help to avoid another induction.

[christy]

Both my girls went after 41 weeks. My second came 4 days earlier than my induction with my first. The things I tried were:
1. acupuncture to ripen my cervix. Most cervix are posterior until close to labour, mine was the day before I went into labour.
2. RELAX... its easier said than done LMAO but stress causes you to clinch your jaw which in turn clinches your babies exit. Your cervix will not ripen, relax or start to dilate if you are stressed.
3. massage, I went into labour the day after a good massage.
4. I tried EPO & didn't find it changed things, but it can't hurt.

Also remind yourself & your care givers that normal human gestation is 38-42 weeks. You have plenty of time. Its okay, some bubs come early and some later. Its best for bubs to stay put as long as they want too, they will come when the time is right for them.

My acupuncturist said : The cherry will fall from the tree when it is ripe. No earlier.

super hard to do I know but if you tell your brain it enough & say it enough you may start to listen to that rather than worry about when it will happen.

[jgal]

Good question - I am in the same boat re: wanting to avoid induction again. Actually I am kind of jealous that your first two inductions sounded so easy compared to mine! I had a very long agonising labour since the contractions peaked early due to the pictocin and since my bub was not moving it just meant I had to put up with serious pain for a lot longer than I would have had I not been induced. While I had wanted to have a drug free birth using relaxation and hypnobirthing techniwues to handle the pain, I could not cope any longer after about 10 hrs of serious contractions no more than 3 minutes apart from the beginning (since the pictocin was introduced). At that point I was told that I had to have an epidural (my cervix was swelling due to the seriously bad contractions which was conteracting any dilation that was happening) as they had the pictocin at the highest dose, bub's heart rate was very slow and I wa not getting any further than 4cm dilated. If I refused the epidural, I was told I would need to have a ceasar under general anesthetic at that point as the epidural was the only chance left of me having the baby vaginally, the idea being it would relax everything a bit more and let the pictocin do it's job.

In my case induction was not able to be avoided as my waters had broken 2 days earlier and I was already 10 days over. The longest that it is deemed safe to have waters broken is two days, and most obs won't let you go more than 10 days late as the risks increase dramatically after this point. Speaking to an ob friend (in my mothers group) the other day she said that 10 days is picked because after that there are more still births and also it is unlikely that you will go into labour on your own after 10 days past your due date.

In the lead up to my due date (from about 38w)I had tried all the natural induction methods I could think of - two EPO capsules orally a day, plus... ewww - inserting them at night (hey I was desperate to have a natural birth), walking an hour a day, accupunture, raspberry leaf tea, sniffing/burning clary sage oil, sex... anything I knew of that was deemed safe (not the caster oil as I read it is quite dangerous). My waters broke on their own, but labour didn't start. When I was admitted for my induction I asked that only the minimal induction was done, so they gave me the lowest dose but increased it every hour as nothing was happening other than the painful contractions. Austin was born after a 14 hour labour, with the cord around his neck twice, which had to be cut while he was still inside me and he wouldn't breathe until rescusitated. He was still quite blue the next day and had to stay in the humidicrib to keep his oxygen levels up for two days before i could even take him out for a breastfeed. There went my ideas of lifting him to my chest at birth and letting him feed straight away, and it also meant I found it harder to bond and had a terrible time with my milk flooding in as he was ravenous by the time I was eventually allowed to feed (despite having been drip fed for the two days) and I was engorged very badly by the time I left the hospital (glad I asked to stay the extra day as I would have had the problems on my own at home if I hadn't stayed longer).

I am not trying to scare anyone, just want to make it clear why I don't want to be induced again, and why a simple "no" to the ob doesn't always work - if I wan't induced, I probably would not have a healthy little boy now. At least the ob tried everything she could to follow my wishes but after so long doing it my way and baby in danger, we had to try soemthing else.

So what I want to know is, what can I do this time around to make sure it's different? How can I make sure things progress once labour starts? I don't care if it's another long labour as long as it's not an induced labour - I think I could probably handle natural contractions a bit better than that!

[tan32]

well i managed to avoid induction

Lachlan Stewart arrived on the 6th of July, a week overdue.

