What's involved in being induced ?

[LizzeyBenett]

So I'm currently in hospital being monitored hopefully just for the night to determine if I have preeclampsia or not however I also have gestational diabetes. A doctor mentioned that there was a note on my file regarding possibly inducing me and not letting me go to term which is the first I'm hearing of it I'm 37+4 and it hasn't been even mentioned to me until now. Baby isn't big in fact I'd say she will be a small / average baby but they seem happy with her size. Can anyone tell me what's involved in induction or what your experiences were ? It's my first baby and was set to go naturally.

I had an induction at 39 weeks, I’ve heard a lot of people talk negatively about them but I just wanted baby out at that point.
for me they put a gel or something up there! And it wasn’t a particularly comfortable experience but nothing dreadful.
when labour evaentually kicked in, it all happened very fast. But essentially no one can predict what will happen as everyone has a different birth. It’s still natural! Try not to worry about the “ideal” birth, essentially the only important thing is baby arrives safely

I have been induced twice, most recently about 10 weeks ago.
They will assess you to see what to do. I had an internal examination and there were two options depending on how dilated I was. If I was dilated enough then they would have broken my waters and hoped that that kicked things off. If not, it was a pessary to start the dilation. Then, if things weren’t progressing quick enough after a certain amount of time, there may have been another pessary put in or the IV hormone drip to get things cracking.

My first induction I had two pessaries and then the hormone drip. I had an epidural soon after the drip and went on to have a forceps delivery about 28 hours after the first pessary.

My second induction I had one pessary and gave birth without assistance about 20 hours later.

Happy to answer any questions if you had any!

I was induced for pre eclampsia at 37 weeks (10 years ago, so some of my experience may be out of date!).

I had pessaries 12 hours apart, and I did lots of walking around the hospital and bouncing on a birthing ball in between these. 12 hours after the second pessary, once there was room on the labour ward, they broke my waters and started the syntocinon drip.

The contractions once the drip started were fairly intense, and they ramped up quickly, but they were bearable with gas and air. It was a fairly quick labour once my waters had gone - about 2.5 hours to go from 1cm to birth.

It was a great experience. Lots of laughter, at no point did I feel like I was missing out on anything or like the experience had been ruined by the induction. If I was having any more children, I'd gladly have that experience again (just without the pre eclampsia!).

I haven't been induced however did have GD with my youngest who is 8 weeks.

Are you diet controlled or on medication? I was diet controlled and they were happy to let me go in to spontaneous labour until 40 + 6 as luck would have it I had him at 39 +1. I do know that even if you are on medication you can refuse induction.

Obviously different if you have pre eclampsia you may want to evict baby soon rather than later.

Please ensure they fully inform you on what induction methods and options they have available for you, so you can make an informed decision. Some hospitals offer different methods.

For me I had my waters broken at just gone 40 weeks as my hind waters had gone but not enough to kick me into labour.

I am not trying to scare you hence I will not put all the details here but my birth was hard and traumatic. I believe that baby wasn’t ready (although I had no choice due to risk of infection.) please make sure they give you all the information. It isn’t an easy option and as uncomfortable as the latter stages of pregnancy are I’d take that over another induction any day.

I was induced 4 weeks ago with my little boy.

First of all I had the pessary but my contractions didn't start so I ended up on the hormone drip. Unfortunately for me, it was picked up I had an infection. The hormone drip helped me to contract but the drs decided as my waters had broken 48 hours earlier and I hadn't dilated last 2 cms I had to have an emergency c-section because of the infection.

The induction process was absolutely fine and and totally stress free. Xx

I have 2 experiences of induction - the first ended in cesarean as baby wouldn't enter the birth canal after full dilation.
The second was extremely positive - had the balloon at 42 weeks as had 0 dilation. I had a great experience. Left it overnight, by morning I had 4,5 cm dilation and waters were broken. Oxytocin was given by drip to stimulate contractions and within 8 hours the baby was there.
Do what feels right. For me, I liked the balloon as it wasn't chemical.

Induction is usually a lot longer (several days) and often more painful than when your body goes into labour naturally. I've had two, although both times I only needed the pessary (first step before things like hormone drip), they were very different. The first one was really tough and I ended up with epidural, forceps, long recovery and the second was very positive. They both took 3 days.

If it seems medically necessary then I would push quite hard to maintain as much movement as you can; being monitored can limit you but ask for a wireless monitor. You may even be able to still use a hospital midwife led unit if you ask (I was). If it's not absolutely medically necessary I would wait as long as you can to give your baby and your body time to get ready.

I was induced with my daughter. I was offered induction at 37 weeks because she was big but decided to hold off, as I was desperate for it to happen naturally. However, I then developed hypertension at 40+3 and after a couple of days of monitoring, she still wasn't coming, and I had to be induced. The experience was as challenging as any labour would be, but it was fine. I was a bit gutted not to be able to use water - my blood pressure being high meant I had to be constantly monitored, and apparently the water would have been a risk for me - but I made peace with it, as it was what it was and sometimes we do have to let go of our birth plans and go with the flow. I had a prostaglandin pessary which started things very mildly, but they had to give me a second one. After about 12 hours from arriving at hospital, I was ready to be taken through to the labour ward. From there, things kept going at a good pace, but in the end baby was back to back and I had to have rotational forceps to deliver her. The whole experience from arriving at hospital to baby being born was less than 24 hours, and although she is my only birth so far, I found the whole thing manageable and not frightfully painful, like you sometimes hear inductions are. I was really disappointed to have an induction and not the natural birth I was hoping for, but in the end it didn't matter. As long as your baby has arrived safely, you will look back and just be happy they are out and be proud of what you've achieved. Good luck xx