Being Induced

[Little Rose]

Can anyone tell me about all the different ways you can be induced please? Gels, drips etc. Do you have to have them all or what circumstances would determine which type of means they use?

Thanks!

 

[setdse]

i had high bp and 4 protein in my wee but bloods normal. (suspected pre-eclampsia) and i was induced at 37w with the pessary! had my lil man 6hrs later x

 

[lea554]

Similar to above, but my pre-eclampsia had affected my liver and platelets, so I was put on the drip at 8pm - baby here by 4am!
Although I didnt really feel any contractions, or a need for pain relief untill around midnight - then it all progressed rather nicely!
x

 

[treeze]

hiya...

4 years ago .. i was overdue with my little girl and was induced at 41 weeks.

I had a pessary prostaglandin tablet inserted in front of cervix. (internal first to see if dilated, then monitored on machine for an hour, then allowed up and about). Then they checked me 6 hours later. No change so was given another pessary and monitored again etc.

Got contractions but wasn't dilating at all.. didn't get much sleep that 1st night.

Exactly same process next day and still no progress but had gas and air and pethedine that night which helped me sleep.

By day 3 i was 1-2cm at which point they sent me down to delivery suite and broke my waters at 12 midday. Still not much progress so was put on syntocin drip at about 6pm and had epidural.

After couple of re-adjustments of epidural i was completely pain free and they just kept increasing the syntocin drip every half hour or so til i was fully dilated at midnight. Rested for 1 hour, started pushing at 1am and Josie was born at 203am.

I think with the prostin they can only give you so much within 48 hours. Looking back it did work for me but just very gradually. They do a score called Bishops Score every time they examine you and the better the score the more favourable your cervix is becoming. It's alot of checking and monitoring but well worth it in the end.I still feel like i had a completely "natural" birth experience even if it was induced. I had a 2nd degree tear but to be honest i couldn't feel a thing when i was pushing so wouldn't have known to slow down etc as the head crowned.

i thought being induced was very controlled and it's nice to know whats going on every few hours,even if it is slow progress. TO be honest the other 5 women on the ward who were induced the same morning as me all had their babies within 24 hours of the induction...and the same again the second day - so i thinki am a minority for it taking a while to work!! just depressing being the only one left on the ward each night with no baby yet.. i had a 6 bed ward to myself both nights!!!

oh well sorry if theres too much info there,and don't be worried about being induced. Your in very safe hands and they know exactly what they're doing x x x

 

[AugustMum]

I was induced at 42 weeks (oh my, the memories) and was given a pessary that was to be checked after 24 hours but about 10 hours later started getting contractions and the next morning was taken down to labour ward to have my waters broke at 3-4cms and 2 hours later was pushing

I found being induced absolutly fine. If your progressing nicely on your own, I would recommend not having your waters broken. I was obviously doing fine but they broke them anyway and I didnt say anything against it as I figured this was normal (and it is) but its not needed and you can refuse anything you dont want If your contractions start with the pessary and you go nicely into labour then, obviously if this was something you wanted, then you can still have a water birth. I didnt know this until after Id had my baby. Just something useful to know

 

[amyjayne77]

I have has 2 very different induction experiences.

My 1st was because my baby was over 2 weeks late. Day 1- 2 pessaries / sweeps - nothing
Day 2- same
Day 3- same
Day 4- broke my waters. My cervix was closed and posterior and this was one of the worst bits though others find it fine.
Then the drip. Contractions started immediately and were very strong. Had an epi and a 3rd degree tear. I found it quite traumatic but the memories soon faded


Last year with my baby son my waters went but I didn't go into labour. Days 1-3 as above lol. My cervix is apparently like a brick. This pregnancy I had discovered Hypnobirthing and raspberry leaf tea.
When I gad the drip the mw promised me it would be really gradual and to my surprise it was . The contractions built up really nicely until all of a sudden the mw shouted at me to stop pushing. Thanks (IMO) to the Rlt I literally pushed 2nd and he came shooting out. I used visualisations to get me through. I begged for pain relief at one point lol but there was no time.