I had a stretch and sweep on the wednesday night and lost my plug over the the Thurdsday, by Sat nothing had happened so a girlfriend came around and applied accupressure and clary sage, no real reaction, on the Sunday my waters started to leak, i had no contractions but went in to get checked and bang contractions started 1 minute apart, bubs came in 55 minutes.
I had also been drinking Raspberry leaf tea and think this help, as i had no sticthes, tears and a natural labour.

[Lulu]

Jaysus Tan! I was wondering if you even made it to the hospy in time. How did you cope with the 'fastness' of it all?

[jgal]

Oh wow! What a great labour... I want one of those!

[rose]

Hey jgal,
I feel for you. I have had two inductions and one natural. I would like to go before needing to be induced but I was induced due to high bp so if I need to be done again I would do it. I also had good experiences but reading your story has also reminded me that being induced could also take me down your road. I hope you get the natural unassisted birth you dream about.

Well done Tan, you have given us courage.

[paradise lost]

jgal,

The risk of still birth does not change until after 42 weeks (EDD+14) and it only becomes statistically significant (i.e. higher than the risk at 38 weeks, which is what is normally considered term) at 43 weeks (EDD+21) at which point the risk is statistically similar to that of a baby born at 37 weeks. The stillbirth risk is related to the age of the placenta and you can be scanned every 3 days once you pass EDD+whenever you're comfortable (i was at EDD+2 when first scanned because my BP was high and they said i had to make sure my placenta was ok to go ahead with the homebirth) to check the placenta is working ok. There is truly NO reason to induce a normal pregnancy before 42weeks.

Also, 48 hours is only the maximum time you can leave someone with broken waters and no contractions IF they are at risk of infection. I have a friend whose waters broke 5 days before her baby was born. She had to have oral antibiotics after 18 hours, but she declined induction. My own sister was born on a Thursday, at 43+2, 5 days after the waters broke. It is not "done" but it isn't necessarily dangerous either. If you decline a medical induction until the Ob can show you something which PROVES your baby is in trouble they will treat you preventatively.

If you look at PROM (preterm rupture of membranes) you can see the possibilities. If you were 22 weeks PG they would give you drugs to prevent labour, put you on antibiotics and make you lie down and drink plenty of water in the hopes that the waters would re-seal or at least that you would keep the baby inside as long as possible. They would do all examinations by scan to avoid infection and not put anything into your vagina. There is no difference in your body or vagina when you are at term - there is nothing inherently more dangerous - Obs just know the baby will be fine out of you so they push to induce. If your membranes rupture you can decline all vaginal exams and take antibiotics if necessary, you don't have to be induced.

Was your baby stressed before the induction was begun? Did he have poor tones before there were contractions? If so it's likely the cord around his neck was stopping him from starting labour (babies are smart and don't put themselves in danger if they can help it) and chances are with a few more days he might have rolled it off or begun to show signs of distress without labour.

If it was the cord and position causing the problem then it's unlikely to happen next time. If it does there are lots of things you can do:

Walk and climb stairs, this nudges the head against the cervix as you climb/stride which will help begin the oxytocin/contraction cycle that begins labour.

Crawl around the floor, this helps bubs use gravity to get into the best possible position for birth which usually lets labour continue sooner rather than later.

Clary sage is a contractant - you can't use it if you have high BP but if your BP is ok a clary sage oil massage can really help get things moving.

Accupunture or accupressure can help too, as can chiropracty on your spine/pelvis if bubs is being troubled by some small anatomical thing inside you.

Massage can make a difference purely because it relaxes you, and oxtocin flows best in a relaxed body.

I think the biggest thing any woman can do is be educated, and trust your baby and body. If everything is fine, your baby KNOWS when the best time to be born is, and if everything is NOT fine, the baby will let you know. It is especially hard after one dificult medicalised experience of birth to have faith that you can do it without having to go through all that again, but you CAN! NO ONE can make you do anything you don't want to. If you are post-dates and baby shows every sign of being perfectly fine, you can know that no matter WHAT the ob/mw/well-meaning relatives say, your baby is just fine where it is. If your membranes rupture but nothing is put into your vagina and you take antibiotics if it's been a long time and continue to have the baby's tones checked to make sure all is well you can know your baby will be fine and begin labour when it is ready.

Best of luck

Bx