Epidural with induction?

[Northofthebordermum]

Hi all

Looking for some advice. My waters broke early this morning (I’m 39 +4) but so far no contractions. They are going to induce me at 8.30am tomorrow if he hasn’t come naturally and I’m wondering whether to go straight to epidural given it’s going to be a drip. Or just try and stick it out with gas and air and maybe a bit of diamorphine??

it’s annoying as with my first birth my contractions started two hours after my waters broke and DS was born 6 hours after contractions started and was fine with just gas and air and a birthing pool. Was hoping for a repeat performance this time but not looking that way at the moment!

I had been in labour without progressing much for about 20 hours and there was meconium in the water. Midwives tried to get me to have the drip without epidural as I'd been 'coping so well' to that point. It had been painful enough until then, I refused the drip until I had my epidural in, the doctors said I was very sensible :) epidural was the bees knees, low dose so I stayed mobile, but enough pain relief that I could have a quick nap to gather my strength.

I've been induced 4 out of 5 births.

1st 42wks pessary, drip, epidural.

2nd spontaneous

3rd 42wks again. Waters were broken, couldn't have an epidural because no anaesthetist available, thankfully my labour was 2hrs from waters broken to birth so I managed with gas and air.

4th induced at 40wks, waters broken, nothing happened. Wanted to put me on a drip, so after previous availability issues, I said only if I have an epidural in first. 5hr wait for an anaesthetist though not contracting so that's ok.

5th, waters broken. Baby born in 2hrs again with gas and air.

I would always have the drip in first.

First DC I was induced and straight onto drip because of my waters breaking over 2 days before. It was so painful, I had contractions with only 20 seconds in between and I had hours and hours of pain. After about 10 hours I caved, I was exhausted and the doctors had come in and said baby was distressed. They blocked me ready for c section so completely numb. The relief was amazing and dc arrived via forceps. Post natal it. Was very hard though as I couldn't move for hours and they left me with baby just out of reach, it was awful post partum care.

Second one went pretty similar but this time I asked for an epidural before c section was mentioned (althouh I still held off for 6 hours of very close contractions) and I asked for a clicky one I could control. It was so much better and I was able to walk post partum and was very mobile in the bed..you can also ease off so you can feel what's happening. The consultant said when I told them about dc1 that it was bordering abusive not to offer epidural with drip as standard as it's so painful.

If I ever did it again. (never again!!) I'd go epidural straight away and forget trying to do bloody hypnobirthing in the 10-20 seconds I got between contractions. But then I believe my reaction to the drugs is abnormal.

I must be the minority, very positive experience. I've had two inductions with the drip and both with just gas and air. It's very painful but my labours were thankfully fast. First 3hrs 50 mins and second an hour and half.
Your body your choice, good luck OP

Welcome! I love doing them, so rewarding. When I was taught them years ago my boss always says "look for the 'smile sign' when you come back to check on them, then you know it's working =D

Thats somewhat scaremongering! They're incredibly safe we do hundreds of them a day period hospital, serious consequences incredibly rare, the vast majority of labouring anaesthetists will have them, and beyond entonox they're the safest analgesia from baby's point of view

Epidural 10000000% ! There's absolutely nothing wrong with having pain relief. The martyr-type culture around childbirth in this country is absolutely nuts and the rest of the world thinks so too. Not forgetting the findings of the recent ockenden enquiry that shone a light on how dangerous this cult of "natural" childbirth is.

Get the epidural!
The drip is excruciating. Why suffer needlessly?

I’m an anaesthetist. The only thing I wrote on my birth plan was ‘No syntocinon without an epidural’. I was prepared to go with flow for everything else.

It's not a cult. I used just breathing techniques and gas and air when I was induced on a drip, kept moving about and had a really positive experience. I had an epidural with my first and hated it so I was not about to do it again. There is no medal for doing it without pain relief but sometimes giving birth can be a really lovely experience and it's not all about excruciating pain.

The scaremongering of "so much can go wrong" is what scared me growing up. I thought it was so simple to be paralysed from an epidural but, genuinely, the people who do these are the most incredibly trained people. Mine worked with my contractions as I was petrified of moving and she reassured me (can't remember all the details now) that it wouldn't be a problem and how rare problems are with them.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to just walk around with my induction as I tried that first but all the straps and monitors made it impossible. Lucky as my induction went all through the night and, that's to the epidural, I slept so well and was monitored the whole night.