It is scary that it's all taken out of your hands and you wonder what your body would be doing if nature had it's way. I wish the first time I'd have been brave enough to refuse induction and wait.
Compared to my non induced birth they are very medicalised and you are hooked up the whole time.

There's my essay. My hand hurts now lol!

 

[pinkymum]

So for those of you that have been induced would you advise an epidural? I was about to ask are the contractions more intense than a "normal" birth but I guess you can only compare it if you've had the 2 different experiences

 

[amyjayne77]

Bloody tapatalk just deleted my post,,, trying again...

 

[AugustMum]

Dont have an epi if you dont want one. I had pethadine (urgh, horrible stuff) and that was it. I ended in a emergancy section but they still managed to get the spinal block in quickly enough (although I was borderline having a general) So if they say to have an epi incase you have a section dont listen.

But yeah, if you want one have one but you wont need one. I think the contractions just com naturally, unless the drip is quite strong. With my induction it basically just softened my cervix so the contractions were as they would have been if it had been natural.

 

[amyjayne77]

1st time round I'd be saying, yes, it hurts like madbut I think they messed up tbh

Last time he was b2b aswel and gas and air saw me through.

The most important thing is to go in with positive mental attitude and an open mins. Some people go into labour after their 1stpessary. I'm just a stubborn cow lol!

 

[setdse]

when people describe being induced they say hard and fast...for most that is...sorry treeze! I was screaming for an epidural and they could tell i was in alot of pain.... didnt help i was strapped to machine to watch bby heartbeat as walking around was the only thing that really helped.... but by the time they agreed to give me an epidural when i was in established labor it was only just over half an hour till i had him in which time they had no time to put it in! I would love to have progressed by myself and if it wasnt for my bubba not growing anymore i would have put it off more but they waited till i was 37w and that caused alot of problems which they never picked up on.

 

[setdse]

i ended up no pain relief at all btw! and once they are out the pain goes.... If i was in a long labour i probably would have one but looking back im glad i didnt

 

[lucylu87]

i was induced, baby didnt arrive even tho waters went so had to be induced. i was a week overdue when my not so little man arrived. here is my birth story if u want to read what happened. http://www.pregnancyforum.co.uk/birth-announcements/168434-zak-allen-24-12-10-a.html

 

[laurenhayward]

I had the 24 hr pessary which just made me really uncomfortable. That came out and the uncomfortableness went. Slept all night, woke up at 5.30am and waters went at 6am.

Was in quite a lot of pain from then on but nothing to compare it to, I wouldn't say it was too unbearable but more pain than I'd have liked to be in (but then that's childbirth isn't it?!) and I was asleep between contractions apparently! Was examined at 1pm at 5cm got down to delivery and felt the urge to push but the midwife told me I wasn't ready so I didn't.....half an hour later I told her I was pushing whether she liked it or not and baby flew out in 3 pushes!

 

[Little Rose]

Thanks everyone. Starting to mentally prepare myself in case this is where i'm headed!

 

[treeze]

So for those of you that have been induced would you advise an epidural? I was about to ask are the contractions more intense than a "normal" birth but I guess you can only compare it if you've had the 2 different experiences

hi pinkymum.. i did hear alot that the contractions are more intense with the drip (not sure if this is the case with pessarys or not but here's my experience:

Had the 6 hourly pessarys which did give me contractions but they were very manageable... managed all the first day just on paracetemol.. by the afternoon of day 2 and 3 more pessarys i had gas and air which again made the contractions completely manageable. Had pethedine that night mainly to help me sleep and relax as hadn't slept for nearly 2 days. Pethedine zonked me right out!

had gas and air while they broke my waters on day 3 which did make the contractions quite a bit stronger and i still coped well with the gas and air.

I decided to go for the epidural on the advice of the midwife who did say that once they got the drip going then things would become alot more intense and because it had been a lengthy induction i didn't want to get too tired.

