Induction - cooks balloon - any advice?

[Sandandsea123]

Hi,
I’ve just found out I need to be induced at 37 weeks via the cooks balloon; as baby is measuring small. I’ve been to hospital today for ctg monitoring (alls fine there) and wanted to ask questions but the midwife was too busy. I go in for this in a few days but don’t know what to expect at all and googling isn’t much help. Just want to know a rough guide —timeline, how long should process take? They said my partner can’t stay, only at visiting times but we don’t know when he needs to take off from work for paternity,
and so many more questions, I’m a real planner and not knowing anything is giving me so much anxiety! Anything you can tell me about your experiences would be very much appreciated. Thank you

Hi @Sandandsea123 if you ring up now will they not be able to talk to you or ask if they can ring you back when they have a moment? You shouldn't be left with unanswered questions.

I had induction via a balloon catheter where I went home with my daughter who is 14m old. I'm not sure of any differences, but for the sole balloon they monitored the baby for about 30mins, then inserted the balloon and sent me home. I was told the balloon often comes out of its own accord once dilation reaches the size of the balloon (about 3-4cm I think this was) or if it does not work you attend the hospital the next day and they go from there. Mine came out the same evening. I went back the next day to be checked. I wasn't in labour yet so they swept me again and sent me home whilst awaiting coming in for further induction treatment. On the way home I started to contract and in the middle of that night I was admitted in early labour. Labour was frustratingly slow and painful due to her positioning. I had a drip to help speed the process along but after about two days and getting to 9cm I ended up needing an emergency c-section. I hope yours is much quicker and straight forward! X

Hi, thanks for the reply! Oh crikey poor you! I’m hoping for a quick process (aren’t we all?!), just wish things were a little more certain. I have my regular midwife appointment tomorrow so hopefully she may clear things up. Feeling so overwhelmed with everything! X

Hi, you should ask your midwife to go through specifics as every trust will be different. My learnings - you can easily be bumped to the next day’s intake if you’re not an emergency induction.. I had the balloon on Thursday and baby born Sunday (that’s another story!).. but others could have the balloon and baby there in an hour! It really depends on how ready your body actually is and how it reacts.

Balloon itself wasn’t sore with the help of gas and air.

Good luck 😊

Another 4 day induction starting with the balloon here, also 37 weeks. I suspect they only really work if baby is somewhat ready to be born. It wasn't painful, just a bit pointless!

Ah thank you ladies. Sounds like it’s not just going to be the day or so I was hoping for!! How do you work out when partner should start paternity leave? He only gets 2 weeks and would sooner have him home after baby is born than spend it all in hospital hanging around waiting for labour to start!!

If only 2 weeks and they’re only allowed in for visiting times then I’d wait until you’re in active labour. ask can you have a second birth partner for induction? And take a lot of snacks, downloaded tv and a good water bottle!

Thought I’d drop back and update in case anyone is like me in the future and searching for advice! Baby girl arrived safely!

had the balloon inserted around 9pm (this wasn’t too bad; had gas and air and while it felt very strange and was u comfortable, pain wasn’t terrible). they made my partner leave shortly afterwards and I attempted to get settled for the night! Contractions started after about 3 hours; not too bad but made it hard to sleep (as did all the noise on the ward!) I had a bath around 4am and this helped massively so got a couple of hours sleep! It fell out around 11 (was dilated enough) and I was taken up to delivery suite! Luckily my partner was already on his way back so they waited for him to
get there to break my waters - this bit was pretty grim as they struggled to do it. I also needed a hormone drip to get things going properly - this was absolute agony and we ended up having to turn it off after a few hours and I had an epidural before it was switched back on. Baby girl was born 24 hours after the balloon inserted, tiny (she was early and her size was why I needed an induction anyway) but perfect. We left hospital after a couple of days and all is lovely! Anyone wanting to ask about this way of induction feel free to message me!