37 week induction stories, 2nd pregnancy

[jmrpinkie]

Hi there. I’m 35 weeks with suspected PPROM at 32 weeks.

second pregnancy. First baby born 40+4, vaginally, straightforward, spontaneous labour.

I have been advised I will need to be induced at 37 weeks. I’m very nervous. I automatically just assume it won’t work and I will need a section.

Just wondering if there are any positive stories of an induction that worked at 37? Or just generally people’s experiences delivering at 37 weeks.

meeting consultant Tuesday so we shall see and will discuss everything.

induced at 37 weeks as waters broke. Ended up with emergency c section sorry. Make sure you insist on pain relief if you are induced wish I had. With hindsight wish I’d just had a c section straighaway. It was a real shit show. We were both fine though.

Thanks for replying. Had you had a vaginal delivery before?
yes I have heard for sure pain relief is really important if being induced. What did you try for the induction? And how long was it before the section ?

Oh this was me!

PPROM at 34 weeks after a spontaneous vaginal delivery with DD1.

I went in at 37 weeks, wasn’t dilated at all. They gave me one dose of the internal gel which kicked things off straight away. I wandered round the hospital a bit once I was allowed (had to stay on monitors for an hour after the gel was given), and was moved to the labour ward I think about 6 hrs after the gel. DD2 was born 5 hrs after that, so 11 hrs total. No other interventions needed. Wasn’t any more painful than my first.

I know a lot of people have bad induction stories. But mine couldn’t have gone better.

Thanks for replying. This is lovely to hear. When you had PPROM at 34 weeks did you have quite a large gush of waters? They’ve obviously said your body is more ready for labour with all these positive tests I’ve had but I’m unsure they are true positives as I never ever noticed “waters” leaking.

I had an early induction for DD. My DS were born at 40+10 and 40+15

I had gel. The labour was fast. We did end up spending a little extra time in hospital post birth but everything was fine in the end.

They reallly don’t like doing sections before 38 weeks because of lung development so it wouldn’t be something that’s jumped to without good reason!

No, not at all. Tiny leak that I only happened to mentioned because I was seeing the midwife that day and thought I should probably check that it was ok that I felt a bit more “wet”. She sent me to triage where they did a swab test to confirm. I had no more leaking for the rest of the pregnancy and my waters broke again in labour - they said it was probably a small amount that leaked from behind DD at 34 weeks.

Yeah I went to triage for some brown discharge (usual discharge is white all throughout) and they did probably the same swab which was positive. But I’ve def not been leaking so I feel I’m questioning the test.

Hi! I was induced at 39 weeks with oxycotin drip. Had to be induced due to fetal distress and meconium present in waters. This was my 2nd pregnancy, first one it felt like my son shot out! Anyways, first thing I remember is the pain. The pain felt so much worse than first time around, i was in active labour for 19 hours and im certainly convinced the induction caused it to last longer. He was delivered vaginally. Sorry if it seems a bit detailed but i didnt want to sugar coat my experience as i had no clue what i was in for when going thru it myself!

Literally just had an induction with my 2nd due to growth reduction. 40+6 but baby was still not ready so agreed with induction. First was spontaneous vaginal quite quick for first.
i had the pessary tape inserted but was taken out 2hrs later as it was bring on contractions to quickly. It pretty much worked straight away though and contractions started.
first part was slow and I agree the contractions felt more intense but I birth quickly and I went 3cm to delivery in 2hrs.

Overall I had a good experience I just forgot how painful it all was 😂 but grateful it was quick!
least with this one I had a good minute or so in between contractions with my daughter everything went so fast there was no respite.

good luck!

What is the reason for induction if there has been no further evidence of membranes since 32 weeks?

Have they scanned to see the level of amniotic fluid? Monitored baby's heart rate, your blood pressure, urine, temperature?

If baby and you are in good health aside from the waters at 32 weeks, is there any reason for induction?

