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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

For those of you that have been Induced - wait times to have your waters broken?

21 replies

annlee3817 · 27/08/2022 15:05

Hi,

Just wondered how long other people have had to wait on the Induction ward to have their waters broken?

I'm on day five now, the labour ward is constantly full, they didn't want me going past 39 weeks due to the babies size, my age, excess fluid and group b strep, but heading to my due date and worried that the baby is getting even bigger and the risks for labour higher.

I suppose I thought five days would be the max, but I'm no closer, they say it's a nationwide problem, but others in my antenatal group haven't experienced the same where they live, so thought I'd ask ok here

OP posts:

Original poster

annlee3817 · 27/08/2022 15:06

To add, I had the propess pessary on Tuesday, I had twelve hours of contractions six with the pessary and six without, two mins apart and then it all just stopped, so have been waiting since then to have my waters broken

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GlueyMooey · 27/08/2022 15:22

I assume you've thought through the fact that if you wait until the 1st September your kid will end up being the eldest in the year rather than the very youngest?

Sorry not helpful I know but I've a couple of friends who are currently really trying to hold on a few more days 😅

Good luck!

Original poster

annlee3817 · 27/08/2022 17:24

I'm high risk, so getting her out safely is preferable to a September born, plus I'm August born and it didn't impact me, definitely not something I care about.

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SunshineClouds1 · 27/08/2022 17:35

First pessary 09:30, they broke my waters 22:30 that night. If I wasn't ready for waters to be broken by midnight I would of had a section in the morning.

Have they not gave you anything at all to start you off?

GretaVanFleet · 27/08/2022 17:39

I don’t know whether this helps, I wasn’t induced but with both of my labours my waters had to be broken. Both times it was when I was 10cm or near as. They said it was then because once they’re broken I’d want to push.

Good luck 🍀

MooChops89 · 27/08/2022 17:49

Hi, I'm a midwife and it is a bit of a national problem (Staffing levels mostly) but also depends on how busy your hospital is in general. Women don't tend to wait more than 2-3 days in ours and that's a really busy period.

Another hospital in our region had to close the other week and divert women to other hospitals because they had 19 women being induced and waiting for labour ward!

All labouring women need a midwife for one to one care and that's usually the delay for inductions if women come in already in labour or emergencies take priority. Sometimes women who are induced will go into labour while waiting and "skip the queue". If you go into labour they will have to find you a midwife, probably by closing the unit to allow a midwife to become free once she can get her woman and baby to the ward, or calling community MWs in and possibly closing the homebirth service (depending how they staff it). It's crap.

We know how frustrating it is and we can only apologise. I've been qualified almost 9 years and I've never known it this bad.

Hope you get going soon, good luck and congratulations!

SunshineClouds1 · 27/08/2022 17:49

Sorry just seen you have had pessaries.

I would be asking them what the plan is, it's been 5 days how much longer are you expected to be waiting for.
I assume baby is being monitored throughout?

Dyra · 27/08/2022 18:17

Ooof that's rough. I waited only a couple hours with my first. Nearly 4 days with my second. Same hospital. Both times pre-eclampsia.Two and a half years between them.

As Moochops said, it was mostly down to staffing. There was also a little bit of a baby boom at the time. So they couldn't continue any inductions due to labouring women coming in. Or women waiting for their induction to continue going into labour by themselves. There was an element of triage going on as I know I moved up and down the list until there was finally space.

It sucks so bad, but there's little to nothing you can really do other than wait. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

crabcakesalad · 27/08/2022 18:19

Can you go to another hospital? This sounds like hell

TruffleShuffles · 27/08/2022 19:11

I was in the same situation a month ago. When admitted for static growth I was 8th in the queue of inductions to have my waters broken and I got lower each day. Thankfully after just under 3 days the pessary and 2 lots of gel must have done something as I went into labour.

The doctor who admitted me told me there was a woman who had been waiting a week. It was a bloody awful situation, I felt like they were just keeping me in hospital until I went into labour naturally or something went wrong with my baby so they had to get them out. The only thing that eased my concern was that the monitoring was frequent so any issues would have been picked up quickly.

If I hadn’t gone into labour when I did I’d made the decision that I was going to insist on a c section as I was not going to risk my baby any longer. It’s appalling that women are being admitted to hospital as their baby has an issue but are just left to sit in wards for days allowing for something to go wrong.

