Please share your induced labour experience

[August]

Hello

I am currently 20 weeks pregnant and I am to be induced at about 37 weeks. I would love to hear other womens experiences on induced labour, the good, the bad, and the ugly as I want to prepare myself for what lies ahead.

How were you induced? Was anyone induced early due to medical reasons in yourself or the baby, such as in my case? Did anyone also try natural inducing techniques in conjunction with the artificial techniques to get things going? Does anyone believe the natural techniques would be effective at such an early gestation?

Any and all comments welcomed with thanks.

[spunkymonkies]

I was induced with both my kids. The first was a bit of an emergancy and I was induced via a drip. The second was via the gel. Both were very effective. The drip was instant. I went straight into full on contractions. The gel took about an hour until I started to feel small pains which progressed from there. I prefered the gel as I don't like having drips and it also let me work up from small contractions to full on ones.

[Jesswith6]

I've been induced 3 times because of RH incompatability.
The first two times, I went in at 9 and had bub by about 6pm, all were by prostigladin gel but the last time I was admitted at 2.50pm and the put in one lot of gel and then started the drip(to increase labour apparently!) by 4 the pains were fast and painful. I asked for the drip to be turned off but they wouldn't. This continued like that for the next couple of hours.Finally at 8.55pm my precious little girl was born.
What complications are you talking about for the doctors wanting to bring your baby early?

[Mother Goose]

I was scheduled for induction 7 days post EDD but my waters broke 5 days post EDD but I didn't have any contractions. I (finally) began contracting at 530am the following day but they still put the drip up at 8am. This made things REALLY bad and my contractions were hard and fast with no breaks. By 930 I was using gas and a couple of hours later I had pethadine and requested an epidural at the same time which I finally got about 2 or 3 hours later. Apparently I went into distress (and looking back on it I can see that) and my baby was also in distress all day (which I didn't need anyone to tell me - I could see it on the screen). At 315 I was rushed down to theatres for an emergency c-sect at which time I was already in shock. My baby was born at 335pm after which time my shock progressed to the point I lost consciousness. I don't mean to scare you but you asked for the good and the bad... There are PLENTY of women who have had very positive induction experiences. My biggest piece of advice is to try and be as active as you possibly can. I was restricted to bed and it made my contractions a million times worse - when I had contractions when I walked to and from the toilet I was able to manage my contractions without the gas and without my DH's hand crushed in mine

I tried a couple of natural techniques... sex, the pressure point in your hand, walking... Several of my friends and I have concluded the only natural way to ensure spontaneous labour is to book an induction because each of us were booked and then went naturally! At least started naturally anyway!

I wish you all the best with your induction.

MG

[Patooties]

I was induced both times due to high blood pressure (right on due date) I had the gel inserted first, and then the drip and then had my waters broken. I didn't have any other birthing experiences to compare it to, and whilst it did hurt a little (ok, maybe more than a little lol) i got through it ok, (with gas and pethidine) and so did both my girls.

[BellyBelly]

Inductions: To Induce or Not Induce

Probably the most startling thing for me is when I spoke to a midwife from the womens who said that of the first time mums who come in for an induction (usually vague reasons) somewhere between 50-75% end up with caesareans from failed inductions or a stressed baby. I hear of so many failed inductions even on BB, you have to weigh up if the benefits will outweigh the risks for your situation and baby.

[Rach75]

a lot of hospitals use cervatil (sp?) is a little thing sat up beside the cervix with string that hangs out like a tampon string, I'm sorry to say I was induced at 37 weeks had the cervadil in for 12 hours and nothing happened to cervix except Ihad major caontractions bub was in distress we had a emergency c-sect 13 hours after cervadil was inserted

[August]

Thank you so much to everyone that has replied so far, its so nice to have the extra support from those that have been there.

I have absolutley no choice (at this stage) in regards to being induced as my baby has gastroschisis which was diagnosed at my 18wk scan.

Gastroschisis is a abdominal wall defect where the baby's tummy has not fused and part of the bowel is exposed. It floats in the amnotic fluid unprotected and any damage is most likely to become worse between 37-40wks (when it becomes a bit squishy!). So induction is for the best. The baby will require surgery as soon as possible after birth to correct this. I will be delivering at John Hunter Hospital in Nescastle NSW (3 hour drive from home).

Of course the longer he stays put, the better. I want to suggest that I am willing to stay from 37wks for daily check ups, but from what I can gather so far, the surgeons/doctors cannot really tell what they are dealing with, eg. how good/bad it is until the baby is born. So its a matter of waiting to see how it unfolds.

This is my first baby. My little boy was to be due in august, a day before my 27th birthday, but if all goes super well I may have him home by then.

I was not originally not going to make any solid birth plans, I have looked forward to being a mother all my life, and see a women's body as designed for childbirth, so I was just going to go with the flow! Up until now I had no fear of the birth.

