Induction a week today

[Sprat12]

I'm 37 weeks and going in for induction a week today.

Nervous, excited and hoping for relief from this god awful pregnancy! Any positive stories to keep me going, or advice on last minute things to get organised?

I've got bags packed, heading for a sweep late this week to hopefully move things along before Monday so keeping 🤞🏻

Doing some last minute bits in the house this week so we are all prepped ready for baby to arrive, but I've knackered myself out by painting the bedroom so I'm having cat snugs on the sofa and procrastinating for now!

No advise from me (I'm currently 24 weeks with baby #1) but huge congratulations!! What an exciting time!

I bet this week will go very fast so just try and rest as much as possible. xx

Hey! I was induced at 37+4. DD is 10 weeks now.

Take things to do! Induction can be long… I was warned that it could be up to 5 days before I went into labour but it wasn’t actually that long.
I was induced on Sunday morning and she came Tuesday night but still felt like ages for that first part and I wished I’d taken more things to keep entertained with 😂

I had a playlist for labour for something to listen to. Make sure you ask as many questions as you want - our midwives we’re amazing so don’t be afraid to ask anything and everything.

I had an epidural after hours and honestly wished I’d had it sooner but I know that isn’t for everyone.

One of the things that seems not important now but bothered me at the time was that I wore a nightie and couldn’t get it off properly to do skin to skin with my daughter as I was so wired up with the drugs/ fluids/ monitors.
As I’d had different drugs I wasn’t allowed to eat for the duration of labour and was positively ravenous after - so take extra snacks for after birth 😂😂

I’m happy to answer any other questions you might have!

So many people go to be induced and expect to have their baby before bedtime, it really can go on for days and it can be miserable once the initial excitement has worn off.

Take plenty of stuff to keep you busy and be prepared for things to take a while then if it's all over quickly you will be pleasantly surprised!

I took my iPad and headphones with stuff downloaded to watch, magazines, colouring book, snacks and drinks...

Thanks ladies that’s really helpful. I haven’t sorted a playlist yet so that’s definitely on my list of things to do this week.

I’m a big reader so I’m planning on taking a few books with me which will hopefully keep me busy.

Once you’ve started and had pessary fitted, are you allowed to get up and go for a mooch about or are you pretty much told to stay in bed? DH will be allowed in during visiting hours I believe, so he can keep me company before things really get going, but it would be nice to know I’m not confined to one room!

I also haven’t got snacks sorted so that’s on the list of things to do. I am mildly concerned that I’m going to end up taking stacks of bags and suitcases in with me in case it does take 5 days 🙈

In our hospital you were allowed to wander as long as you didn’t leave!

My husband stayed with me - once he was there, he wasn’t allowed to leave and come back so he ended up staying the whole time which was actually lovely. We took an air bed and sleeping bag for him.

I also took an extra pillow and wished I’d taken a blanket as I got cold so got my mum to bring one!

In terms of the luggage - I’m not sure if you have anyone close by but I packed a few extra bags (shopping not suitcase!) so that I could switch out new clean clothes and snacks with dirty laundry! My mum was allowed to drop them at the door and my husband went to meet her. It meant that she didn’t have to go rummaging around to find the things that I wanted in our house and she could just grab them. (We stayed in for a while for various reasons so I’m glad I’d packed them)

I was allowed to wander around but not leave the hospital. If you have the oxytocin drip then you are attached to it and it's a pain moving it around but otherwise you should be able to move freely if you feel able.

Take stuff to occupy you. I was induced Tuesday and she wasn't born until Friday pm. I was then kept in until Sunday so it was a long almost week! Lots of waiting around in between anything happening, also the contraction we're really really intense due to the drip so be open to an epidural, I went to 5cm with paracetamol and thought I was going to breeze it and then all hell broke lose and I went from 0-1000 on minutes and NEEDED the epidural (I know not everyone has same experience just sharing my own) and I very nearly missed the window to get one so this time around if I'm induced I will be open to it much earlier on! Good luck!

@BabyB19 I am completely open to epidural, but it’s good to know that things can progress relatively quickly so I’ll keep that in mind!

Ideally, I’ll have the sweep tomorrow and go into spontaneous labour over the weekend, but I doubt that will happen - this kid feels far far too comfortable for that yet!

I don't want to scare you OP you may have a much different experience to me but I was definitely unprepared for how intense it was on the drip so I would prefer to be honest with you. Good luck 🤞🏼

How did it go OP? X