Original poster

annlee3817 · 27/08/2022 19:33

Thanks al, and thanks @MooChops89 I appreciate the input, I do really feel for the midwives, the care is amazing and it must be so frustrating for you. It's a struggle mental health wise and I'm really missing my 7 year old DD. I think we must be quite a busy trust, a big county.

Replying to the other questions, yes regular monitoring thankfully, have had a few dramas with her baseline heart rate during the night, but doctors are never concerned, but monitored even more so because of it.

Spoke to a midwife after posting this and she put my mind at ease a little regarding my risk factors, they asked us to complain as more complaints will hopefully help someone sort this going forwards.

The propess got me to 2cm, which is why they won't put anything else in to try and kick labour off, and they said they wouldn't do a sweep. I wasn't induced with my DD, she came all by herself at 40+5 (although but my calculations she was bang on 40) and it was a fast labour, I think I naively thought that the propess would be all I needed and this one would come flying out 😳

I'll keep waiting, it's got to happen at some point.

@crabcakesalad sadly not, they've been contacting hospitals as far as Sheffield to take some.of their induction patients and have had no's all round, found this out after posting. Sheffield is approx 2.5 hours away

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Cakecakecheese · 27/08/2022 21:36

My friend can't even get in to get induced. How frustrating, I hope it happens for you soon.

Coco9910 · 28/08/2022 08:28

I had the pessary put in about 3:30pm and then they checked 6 hours later to see if I needed another pessary but because I was showing tightenings on the monitor they said they couldn’t give me anything else so just did a sweep which seemed to kick things off. I was 2cm and getting contractions every 2 mins approx during the night. They told me to be prepared to wait up to a week to have my waters broken but they said they will try do it within the next 24 hours. They came and got me at 6:30am the next morning to take me down to the delivery ward so was quite quick really! Hope you aren’t waiting too long!

Thetractorjustmoved · 28/08/2022 16:48

My sister was recently waiting 6 days on a labour ward for waters to be broken. Grim

YorkshireTeaCup · 28/08/2022 16:56

Unrelated to the water breaking but are you due to get antibiotics for the group b strep? My DD had sepsis caused by group b strep (i didnt know i was + so slightly different scenario to you) but I'd be making sure there is a plan for the GBS as well. Hope things get moving for you soon!!

Original poster

annlee3817 · 02/09/2022 22:08

Thanks all, I ended up on the labour ward the day after posting this due to babies heart rate, it kept d

OP posts:

Original poster

annlee3817 · 02/09/2022 22:10

Kept dropping and they weren't happy. DD arrived the same day,

@YorkshireTeaCup I was given two lots of antibiotics, one four hours before my waters broke and the other during labour

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YorkshireTeaCup · 02/09/2022 22:15

@annlee3817 that's good you got the antibiotics and huge congrats on the birth of DD 😊💐 Hope you are enjoying those special newborn snuggles.

Madwife123 · 03/09/2022 01:29

Unfortunately midwifery staffing is at an all time low and August - September time is our busiest time of the year.

If there not enough staff it’s not safe to break your waters and put you into labour so it’s not unusual for women to wait day. It’s awful and we hate it as much as you do but sadly without having a midwife available to provide you care there isn’t anything that can be done.

I really think women need to start composing to the MPs or CCGs about these unacceptable delays, poor experiences etc. but actually very few do as the early newborn days are a blur with craziness for most people and by the time you feel up to making that complaint it’s usually been so long that women don’t bother. I honestly think is why hospitals believe they can ‘get away’ with neglecting maternity.

Nat6999 · 03/09/2022 01:56

I has the gel in 8.30pm, had my waters broken 7.30pm next day, was only 2cm dilated, 48 hours later had emcs.

20viona · 03/09/2022 06:32

I'm currently waiting for the phone call to go in and be induced. I was supposed to be in yesterday but got a call to go for monitoring at 1pm and was sent home at 4pm. I rang back at 10pm and there was 19 in the queue. I am apparently high priority as baby is on the 1st centile and they want her out but I can imagine there's more serious cases first. It's due to staffing they said on the phone. Really hoping I get that call today im so on edge and this isn't like me at all.

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