Yet Another Inducing Question!

Hi There Very Wise Women,

Just wondering what the sucess rate of vaginal births is after being induced when bub's isn't yet fully engaged???

Any stories would be greatly appreciated...

Mel

Mel, my story is pretty full on, I hope there may be a positive one out there to hear though.

I was overdue & Matilda had disengaged at 41 weeks. She had been 3/5 engaged at 39 weeks. When they first went to induce me with the gel they were unable to as she was so high in the cervix. So I had to have daily monitoring from 14 days post EDD. on day 16 she had engaged 1/5 so they decided to give some gel. It was long and in the end I wound up with a caesarean for "failure to progress". The caesarean wasn't really the traumatic part though, I think when the drip went on & I felt like I had been hit by a truck was the main trauma. I had a lot of pressure to be induced by family and the obstetricians at the hospital. The midwives were very supportive & it is why I continued with monitoring and not being induced earlier.

The more intervention I had, the more intervention was needed and I really wanted a vaginal birth. This time I plan on trying every natural form of induction as I can. I have been researching acupuncture and will be travelling to go to one that has a good reputation so I can avoid what happened last time.

It was so frustrating, because you are ready & waiting for your beautiful baby to arrive, and everyone is pushing being induced so that you can meet your baby, but remember we all have different cycles and some are 28 days & others are 32 days... so like that we all have different gestations 38-42 weeks is normal. *hugs* goodluck!

Hi Mel

Both my two boys were induced at 3/5ths engaged. Kameron at 37wks 6 days and Lachlan at 38wks 1 day. Both of them were birthed vaginally.

Love

I dont know if its as much how far they are engaged, but how your cervix is presenting if that makes sense?
How far they are engaged probably affects your cervix presentation, but I dont really know.
I have no idea how far engaged I was, but I know my cervix was very ripe at 11d over.

I think you are right Fi, my cervix wasn't ripe at all, despite all the pre-labour, DTD daily & walking there was no sign of softening.... it was like Matilda just wasn't ready yet.

I am a bit hazy, embarassingly, with my induction experience. I was, I think, about 2/5 engaged, but my cervix was as hard as rock........

I had the gel, and all it did was make me spew. Then I had the drip, and my waters broke almost instantly & Charlie was in my arms less than 2 hours later........no pain relief or any additional intervention.........despite it being a bit of a full on labour, it was still great, IYKWIM? ( I consider it a success! Although, I won't be opting for an induction again........)

Thats cause you are a slow cooker on low Christy ;) LOL
With a ripe cervix a gel induction will work, whereas without the ripe cervix you may need multiple gel then more intervention like drip, ARM etc. I think - I'm really going off the tail of my pants here!

I was induced at 7 days overdue, one lot of gel and I was already 1cm dilated when I went in. Labour was quick to start, waters were broke at 8am by midwife, laboured for 21 hours(and was a great labour) and got to 9cm then stopped. I ended up having a emergency c/s as Gemma was posterior and could not fit properly, just bouncing around on my cervix! I would have had her vaginally if she hadn't of been posterior.

All in all my labour was great. Gem was definitely ready to come out just was turned the wrong way.

E.T.A Should add that there are many success stories of women having their posterier bubs vaginally.

My first birth sounds like Christy's - Cait wasn't engaged, my cervix was 'high and hard' according to the doctor and three lots of gel over four days did not do anything. Eight odd hours on the drip didn't budge her either. She was born 13 days overdue.

Thanks guys... I will be seeing ob tomorrow, so I guess will find out what the plan is then... I have read a bit on inductions, and am just getting more and more confused.... I really want to avoid c/s but that is out of my hands if we induce I guess...

Thanks again... more stories are more than welcome!

Hi Mel, I was induced at 15 days past EDD, no cervical ripeness and not much engagement either. We'd tried all the home remedies: nipple stimulation, DTD, etc (I drew the line at drinking castor oil)! Because we were living in a regional area there wasn't any acupuncture etc available (would've done it in a blink). We had the induction 'works'...

In my experience, there was a clear relationship between choosing not to have an epidural (and suffering the full force of drip synto once the pethedine wore off) and avoiding a forceps delivery or poss an Em CS. In hindsight I can't tell you whether this was a good decision or not since I was quite traumatised by the whole experience. But I did get the vaginal birth.

What I'm trying to say is, try not to be too concerned about the 'way' baby gets born - the most important thing is that the two of you come through the experience as emotionally and physically well as possible. There's no telling for each woman how that will play out.
I wish you every blessing

Thanks heaps guys...

If Bub's doesn't arrive naturally before Sunday, then I will be induced starting Sunday night!

I just hope it all goes smooooothly and I can come out feeling great!

Hi Mel,
At my 39 week appt I wasn't engaged, and the midwife was telling me I would certainly go overdue.
She was wrong though, the next day my waters broke, but contractions hadnt started naturally, so that evening I was induced with the syntocin drip.
I found the sudden onset of contractions to be unbearable, so opted for an epidural, and Aidyn was born vaginally a few hours later, with no other interventions, and no tearing. So I guess mine was a relatively lucky experience for bubs not being engaged, as well as being induced...

All the best sweetie...

Hi Mel,
I was induced at 7 days over because Rhys hadn't engaged, his head was still high and he showed no signs at all that he was going to move. I was told that they would try the gel but the ob and the midwives all thought I would end up having a ceaser but they were happy to give the gel a try. Nothing happened for the first 7 hours and I was due to have another dose the next morning, but an hour or so later labour started. Contractions started slowly and increased rather rapidly, I had a half dose of pethadine, an 81/2 hour labour and mild tearing, but he was born vaginally, the ob and the midwives were all surprised that he came vaginally and so quickly given that he still hadn't engaged even after labour had started. So it is possible. I know a lot of people have had bad experiences and I guess I was lucky. All the best, it is so worth it in the end!

I was induced with my DD & she wasn't engaged, NVD after about 6ish hours.
This bub is also still very high, no where near being engaged either!
Good luck for Sunday!

i was 41 + 3 days, cervix wasnt favourbale and they used the gel, which i had a reaction to, had a hypertonic contraction (lasting longer than usual) and babys heart rate dropped to half of what it should have been. they sorted that out very quickly though. of course they didnt give me any more gel after that. that afternoon they did a stretch and sweep, the next morning broke my waters and then i started having full on contractions pretty much straight away. ended up having an epidural (recommneded by midwife as i was already involuntarly bearing down, which would have made it a harder and longer labour). the next 10 hours i was lying down talking and chatting with visitors and not feeling a thing. when it came to pushing baby wasnt progressing so i ended up having a vaccum extraction and 2nd degree tearing. but i am happy with how it all went, i ended up with a healthy baby after all. if you are open minded and 'go with the flow' i think you will be satisfied with how your baby enters the world. i was a little disappointed that i had the epidural but as the midwife said, 'there is no point having a horrendous labour when you dont have to, a happy mum means a happy baby.'

I had an appointment the morning my water broke and was told that DD was 3 or 4/5 engaged - sorry I can't remember which but I know she wasn't fully engaged.
I was induced two days later and I had a vaginal birth but still had a pretty long labour (18 hrs).