There are two layers of membranes so it is possible for one to rupture but the second to remain intact, also for the membranes to move and slide over the rupture so it self seals, amniotic fluid is replaced and pregnancy continues without further incident.

It’s the risk of infection. They’re balancing keeping the baby in as long as they can and either of us becoming unwell. But for sure I will be asking all these questions at my consultants appt.

This was me in September with my second.
I had Obstetric Cholestasis, poor liver function, low platelets, blood clots markers and had 2 hospital admissions for extreme fatigue. I was having my blood tested regularly to work out when was the best time to induce me. I also had an irritable uterus and had been having contractions since 32 weeks with two assessments for preterm labour!

My blood work for the obstetric Cholestasis at 33 weeks was close to the threshold for a 35 week induction but then stabilised with meds. So I was put down for a 38-39 week induction with the weekly monitoring. At 36+2 my blood tests got worse and they were starting to suspect HELLP as well and my fatigue was so bad I was losing weight as I wasn't awake enough to eat/drink enough and couldn't be left alone. They brought my induction date down to 37+3 and arranged for repeated blood tests at 36+5. These were worse still so I was called up at lunchtime the next day to see how quickly I could get to the hospital to discuss induction. They repeated the bloods again as there was no room in the induction suite. They were no worse than the day before so I was booked in for induction the next day. Had they been worse they were going to keep me in an induce me as soon as they were able.
They gave me a sweep before sending me home. This made my contractions more regular and if I hadn't been so unwell I would have seen if my body would labour without induction as it was i just needed to get on with it. I was called the next day and told they had an induction bed for me at 3 in the afternoon. They had me on the monitor for a while which showed the occasional drop in heart rate with contractions so they were monitoring that and they wanted to see if the sweep was enough. They also didn't want to start the induction whilst there potentially wasn't going to be a birthing room available for me. It was 8 when they finally put the pessetry in, after 4h I was starting to hyper stimulate when stood up so they removed it and labour continued on its own. Ok

I laboured well whilst on my feet but went backwards every time I had to stop to nap. I could only be awake for about an hour at a time. It got to the point I couldn't stand any more and things stalled. I went from 6cm with bulging waters to 5cm with no bulging waters in 4h so they broke my waters as I didn't have the energy for a long slow labour. This accelerated the labour but baby started to go into distress and they lost his heartbeat during contractions. They did another exam and I had got to 8 cm in about 40 minutes and they said it's likely that I'd give birth pretty quickly. They were right, they were able to keep hold of the baby's heartbeat by following him down during the contractions. My midwife broke my waters just before she went on her lunch break and the baby was born about 10 minutes after she got back for an idea of timings. I had a graze and didn't need stitches. I had a couple of paracetamol early on but after that just gas and air. I would have been restricted on pain relief options because of my health.

He was born blue with the cord wrapped around his neck which was why he was in distress. He had a perfect score by 5 minutes post birth but the bruising from labour took 5 weeks to resolve.
He had issues maintaining blood sugars for the first 36h as he was sleeping for 12h at a time and not waking up but otherwise he was fine

With my first my waters broke first and I went into labour later than night. From the start my contractions were 3 in 10 minutes and only got more and more intense. I went from 2 to 10cm in 2h. The contractions with my induction was much more gentle from that respect.

I was on the monitor for a lot of the induction and labour but they had long cables on the monitor so I could walk around the induction room and once I went to the birthing suite I had wireless monitors.

My consultant said that as I had been through a straightforward birth with my first my body should respond favourable to the induction and that was my experience. If I hadn't been so unwell I don't think I would have needed the pessetry or my waters breaking as my body did respond favourably to the sweep

Oh gosh I’m so sorry what a tough pregnant and birth you have been through. I’m glad you and baby were both ok and thank you for sharing your experience. It’s given me lots to think about and lots of questions/talking points with the consultant.

Thanks for sharing. I know they’ll say something similar probably to me given it’s my second and first was straightforward and vaginal but I have also read so much about how your cervix needs to be ready and I kind of want to know if they’ll be able to tell me that.

