Static growth, induction, which hospital?

[Whichhospital]

Name changed as outing.

I'm 38+5 and had a growth scan yesterday which showed no growth at all since my last scan at 36+4.

Doppler is normal.

Last week I had 2 episodes of reduced movements and they booked me for induction at 39+2 (sunday) as I've had 4 episodes in total since 31 weeks.

Yesterday the consultant said my induction needs to be brought forward as a priority to either last night or today. The hospital say they have no slots to bring it forward at all and Sunday is the earliest they can do. Consultant said in that case to do ctg thurs+sat and doppler Friday and I'm 1st on the cancellation list.

He also gave me another option. The hospital is linked with a smaller hospital about 35 minutes drive down the motorway. This hospital can induce me Friday night, so 36 hours quicker than my current hospital.

I really don't know what to do.

I live 5 minutes from original hospital and DH doesn't drive. There is a bus from the end of our road to current hospital so he can pop home or friends/neighbours will give him a lift.

DH can stay 24/7 at both hospitals. I can drive to smaller hospital and as long as I don't have a section, I can drive us back after the birth.

I have a 17yo autistic son who will be home alone while I'm in hospital. He attends special school but can be left overnight. He can use the microwave, get a shower, feed the dog etc independently and I can get friends/neighbours to check in on him but I'm uncomfortable that DH and I will be so far away for potentially days on end. I'm sure he will be fine but it's making me so anxious.

I was induced with DS and it only took just over 24 hours but this baby is just drama and I can imagine her taking days, needing a section etc. Nothing has gone to plan at all!

I want the baby here safely ASAP obviously but then part of thinks it's a lot of stress and anxiety to get her out 36 hours faster. Nobody has mentioned outcomes or anything about waiting until Sunday so I don't know if it's dangerous to do that. I wouldn't forgive myself if something went wrong between Friday night and Sunday day.

Wwyd?

Go for the earlier option, no question.

Thankyou.
I'm hoping I go into labour before Friday. I had a sweep yesterday, was planning on long walks today to try and get things going but it's torrential rain 😩

I’d go for the earlier induction at the further away hospital. Where I am, you have a choice of three hospitals which are all 30 mins, 45 mins and 50 mins away by car. My friend whose partner couldn’t drive had to have a friend on standby to drive her to the hospital. It’s a shame your partner can’t drive but hopefully he can get a taxi or friend to take him whilst you are at the hospital.

Thankyou.
It's his own fault he can't drive and to be honest I'm livid. He has a foreign licence that he was allowed to drive on for a year so he's known all along that he had a deadline. That year ran out in December. He's then had 10 months to get his shit together and sort it but he hasn't.

It's not his fault that current hospital is busy but his lack of motivation to drive has made the situation worse. Taxi will be in the region of £30 each way. He'll have to cope with sleeping on a hospital chair for the duration of the induction.

I also had static growth, my 38 week scan showed growth, but then the 40 week one showed the same as the 36 week one, and indeed she was born at that weight, the 38 was wrong.

they called me to be induced the next day after the 40 week scan.

try to rest and sleep if it takes longer, and get an epidural as soon as you can. For me it took 31h, I didn’t want epidural so tried not to have it, in the end asked for it, and it took 2h to get it. Once I got it I dilated quickly to 10 but was too exhausted to push. I tried for a time to no progress. They had me ready for a C-section but tried to forceps first and DD was born in 2 pushes.
maybe if I had the epidural faster I wouldn’t have been so tired.

they told me they can’t assume the risk of waiting, it’s good they picked up early for you, get the induction as soon as you can and keep an eye on baby movements. I had an app and used to check if there were at least 10/hour.

Everything else will work out.

Thanks.
I'm keeping an eye on movements. My last birth was induction and it was text book. 2 pessaries, no drip, no epidural, no tears so I'm hoping for the same this time. They said my cervix is ripe and 1cm dilated when they did the sweep yesterday so hopefully it won't be too much of an ordeal.

I'm just upset that I booked at my current hospital for a reason and now I'm being sent miles away to an unfamiliar hospital. It's out of county as well so we'll have to trek back there to register the birth.
Im still waiting for them to call me back to actually book the Friday induction. They said they would hold the slot for me so hopefully it's not gone to someone else.

What I don't understand is why they don't do what other wards do and reschedule the less urgent cases. On orthopaedics and surgical wards if someone comes in with a more urgent need, they get priority for surgery and you get postponed. Why don't they do the same in maternity?

Yes they should. Maybe it’s not that urgent for you and that’s why they are not pushing it. My DD was in my womb for a month with no growth, and she also moved less than previous months, still more than the 10/hour they say to check though.

I didn’t know and wouldn’t have taken the risk knowing, just saying so you don’t get too anxious.

You could call the other hospital to make an app on the phone, or just show up at your current hospital, explain it’s hard to go to the other one, you have plenty of reasons, plus you’re anxious, you had reduced movements etc, and ask for a spot in the induction ward, you might be lucky. I’m sure they can’t be so overbooked. I would go there to try, as it’s quite close to you. Don’t call them just go.

It was the consultant that said it needed to be done yesterday or today so it's not me saying it's urgent, it's him.
I explained yesterday to the midwife why it's difficult and she spoke with the consultant again and that is the plan he came up with. They only do so many inductions each day and won't go over that. There isn't an induction ward, there are 2 beds on the maternity ward that are held for inductions.

Ah ok, in my hospital there was an induction wars with 5 beds, from what I remember, or maybe 6. They were all taken when I went it, apart from one obviously.

And they know for sure all the other beds in the maternity ward are taken or going to be taken by other women (not being induced)? Maybe yours is a small hospital :(

If you're first on the cancellation list I'd like to think there is a good chance you will be called earlier. Unless they're already overbooked of course but surely if they overbook they would have done it for you as well.
I was technically one that cancelled their induction - I was booked in but ended up going into labour beforehand.

@mummyh2016 im hoping I'll go into labour by myself. Both hospitals were closed to admissions last night though as both labour wards were full. It's a nightmare. Current hospital is having a refurbishment of the labour ward so they are on a temporary ward with only 5 beds so they are always closing and diverting.
I just spoke to a lovely midwife who is going to see if she can find me a slot sooner but she said not to worry too much as the consultant will be confident in his plan 🤷‍♀️

@CristinaNov182 it's a large district general but they only have 5 beds on labour ward. They have 20 beds on the maternity ward. They used to have 2 maternity wards but one has shut due to lack of staff so all antenatal and postnatal patients are on one ward which is why inductions are limited.

Have they offered you a sweep?

Go for the earliest option but ask to be put on the cancellation list for both. Although its a faff going to the smaller one, the priority is baby arriving safely.

Yes I had one yesterday at 5pm.
I've got ctg monitoring tomorrow and Saturday and a doppler on Friday. They said I can have another sweep Friday or Saturday.

I’d go for the earlier one. If that baby was in your arms and not your belly and a doctor was saying there could be some danger to the baby you would take the sooner option. Going in a cancellation list sounds like a good idea while waiting though.