Experiences of induction with drip? Currently in early labour and needing induction. Please help!

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Hi all, my waters went at 4am this morning and labour has not progressed adequately so I am booked in tomorrow morning for induction with a drip. I am needle phobic at the best of times so dreading that for one and also have only heard horror stories about induction with the drip.
As my waters have gone and I’m about 3cm dilated there are no other options for induction.
This is baby 4 for me and labour has always been simple and straight forward for me before this. I’ve only ever had gas and air for pain relief as I don’t like feeling out of control.

Does anyone have any stories of reassurance with drip induction? I am so so nervous!

Thank you!!

I did and it was absolutely fine. See if they will give you gas and air while they pop the drip in if you are worried about needles. Honestly better to have it than not so try and focus on the end result rather than the bit in-between. IME it was all very straightforward and I was really well looked after.

Wouldn't have been my first choice but take whatever pain relief you can and it will be fine. Good luck and let us know when LO arrives

If you’ve had 3 normal labours is it worth asking for a scan or further investigation of some sort to see what’s going on? Your body is clearly able to birth children quite well. Not a medical professional in any sense, just my mechanical mind working!

if you do end up with the drip, maybe they can give you a lowish dose given this is not your first and maybe a little prompting will get things moving!

Get an epidural.

Also what diddykong says. Made a world of difference with my first child. I wanted to kiss that bloody anaesthetist

Crossing my fingers this baby comes of its own accord. Get bouncing on a ball and walking OP.
I don't know if my experience would help you but what I will say is go with your body in terms of pain relief, as PP said consider the epidural. Do not let them turn that damn drug up without a seriously good reason and question it, every time. Do you have a birthing partner who can advocate for you? This would be essential I would say as it can get pretty painful. It's not horrendous and you've birthed 3 kids before but it is something else that's for sure.

Sister in law and sister had drip they were fine

As your 3cm dilated and your waters have gone you may only need the last stage of induction. Hasn't lost you any choice. You could progress naturally overnight. Good luck. You could also decline the drip and ask about alternatives, possibly monitoring for signs of infection. I had the drip for the same reason, but first births which are often slower. I held out for a bit before getting an epidural.

Hey OP, have they tried the pessary? I had this for my 4th when my waters broke and labour didn't progress. Baby was born 1 hour after! Good luck x

I've had two healthy babies with the drip assisting it does feel sharper than unassisted but the baby arrived fine

Get an epidural before they start you on the drip.

Contractions seem to have started a bit more now, actually painful and coming every 5 mins or so. At that pacing stage so I’m hopeful something will happen overnight without a drip!
I am such a wimp to be honest that an epidural scares me! I’ve only ever had gas and air before! I’m just hoping it doesn’t stop overnight!
It’s been 12 years since I’ve had a baby so I am out of practice!

I really appreciate all your responses!

You've got what, another 12 hours for things to progress naturally so don't give up hope. As a pp has said, walk around this evening if you can. Gravity can be a real help.

I had drip induction with my first (and only so far). I had no pain relief and survived. It was a quick labour but the pain was intense and felt almost unmanageable towards the end (but I understand that’s normal in labour).

Good luck.

Definitely get an epidural! I am soooo bad with needles and blood but honestly it was painless and not scary at all. Apart from having to sit still through contractions, it's was no issue at all!

I had exactly the same when my waters broke - nowhere near as bad as expected! I had a conversation with the anaesthetist so I was ready if I did want an epidural (I had the same fear of not being in control so really wanted to avoid it) but was fine with gas and air. I did have local anaesthetic when they put the drip in though, that helped! Your body's already started doing its thing so this is an extra push in the right direction.

I've had 5 babies. 2 drip induced births, 2 very speedy inductions by ARM (no drugs) and 1 spontaneous.

Drip inductions were baby 1 and baby 4. Baby 1 was standard induction miserable story started by pessary but needed drip. I did get an epidural but not til after I was on drip.

Baby 4 was induced by ARM but unlike his sisters nothing happened and they wanted to put me on the drip. Due to experience with baby 1 I refused until epidural was in, and waited from 4pm-11.30pm to get one. Once on drip they ramped my contractions up too much, but thankfully apart from a brief 20min period or so where something stopped the epidural working until I changed position, it was all OK.

Went home 6hrs after having him.

So personally Id go epidural before drip. But equally from my other labours, usually once my waters go I go into full blown constant contracting labour, like no breaks, can't talk anyway. Thankfully 3 and 5 were very quick.

DC1 drip and epidural (would recommend)
DC2 drip and failed epidural, obviously not the plan, but it was fine. I had a big baby (head off the chart, heaviest baby midwife had ever delivered vaginally), so it hurt but was short lived. My body knew what it was doing and took over.

Epidural before drip was a thing of wonder for me. As you've given birth before you'll recognise the pressure feeling when it's time to push, but you miss out on the pain side of things. I'd definitely be asking for an epidural to be put in before the drip if it were me BUT I've never had the drip without one so don't know how it is.

I was induced by drip (albeit many years ago!) and described it as going from 0-60 very, very quickly!

I was induced for both my babies. Did both times with gas and air. I found it manageable. I did a lot of breathing which helped me through it. I’ve always said I’d do labour again but not pregnancy or the newborn stage! You can do this. Good luck!!

@Radiodread when the anaesthetist came round to see me the day after I gave birth I hugged him and told him he was my favourite person in the whole hospital

For me the needle for the cannula was worse than the epidural. A few reasons, can't see the one in my back, I had it post drip for strong contractions and the way it removed pain was amazing. And the bedside manner of the anethatist was great. I didn't like how.the canualas (I had one in each side for antibiotics too) felt. As I moved my wrists during contractions and felt the pain of a squashed canula as I was coming down from them. A epidural first would have avoided this

@SorryForTheRant they came the next morning with a questionnaire, as soon as I was upright, enjoying moving in ways I couldn't late pregnancy and feeling great post birth hormones. I don't think I've ever given a more glowing review.

I was induced with DS (my second child). It went quickly, three hours from starting the drip. I sat there for a while and it all suddenly started. Big contractions and he popped out. I didn’t have any pain relief as I’d had a bad reaction to an epidural with DD.

The best part was how quickly I recovered. Good luck.🍀

...should have added that I went on to just have gas and air to give birth.