Please share your induced labour experience

[Aranah]

August moon mum, I just wanted to say I admire your attitude about your birth and your courage and positive outlook with regards to the problem your baby has. I'm sure no matter what happens with your induction experience, you are strong enough to handle it.

I was induced with my first baby with gel, 3 lots and cervix scraped just a day shy of 37 weeks due to PreEclampsia and liver and kidney problems. I paced alot which helped me stay off the drip as keeping that active and upright didn't allow things to slow down, well I reckon it helped. I also opted not to have any drugs at all, not even gas, as I was worried about anything slowing down the contractions and being put on a drip. I had a bad birthing experience in the second stage, but this was not due to the induction but the midwife I had and her decisions. I had a posterior labour which also had nothing to do with the induction, but this made it very painful.

Anything can make a birthing experience bad, most talk of medical intervention or doctor's and their attitude wrecking their experience, in my case it was due to a midwife who had a bad attitude and made bad decisions and should have called in a doctor, then lied to cover up the dangerous situation she put my son in. I'm all for little medical intervention, but in my case, I needed it.

I think it's great that you can attempt a natural birth with your bub's problem and I think you will be fine. I'm also birthing at the JHH for the first time (I'm using the birthing centre option if my PE stays managable), and I've only heard good things about it.

[August]

Hi shannon. I too am wary about the affect the drip will have on my body and am hoping I will be offered the gel first. This is why I am also interested in ways I can prepare and ‘ripen’ my body myself leading up to/during the induction.

Thank you DL for the link to Abbey’s birth and to Tara for sharing your experiences and your kind words. Life does have the habit of throwing random curve balls my way so this is just another one really, a bump in the road!

My partner and I have said right from the start it could have been something worse, much worse. So in many ways we are lucky.

Of course there is also the high chance I will have a C-S. I assumed I would be delivering this way anyway until I met with the Dr’s at JHH. But to my utter surprise and delight the doctor told me, “You've assumed wrong!”. LOL! It was like I had been given back a most wonderful gift that I thought had been taken from me!

[*las*]

I was drip induced at 36w 5d for medical reasons.

Started with the gel at 8.30 in the morning, by lunch time nothing had happened, so had my waters broken and drip put in and I have to say it wasn't the most pleasant experience. Contractions one on top of the other for hours and it took me hours to dilate. Not sure that I would cope better should it happen again, but have been given lots of great advice for being more active next time

Wishing you all the very best of luck and good health for the birth of your bubs!

[pebbles2820]

With my first I developed toxoplasimia, high blood pressure and fluid retention, at about week 28. For the next few weeks I was in and out of hospital as they tried to get my medication right, I ended up having to stay full time in hospital at about week 32 as none of the medication worked and I was taking 4 different ones and had to have complete bed rest, also I developed an allergy to one or more of the tablets so was having to use cortizone cream. They decided to induce at 38 weeks because of my condition, my waters broke the night before they were to induce so I was put straight on the drip. What followed was about 16hrs of pain and not much else. When my midwife came back on duty and found that I was only 1cm dilated, and the baby was showing distress the s**t hit the fan. Within an hour she had me prepped and in surgery. My DD was trapped in my pelvis, it took 2 doctors, kneeling on the operating table to get her out. She was very bruised and battered but happy and healthy. Induction, as you can see, didn't work for me but there are good stories out there too, everyone is different. My next 2 were planned caesarians as there was a flaw in my womb that made it impossible to have natural child birth. As I said before, we are all individuals.

[jleigh]

Hi August,
my waters broke at 3am (I was 40wks) and so off we went to the hospital. My contractions weren't very strong or regular. My Ob said that I could wait 24 hours to see what happens, or I could be induced. I decided to be induced because I had already been at the hospital for 5 hours, I thought just get this over with! Anyway, the drip went in at about 10.30am, after awhile I started with the gas, by about 12pm I asked for pethidene. For most of my labour, I tried to stay upright and active (I was attached to monitors most of the time). For the next couple of hours I was watched closely because my bub was becoming distressed. My Ob was about to tell me that I had to have an emergency caesar when I could feel pressure in my bottom, so it was time to push. 10 minutes later my beautiful daughter was born (3.55pm). She was vaccuumed out, I had an episiotomy and a tear. Oh and she was posterior.

Looking back on the whole experience, I found it to be positive. I found that going with the flow really helped. Being a first birth, you dont' know what you're in for, no matter how much you read! So relax, take things as they come and focus on your bub.

Goodluck with your upcoming birth. (It's worth it, no matter how they're born!)

Jess.

Me 26 DH 26

DD Charlotte 7.5 weeks.

[August]

Goodluck with your upcoming birth. (It's worth it, no matter how they're born!)

I totally agree.

I receieved a phone call from a midwife at John Hunter yesterday and we spoke for about 30 minutes which was nice. She told me they use Cervadil at JHH, the papery thing with a string. The hormones are implanted in it and it is left in for up to 12 hours, the good thing being they can pull it out if it starts to do its thing a bit too well.

The norm then is after 12 hours, if nothings happened, to break my waters and start the drip, with the expectation for me to be in established labour within 2-3hrs. After this they basically are not going to beat around the bush about getting my little boy out and off to be assessed by the surgeons.

bon, its true that knowledge is power and I'm forming my little map and a good sense of what I need to prepare myself for. I'm also starting CalmBirth classes this month which I hope will help in preparing for the labour and birth.