Women's experiences of induction & what happens to your baby during inductions

[~me~]

Interesting article and links Kelly...quite right, information is power and it is great to have all facts on hand when you need to make a difficult decision. Also good to have other peoples experiences too. Great thread!

Amber, wishing all the best with whatever path you take.

Just thought I let you know that I have had inductions with all three of my babies. The first time with two lots of gel and waters broken (10days over) and the second with waters broken (10days over) and the third with waters broken and again over. Funnily enough my OB said while breaking my waters they were as tough as old boot leather
All healthy and delivered vaginally. I did have an epidural with all three as well.
My third was delivered with just me, with DH and OB and encouraging me to push and out she come with no forceps or suction.
I have not experienced going into labour naturally but from what I hear and read inductions are more intense and quicker and that has been my experience.
Good research doesn't lie so trust your instincts as I am aware and have read that inductions can have a high C section rate so use the information to make an informed decision, nothing scary about that..that has just not been my experience. Whether this was down to just good monitoring by my OB who knows. My GF also was induced (same OB) with a very small baby due to a non functioniong placenta and she also delivered vaginally and I believe these usually result in a C Section too.

Take care Amber..will be thinking of you

x Heather

[BellyBelly]

Miss Heather - gels are a bit different to synthetic oxytocics (syntocinon in Aus or Pitocin in the USA) which is intravenous and doesn't stop being pumped into you until well after the labour (unless you're confident enough to tell them to take it out/stop if it gets too much or not what you want - have helped a couple of women achieve this in their labours - and no it didnt make their labour stop as much as they will tell you, which is the reason most object to stopping it in the first place). Gels just ripen the cervix - yes it can still hyperstimulate but its different to the drip. If your labour didn't start with the gels and/or waters breaking, they would have put you on the drip since all other avenues are exhausted. Some women are given gels and just get niggles and it doesn't take... so they need the drip.

A drip will highly likely prevent you from having a natural third stage also. Because your uterus is under the pump from the synto, they want to keep it going so you don't bleed. Its truly a cascade as they describe it, one thing leads to so many others.

[Sequoia]

A drip will highly likely prevent you from having a natural third stage also. Because your uterus is under the pump from the synto, they want to keep it going so you don't bleed. Its truly a cascade as they describe it, one thing leads to so many others.

My third stage of my very fast first labour consisted of my OB asking me to cough, and the placenta came out easily.

I was induced (due to PE and low fetal movement), first contraction at 9.00am, yelling for epi at 10.30am, OB came back at 11.00am (to check if my waters had indeed broken), I rested for an hour, pushed for close to an hour with my OB and MW and DS popped out at 1.02pm.

[*TripleJ*]

one of my friends had a horrible experience with induction with her second bubba from strt to finish in 9 hours and dilated from 5 to 10cm i less than an hour and pushing the bubba out while they were trying to do an epidural and her having to yell at the guy doing it to stop after him trying 5 times to get it in

which made me all the more nervous when i went into labour and the ob said if hes not here by 10am we'll have to induce u i only got there at 5pm lucky he was born at 3am

[BellyBelly]

Sequoia, by natural third stage I mean no syntocinon or syntometrine. If you're already on the drip (syntocinon) you wont have the shot of syntometrine, which is often just given without asking into the woman's leg to expel the placenta quicker and prevent bleeding (as they will tell you, if you've had a normal birth then your risk of bleeding out is low, higher with inductions). A natural, physiological third stage is allowing the placenta to come naturally without immediate clamping and injection of synthetic oxytocin - a natural third stage is one without interference. Its like saying a natural birth is a birth where the baby comes out of the vagina - when we know there can be so many unnatural (and sometimes necessary of course) factors than that

[sloane]

i agree that information is power. i knew there was a good chance of me being induced - high BP diagnosed (and treated) at 6wks PG & GD. i was offered an induction at 38 weeks but refused until i was at term. i had done a lot of reading & watched the business of being born to prepare myself for the eventuality.