I had the epidural BEFORE they put the drip on so i can't tell you how much more intense it made the contractions but i can say this... the little machine that monitors your contractions went from a nice steady wavy up and down line for each contraction to the biggest, pointiest mountain peaks you've ever seen!!!! Some almost like vertical lines up and down.. so i guess from this it DOES make those contractions faster and much stronger!

So all in all i look at it that the contractions i had from the pessarys and waters being broken were kind of how i would expect normal contractions to be ... but once the drip was going they definately got much stronger.

I wrote off and got all my hospital notes after the birth. I love reading back through them now and it gives you a really good story of your whole experience. They write down EVERYTHING:

"husband off ward to make phonecalls",
"theresa requesting to go back on birthing ball after next contraction", "advised Theresa to ease off gas and air for a while"
"husband back from making phonecalls"
"theresa much more comfortable with epidural now" etc etc etc it

really reminds you afterwards of how it all happened! oh well that's me waffling on again eh! i just can't wait for this time around to see how it all happens again!

 

[setdse]

I wrote off and got all my hospital notes after the birth. I love reading back through them now and it gives you a really good story of your whole experience. They write down EVERYTHING:

"husband off ward to make phonecalls",
"theresa requesting to go back on birthing ball after next contraction", "advised Theresa to ease off gas and air for a while"
"husband back from making phonecalls"
"theresa much more comfortable with epidural now" etc etc etc it

really reminds you afterwards of how it all happened! oh well that's me waffling on again eh! i just can't wait for this time around to see how it all happens again!

Wow...i didnt know you could do this.... who do you write to??

 

[treeze]

I wrote off and got all my hospital notes after the birth. I love reading back through them now and it gives you a really good story of your whole experience. They write down EVERYTHING:

"husband off ward to make phonecalls",
"theresa requesting to go back on birthing ball after next contraction", "advised Theresa to ease off gas and air for a while"
"husband back from making phonecalls"
"theresa much more comfortable with epidural now" etc etc etc it

really reminds you afterwards of how it all happened! oh well that's me waffling on again eh! i just can't wait for this time around to see how it all happens again!

Wow...i didnt know you could do this.... who do you write to??

It was one of the midwives on the labour ward who told me about it... I think i rang the ward afterwards and got the address which was basically the Admin department of the hospital where everyones notes are held (often not on the same site as the hospital)

I think it's just the same process as if you wanted your notes from an operation, or an x-ray or something like that. It takes a good few weeks... you put in writing that you would like copies of your medical records and which dates from and to you require (obviously they cover your whole medical history.. and previous operations, childhood hospital visits etc)

They then write to you and tell you how many pages that date range covers and how much it will cost for a small admin charge (mine was £10) and the 5p per page to have the photocopies... I think mine was no more than £20 alltogether. You then send a cheque back with a letter confirming you want the copies and then a few weeks later you get them.

Mine included all the fetal heart trace / contraction graphs / epidural records / medication administered etc. but it was mainly what the midwives write down that was interesting. I was in for a few days and i would never have remembered as much - i still sit and read through them now! Good luck with getting yours - just contact the hospital where you had the baby and ask what the procedure is for getting copies of your medical records x x x

 

[AugustMum]

^^^ this is what Im going to ask for. I was in for 4 days but went in 2 days before hand, as well as a section so I think my records might be quite long lol.

Im asking my hv about it next time I see her. When you say you rang the labour ward, is it just the reception you rang? was it the labour ward or postnatal ward. I might just bypass the hv and ring myself.

 

[treeze]

^^^ this is what Im going to ask for. I was in for 4 days but went in 2 days before hand, as well as a section so I think my records might be quite long lol.

Im asking my hv about it next time I see her. When you say you rang the labour ward, is it just the reception you rang? was it the labour ward or postnatal ward. I might just bypass the hv and ring myself.

yes it was the ward where you go once the baby's born/postnatal ...

if not i reckon the main number for the hospital reception should be able to tell you. I think people request their notes all the time - especially for compensation claims / legal issues / x-ray copies etc... you are legally entitled to copies of them so every hospital must have a procedure for providing you with the info x x x