Now because my body is going to be made to do something it is not ready for I want to figure out the best way will be, for me and especially for the baby, while hopefully still having some sort of say in what happens to us!

Thanks again for your support so far everyone, I will keep you posted on how we go.

Love August x

[August]

Mother Goose, I would never feel that I had failed, whether it be a 'natural', vaginal, caesarean, induction, forceps, episiotomy ..... whatever the outcome. I suppose not placing any expectations on myself to start with attributes to this.

I suppose that if you were to consciously or unconsciously compare your experiences and beliefs to those of others before conception, during your pregnany and the birth, then feelings of failure if things didnt 'work out' would be extremely hard to accept.

I'm positive you (and all other mums) would have done your best given the circimstances at the time, this is not what I would call 'failure'.

[Mother Goose]

Hey Kelly, why do they class the induction as 'failed' if it ends up in a c/s? My way of thinking.... that a failed induction would be nothing occurred after the induction process has taken place.
I wouldnt say that any induction failed, even if it ended in a c/s, cos the outcome hopefully is a very healthy baby....

I can understand Kelly's comment but I agree with Fletch here. I didn't enjoy my induction experience, will do several things differently next time, and would have preferred a vaginal delivery but my baby and I both came out of it happy and healthy so for me, nothing failed. I would have classed it as failed had nothing happened after they commenced the drip.

Having said that, the first few weeks after DD was born, I DID feel like a failure. Until I realised that my baby and I were (and still are) happy and healthy. I still have moments where I feel like I failed - but the health of my baby and myself is what is most important to me and I have learnt/am learning to let go. August - if you end up with an assisted birth (intervention other than the induction i.e. c-sect, forceps etc), you have not failed. It would be nice if we could all deliver naturally but sometimes it just doesn't happen that way for whatever reason. As Kelly said, definately do what is best for you and your bub in your situation.

MG

[Debbie Lee]

My induction story is in Gabby's birth story here. I wouldn't say it was a great experience and it's the reason I am trying for a VBAC with as little intervention as possible this time round.

[BellyBelly]

Oh dear... I don't mean a PERSON failed but the process of induction... like Rach said, she had cervadil and nothing happened. Many have prostin and just get prostin pains with no labour, like Debbie Lee. Just because you are induced doesn't mean it will work. You not only need the labour hormone, but you need adequate receptors in your uterus too. If your body isn't ready to labour, you may not have that for the induction to take.

Also, if it does, sometimes the baby can become stressed as your uterus is unique from woman to woman and sensitive to different levels of hormone. Inductions are stronger levels of hormones than the body produces, so in turn contractions may be longer, stronger and closer together than normal and baby may become stressed. If labour has begun with waters broken then they also have less 'padding' around the head and more pressure hence monitor picks it up and you have a ceasar.

I am not saying anyone failed or had a bad experience, just some facts, and some observations from midwives seeing women come in for inductions on a daily basis. If you have a medical condition like is the case here, then it's important to choose that path if it means the baby will have the best chance of survival. Who cares what the risk is when it means your baby's life - I have nothing against inductions in this case and we are lucky to have that rather than a straight caesar.

[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.

[bon]

August - I am pretty sure they don't hook you up to the drip unless you have started to dilate, and you have not started contracting. So you will probably find that unless your cervix has started softening and dilating a little at 37 weeks (unlikely for first bub, but not impossible) then you will be given the gel to begin with.

In my case I was induced at 38 weeks with my first baby due to pre-eclampsia. I was given about 4 doses of the gel I think (they gave me each dose 6 hours apart, in order to give it a good chance of working). My body was definitely not ready for labour yet, but after the fourth dose I had dilated a little and my cervix had softened enough, so they broke my waters and hooked me up to the drip. If the fourth dose of gel hadn't worked enough I believe they were going to consider a c/s as they really wanted me to give birth - my BP was through the roof and I had high levels of protein in my urine. Anyway it did work. Overall my induction experience was not a pleasant one - I can't fault the midwives or OBs, it was just all the intervention - so many doses of gel, meaning so many internals, then the ARM which was not pleasant, then the immediate strong contractions because of the drip, then I had an epidural which meant a catheter and internal monitor hooked up to bub's head...I narrowly avoided forceps thankfully, as I was able to birth Harry without that intervention but I did have an episiotomy and then to top it all off a post partum hemorrhage which I believe was due to having the syntocinon drip. So all up not the greatest experience! But I was happy that I had a vaginal birth and avoided a c/s.

But I do think that knowledge is power - in your case you are already off to a good start because you have plenty of notice and time to prepare, and you have a chance to try some natural methods to get your body ready for labour. I wasn't prepared for my induction at all, it just never occured to me that it might happen and I didn't know much about pre-eclampsia, so the whole thing had me off guard. So I think that probably contributed to it.

BTW if you check the main site of BellyBelly I am pretty sure there is an article on there about natural induction methods if you want to have a look.