i really wanted to avoid the induction & am angry that i didn't fight harder to give DS more chance to come naturally but in the end gave in to medical pressure but felt somewhat empowered by the knowledge i had - it meant i was able to question the hospital staff as to whether i would just be taken for a c/s if i didn't dilate/respond within certain time limits etc & found out a bit about their policies.

i feel my experience was horribly medical - i did not envisage my labour to involve my waters being broken with a rubber glove or having a drip in my arm or monitors internally attached to DS's head. after being relieved as i dilated within time frames, DS's heart rate dropped when i got to the pushing stage & all of a sudden the whole situation was even more out of my control. while i am thankful that my DS was born safely & that it was just an assisted birth & not a c/s, i can't help feeling that the situation would not have occurred if he wasn't put in the position of being forced to come before he was ready! the induction/contractions were incredibly intense & there was a stage when they had to turn the drip off completely because i'd basically been having contractions on top of each other for about an hour.

sorry - in my verbose way, i am trying to say that information helped to empower me to a certain point but could not change the outcome, which is supported by statistics that say you are far more likely to have an assisted birth or c/s if you are induced. oh - and while it may seem that it was a medical necessity, it wasn't really. there was no protein in my urine, by BP wasn't too high & the GD was well controlled with insulin & weekly CTG monitoring showed that DS was just fine - not over-sized or in any distress.

[Sequoia]

Sequoia, by natural third stage I mean no syntocinon or syntometrine. If you're already on the drip (syntocinon) you wont have the shot of syntometrine, which is often just given without asking into the woman's leg to expel the placenta quicker and prevent bleeding (as they will tell you, if you've had a normal birth then your risk of bleeding out is low, higher with inductions)

I did not know that, had never even read it, am truly enlightened!

What are the benefits of a natural third stage if I managed a drug free labour next time? TIA.

[onthefly]

Sequoia, maybe a better question is: what is the benefit of a managed third stage if not medically indicated?

Sloane, your experience sounds so very similar to mine. I had no complications - induced at 42 weeks and ended up with forceps delivery as DS went into distress. One thing I feel good about is delaying the synto to give AROM a chance first.
I long to experience a natural labour and actually birth my baby - hopefully next time.

[superaprilrain]

Hospitals make me so angry!
I am almost 38 weeks with my first baby and I have gestational diabetes. I've had to go on insulin (one injection at dinner time) because my fasting levels were up each morning.
Last week I was told I would be induced at 39 weeks. Every fibre of being is screaming at me that it is the wrong thing to do. I've been told that she is slightly big for dates but still within average size, my BP is fine and I've been keeping my blood sugar under control. The only problem the Dr could find was that she thought the babys heartrate was "too fast". After being strapped to a monitor for 3 hours a senior Dr came in to check my readings and couldn't understand why I was being monitored at all as the heartrate is normal for a healthy, active baby!
The next day I called the Labour ward to talk to someone about why I needed the induction. I'd been having panic attacks about it since they booked me in (I wasn't told I have a choice). All they could tell me was that it's "standard procedure" for gestational diabetes.
If that hasn't been stressful enough, a midwife from the hospital told my mother that if I went over 39 weeks my baby would have diabetes or be stillborn! What is wrong with these people?!
I have an appointment with my diabetes specialist on Wednesday and plan to arm myself with information for my antenatal appointment on Thursday.
If they refuse to give me a choice in the whole induction matter my husband has vowed to call up and cancel the induction on the day as he's concerned by how anxious and depressed I've been since they told me I'd "have" to be induced.
All we want is at least to get to 40 weeks to give her a chance to come out on her own not go through all this stress for the sake of 1 weeks difference and "standard procedure".

[lesci]

This is quite an info. Im just so glad I had a good induction experience. I was given a gel first (the night before I went to labor) and then was induced. 6 hours later I started to push, another 2 hours and I've given birth.

This is the only experience I have so I have nothing to compare it with. But since we are still undecided if we'll have another child, Im happy to come across such info. Thanks.

I agree. Some of these Dr's are using induction just to fit their schedule!