an informed decision. Thank you!

You should ask what a failed induction and emergency c section is likely to look like. ´Emergency’ sounds scary but in this situation it’s not necessarily going to be an alarms blaring sprinting to the OR scenario. It could also be more like, tried the pessaries, no contractions happened at all, cervix hasn’t budged so drs I recommend a section. Or things are moving along ok, so you have the syntocin drip, but after a few hours baby’s heart rate looks a bit dodgy so they decide to call time on the attempted induction and in the OR they add a different anesthesia via the same epidural port you already have in place and do a section.
´Emergency’ section and ´crash’ section are different scenarios.
You can also ask them to check your cervix and ask their opinion as to how this can affect the likely outcome in your personal case - look up ´bishop’s score’.

@Diggersaursarethebest totally agree, it would be better to call it an "unplanned" c section rather than an "emergency" c section in this case!

Thanks @Diggersaursarethebest I was going to ask if they are planning to monitor my blood pressure weekly anyway if they can also examine me to determine how ‘favourable’ my cervix is.

@Informeddecision

Does anyone know where I can find stats about inductions resulting in emcs particularly for first time mums?

I found this - not specific to FTM but still some stats.

The link: https://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/20200128mat199_statisticalrelease.pdf

hey @Informeddecision I know this is an old thread but just trying my luck in case you see this - what did you end up doing?? Am in same boat, 38+6 today and was diagnosed with high blood pressure and put on meds yesterday with talk of early induction. Going back in tomo for further checks/chats and so starting to think about the old induction vs c section question...

I'm tempted to ask for a C-section if I go over & need inducing but can you do this? Or will they try push for induction?

Hi @Tor88 this is the OP just a couple of name changes later!

I ended up going with induction but honestly wish I’d pushed for c-section. I got contractions really quickly and they were strong and frequent but weren’t being productive so I wasn’t particularly dilating. They managed to break my waters after about 7 hours (I was only 2cm dilated). It ended up being a 25 hour later, I needed the hormone drip so ended up being stuck on the bed as had an epidural. It then ended as a forceps delivery.

My dd arrived safe which is the main thing but I was fairly traumatised from it (haven’t put much detail on here). One of my friends had basically an identical induction experience to me just a few months ago. I do have a friend who had a much more positive induction experience and just kept trying to remind myself of that. But honestly I think I should have pushed for c-section. As I experienced shoulder dystocia with my dd I have been told that if I was to have a second they would do a c-section.

I’m sure everything will be fine whatever you choose but I hope you are able to advocate better for yourself than I was! Sending you lots of love. Enjoy the baby cuddles once little one is here ❤️

@Informeddecision oh thanks so much for replying I appreciate it!! God I'm sorry about your experience, that sounds really awful :(

I've spent the day reading up on it and before I read this I was already thinking elective section over and above early induction tbh... My baby is measuring really big and I'm so anxious about birth anyway, your scenario sounds such a nightmare and so common with early inductions!! I know it doesn't always turn out like that but, my goodness the things we have to through to get our babies here

I'm already 39 weeks and they may well let me go into labour naturally anyway if these meds are working (the blood pressure meds are making me feel so rubbish too 😭) so I'll just have to see but THANK YOU for taking the time to reply and helping me make an informed decision if it comes to it, the internet is such a great resource sometimes eh!!xxxx