A year later and I dream of sleeping like that again, can't believe it was my labour 😅😅

If they use pitching ( not sure what it is in the UK) then get an epidural. The contraction spikes are ungodly with the drip.

If they just start you out with a gel pessary and your body takes it from there, then you might be fine without one.

I have had a baby with drip induction and no epidural. It was far more painful than three subsequent deliveries without a drip and my prior delivery with an epidural, which was not induced

The quality of the contractions was completely different.

Ignore the scare stories. Epidurals help a lot.

For "pitching" read pitocin.

Doh

My sister was put on the drip and tried holding off as long as possible. It's more intense pain apparently and she said she wish she had just got it from the start.

A friend of mine didn't have the epidural but had the drip and again said she wish she went for the epidural before they started the drip.

1st birth was an induction with Propess (I didn’t even get to the drip). Whole labour was agony and I was convinced I was going to die. I was denied any form of pain relief!

2nd birth was at home with birth pool and gas and air. Pain was manageable and 10 times less than the first time around even though baby was massive with a massive head!

If I ever had another child (I’m not planning anymore) and they wanted to induce me I would insist on an epidural before I let them touch me!

Definitely go for the epidural, I was in so much pain before they even started the drip so they did the epidural first and it was excellent. I wouldn't have been able to cope with the pain otherwise as my contractions really ramped up with the drip. I ended up with an emergency c section due to failure to progress and baby becoming distressed but I'm pleased I gave the induction a go.

I was induced with my second (waters broke but he didn't appear). They said I would have a pessary, then see if there was more waters to break then finally go for the drip.

I had the pessary, walked and walked and walked around the hospital, 2 hours later I started contracting and he was born 2 hours later. Just gas and air.

I would see how you go with the pessary first as you may not need an epidural. If not go for the epidural, do what is best for you. No one is a hero because they decline pain relief!

Good luck OP ❤️

Induced twice with the drip. My preference was to avoid the epidural, but I was open to having it once I'd exhausted all other pain relief options.

DC1 was born after 11.5 hours on the drip with gas + air and diamorphine. DC2 was gas + air for ~10 hours, then epidural when it was clear labour wasn't progressing, so no point to having opiates. Emergency C-section 4 hours later when it was even more clear labour wasn't progressing.

Hopefully you'll go into labour naturally tonight instead.

For me I went about 2 hours after the drip, with gas and air before I stopped coping and asked for an epidural. I got it immediately and was great relief. I then slept for about 5 hours, before being woken up to tell me it's time to push. for me it was epic,.no problems for me and baby, plus its a very common procedure. BUT it is more risky so I am glad I held off. It's a very personal decision and as a ftm, it's really hard.to predict your pain threshold. Have a plan that you feel comfortable with.

I've had the drip twice, each time after my waters had broken and nothing happened.

The first time I was advised by the doctor as he told me it made the contractions more intense. I was glad I'd had it as I ended up having an EMCS so was able to be awake.

The second time I asked for it straight away.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, was very helpful. I ended up having the drip (apparently gels/pessarys not used when waters already broken). Nothing really happened for the first two hours then once contractions started I used the gas and air. After two hours of contractions they were fairly full on so I asked for an epidural. But when they examined me I was fully dilated! Baby born 20mins after that. Phew! I was lucky it was so quick as they told me anaesthetist had just gone into surgery so wasn’t available. They said they could have given diamorphine to tide me over but in the end it was too late for any of that.

Congratulations op.

You did brilliantly! Congratulations OP, and welcome to the world small baby x

I was induced with everything. I asked for an epidural as soon as they'd broken my waters, but it didn't work! Those contractions on the drip were hell and as I was being constantly monitored I just had to lay there.

As they were wheeling me down for my eventual C Section, the thought popped into my head that I might die in surgery, and my next thought was "oh that wouldn't be so bad, the pain will stop if I die".

I'd just get a lovely epidural, have a nice sleep and then wake up to push! If baby doesn't get themselves going before then.