I'm booked for induction - can you get off induction half way through?

[Hanbanan44]

Hello folks - looking for some advice and experiences.

i am currently 40w2d (NHS dates), or 39w3d by my dates (date of last period and conception) and FTM.

My health board books you in for induction at 40w+10, so I've been booked into have this done next week (should I choose). I'm aware I'll actually only be 40w4d By my more accurate dates, so quite early still!

At midwife appt yesterday, my cervix was high, posterior and closed so not exactly raring to go. She said it was thinning and soft, but i think she was just being kind lol. She couldn't do a sweep.

If I go for my induction next week, I am offered the balloon and/or pessary, if they don't work, can I opt off the induction train at this time? I don't want to push my body or my baby if he/I am not ready. Has anyone done this and how did it go?

Also, positive induction and or waiting stories always welcome. Thanks ❤️

I was induced at 12 days overdue- all I needed was the peasant then in a few hours I was in active labour. The rest of my labour and birth was all fine, I had a natural delivery. Good luck!

Yes, they cannot force you to continue. They need to ask your consent at each stage.

Can you explain to them why you are hesitant? They are actually trying to keep you both safe and could look further into baby size and position etc.

@Neveragain35 did the peasant help deliver the baby!!

Lol 🤣

You can but they will say you need monitoring as they have interfered with the pregnancy. I think once you start induction then they keep going with something until the baby is there. Obviously you can walk out and not follow advice .

of course. they're not gonna tie you down and force it up your vagina! The only caveat is that with the pessary etc it can cause you to hyper-contract and then the baby can get distressed so they like to have you monitored regularly as things can turn south quickly. but even then they can't FORCE you. if you're talking about the break after 24 hours then of course you can stop. but hopefully if you're at 40+10 you won't need much to push you over that edge!

I got induced at 40+10 with my last pregnancy. They used the pessary and it took about 18hrs for my waters to break from when they inserted it.

Unlike you OP, my thoughts were the opposite, I was so scared of having a stillborn that I didn't want to delay any further, I actually had to force them to give me an induction. I think they wanted me to get to 42weeks. Baby came out 9hrs after my waters broke and my placenta had started to fail (not sure what medical term.they have for that.) I'm just glad I got the baby out in time.

Hi,

I had an induction at 41w and it was good. I had the hormone drip and an injection of pethadine. I went from not being in active labour to the baby being out in less than 2 hours. Gas and air entirely stopped any pain and the feeling for me was like I was lying there peacefully listening to the Archers on the radio, while the midwife dealt with everything. I would definitely go with what they recommend. But also if you can feel positive about taking some kind of pain medication then that will help a lot.

I was induced at 41w because there was a slow leak of amniotic fluid and they have to induce 48hrs later because of the risk of infection or something. It was fine though. I went home from the hospital 12 hours after the delivery, and had a bath and a whole pizza, and a box of raspberries and slept soundly all night, and it was very nice.

Good luck and I hope it is really quick and easy for you.

It wouldn't be the done thing and couldn't really be considered safe to intervene in a pregnancy by way of induction and then just stop and do nothing more, no more monitoring, send you home etc. This is because no one would have any way to be certain that your baby or body would have no after effects or any potential issues following part of an induction. As they have artificially intervened, a level of monitoring is required. Obviously consent is paramount and no one can force you to do anything. However, you do also need to think of the doctors and midwives involved in your care and I feel you'd be hard pressed to find someone to stand over that and put their registration to it. So in that sense I think it would be better to talk it out beforehand and either go for it or make an alternate plan. Something like an ultrasound for BPP and dopplers might be a good middle ground if they think you're more postdates than you are. Think about what you'd be happy with and hopefully they're open to discussion. Best of luck with meeting your baby!

Hoping this will be similar for me - having so many BH that are painful, feel like my body is trying to do something and just needs a nudge over the edge. Also lol @ peasant, glad the ward peasant helped

Yeah, good idea. The community midwives have listened to my concerns, but maybe they can only suggest so much. Can have the discussion with the team next week before consenting fully.

My third baby wasn't shifting at 40+10 (certain of dates), the previous two had come spontaneously. I was induced with the gel. Very little happened for several hours and then I went from 2cm to birth in 20 minutes. It was intense (to say the least) but I was leaving the hospital on foot, with dd in a sling, 4h later. Given my experience, I'm not sure you can necessarily 'stop' partway through - it might seem as if it hasn't worked and then ramp up. But I was very happy with my induction despite the precipitous birth. Hope it all goes well!

Following with interest. I also know when I ovulated which is 5 days later than my scan calculated due date would imply, and also keen to avoid the nastier side of induction!

I asked the midwife who ran my antenatal classes about if you could stop an induction part way through (on a basic level yes obviously, you can just not consent to next step and self discharge) and she was a bit skeptical and said that if you’re having an induction it’s for a reason, so it would be unusual/not recommended to just stop the process.

One thing I am certain of is that if they rupture your membranes (normally the next step after pessary/balloon), then the risk of infection means that if you haven’t gone into active labour in 24 hours the team will be very insistent to start you on oxytocin (or move to c section). So be aware that you definitely can’t stop after that.

Ask to speak to one of the doctors on the ward.
The other options are wait and be monitored or a c section

Yeah you can’t really stop midway through as you’ve intervened. As people say, no one will tie you to the bed, but you would be increasing your risks.

Out of interest, when you calculate the difference between your scan date and your ovulation date are you taking into account that scans are based off 2 weeks before ovulation, not from ovulation itself? It’s important not to discount this as all of the calculations saying when it’s safe to deliver are based on the same 2 weeks prior to ovulation, ie putting you 2 weeks “later” than your actual conception. You probably know this, but just checking!

Yes, my initial EDD based on my last period was 11 Nov, after 12w scan it was changed to 5 Nov. I guess alot can happen in the space of a week between now and suggested induction date. Thank you all for your thoughts.

In my experience, no. They said once we’d started, I’d need to stay in for monitoring and they wouldn’t recommend stopping.

You could decline any further induction methods but you’d still be in hospital; with the other people being induced, and all the monitoring etc.

In my case; the consultant never had time to actually come and talk to me about stopping induction, but they had to stop it once I progressed as there was no room on labour ward. When they finally found me a bay, I was progressing on my own anyway.

Best of luck, I hope it’s quick for you. It’s all worth it in the end x

Have you had a chat with a consultant or obstetric nurse OP? I found that the staff in the hospital were amazing versus the community midwives who couldn’t have cared less. I’m sure once you have that conversation with the experts in the hospital you’ll have more understanding of the different steps and options.

I was told once an induction starts you can't stop it, ended up in 2 emergency sections with both mine. I wouldn't recommend based on dates alone.

There's always a margin for error but the scan will be more accurate than LMP as it's based on the actual measurements of your baby at the time of your dating scan.
They just use LMP as a guide at the very beginning so the midwives have something to work off when booking your scans and appointments etc but it's just an estimate based on an average 28 day cycle with ovulation exactly on day 14 of that cycle. It's not accurate for a lot of women (myself included) which is why it's not used for your official due date.

Obviously if you were physically tracking ovulation and know exactly when that was and are working out your dates from that then fair enough but don't get too hung up on the LMP date.

Mines done that too - from LMP it’s 23rd April, and from the scan it’s 18th April, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a problem. The scan is more accurate at dating than LMP cos you never know exactly when you ovulated. I’m happy to stick with the earlier date to be on the safe side! All the calculations for deciding when it’s safe to induce are based on people’s scan dates not LMP, so I think it’s safer that way.

And yeah as you say, a lot can change in a week, you might even deliver before your induction, fingers crossed! Good luck with it all 😊