My cervix at 34+5 and 35+4 weeks was firmly closed with no signs of labour and when the consultant did the sweep at 36+6 she said the cervix was favourable for the sweep so I think my body was getting ready already.

I'd ask about a sweep to see if you could go into labour without induction, is it a 37+0 induction or any time in week 37 even getting to 37+4/5 might help.
What would your red lines for induction?

For me I knew I couldn't do a long or intense labour so I wouldn't have accepted repeated pessetries (each one can be in for 24h), I couldn't have an epidural so would have avoided going on the drip. At the last exam if I hadn't been expecting to give birth quickly or if it had gone on much longer I would have been asking for a c section.

The conversation I had had with my team was i would a simple induction where my body just needed a nudge I would be willing to try. Otherwise it would be a c section. We were trying to avoid a c section as we thought my body would struggle with the recovery with how things were at the time. I would have also had to have a GA or spinal block too.

I have 2 DC and both were induced at exactly 37 weeks.

First baby took ages to get going - a few days in total of pessaries and a catheter, followed by ARM and the drip. Labour was 12 hours, with a long pushing stage. Painful but manageable.

Second baby took 1 pessary, but the hospital didn’t believe I was in labour (‘you’ve only had 1 pessary..’) so left me in a side room overnight and by the time they woke up and realised I was 10cm. Another long pushing stage ensued complicated by the fact DS had his arm up over his head. Quite heavy blood loss. Absolute agony, I won’t sugarcoat it.

Neither needed steroids or NICU, but both were quite jaundiced and needed a few days under the lamp (next to my bed).

Induction is unfortunately fairly violent, it isn’t like natural labour and often contractions come thick and fast with only a few seconds between. My best advice would be to get an epidural as soon as possible and not try to tough it out. Good luck.

Two kids, two 37 week inductions due to pre-eclampsia.

Tbh I found them both alright. I mean I wouldn't know any different as I've never had a regular labour to compare to, but honestly I found them ok.

First baby was gels (protocol for my trust at the time). Got to 1cm. I was due to have some more the next day except it was decided I would go down to delivery suite instead as they had no-one in labour. ARM (managed as baby was still high), then drip. I wasn't keen on having the epidural, do had gas + air, then IM diamorphine a few hours later. Eleven hours on the drip. Fairly quick second stage between 10-20 minutes, and just a second degree tear in terms of damage.

Second baby was gels again. Protocol would have been the balloon, but baby was too high for that method. Got to 2cm quite rapidly, but no space at the inn meant I had to wait 4 days for a bed on delivery suite. ARM (managed again) then drip. There was only 1 hour wait this time, (compared to 2 with my first) as the theory is if you're going to labour from just the ARM you'll do it quicker as a multips. Ten hours later had an epidural. Progress was slow and I was getting tired. A couple hours after that no further progress was made and baby was showing signs of distress, so threw in the towel and had a C-section. Baby was OP (we knew beforehand, but hoped he would turn during labour as most do), deflexed head, and wedged. He was never going to be delivered vaginally. Shit luck of the draw rather than down to the induction. If baby hadn't been quite so badly positioned, I think he would likely have shot out within a couple of hours.

Both babies were mildly jaundiced. No treatment needed, but they were very sleepy to start with. I had to syringe feeding in the early days, then do a 48 hour breastfeeding challenge once my milk was in to flush the jaundice away. A naked sunbath by a window also helped put it right.

Hi, I had a vaginal birth with my first at 38 weeks - i was supposed to be induced at 39 weeks but I went into spontaneous labour however with my second I was supposed to be induced at 39 weeks but due to gestational diabetes and uncontrollable blood sugars, i was induced at 38 + 1. I declined my induction at 38 weeks because i was absolutely petrified and didnt want to leave my toddler. But I was finally induced but baby was distressed (she was absolutely fine when she was born) and ended up having an emergency c section. I think my baby just wanted to come out!