how to improve exeperience of induction

I have just been informed that I am likely to be induced at 38wks due to gestational diabetes.
I understand some of the reasons for this.
However I was induced last time (no diabetes- just overdue) and it was not a good experience for me.

Any suggestions what I can do to improve the experience this time?
What can I do to prevent the need for heavy doses of pain relief required?
Is there a likelihood of the baby needing any extra care being born a bit earlier?

I know it all passes and is worth it once i get to see my baby etc etc but I would like to make the best of the experience this time seeing as how it is unlikely i will experience a naturally occurring onset of labour.

Nicki- I was induced with my last and i was worried that things wouldnt go how i wanted them to. One of my only requests was to not be stuck laying down on the bed. My 1st i had my waters broken and was confined to the bed and it was aweful. I really wanted my body to help me deliver my baby. because they need to minitor you i was in fact stuck on a bed for a few hours until i put my foot down and said i need to get up. Once i made my feelings clear they decided to allow me to get up and walk round. I was such a relief to get off the bed and walk through the pains. I was able to shower the heat from the water on my back was bliss.

In saying that i had a quick delivery. i went from bubs not engaged before the gel to having my baby 2 hours 16 mons after the 1st gel went in. very quick i think me being up and moving about really helped get things going. I understand that the gel needs time to work which is why you need to stay laying down.

I know how you feel. i have never experienced a fully natural birth. i did start with mild contractions 1st time but wasnt dilated so they broke my water. I think you just need to be honest about what you'd like. Music playing (relaxation) oils burning, access to a shower (not sure if you can have a bath with the gel??? maybe ask.) being mobile, plan your pain relief choices in advance. (decide if you'd like the option for an epi etc)

Being GD not sure what goes on with monitoring and things but i would speak to the hospital and see what the process is with GD and the things that might happen (you could be on monitoring machines etc (check for bubs stress levels etc)

Find out what you can and then make a plan and dont be scared to tell them what YOU want


GL

at 38 weeks the baby should be fine. although they will most likely be doing BSL checks on bub for a litle while after the birth to make sure bub doesnt have a hypo (low sugar) if it gets low they may want to give your baby a supplemental feed of formula to bring sugar back up. If your not happy with this find out about expressing and freezing before birth so you can use that instead and also about how they intent to adminster the supplement... bottle or syringe etc.

if you are insulin dependant they may also want to have you on drips of fluid and insulin etc and set up "sliding scale" of treatment to get your sugar levels exactly where they want them right before the birth.

i am in the same boat at the moment and intend on using raspberry leaf tea, acupuncture and every other natural induction method I can to beat the docs to it! But not until bub is ready of course.

HTH and GL.

I have been induced with all 3 of mine, first at 38 wks second at 39 weeks and the last at 41+ 2. Best advice I can give is stay upright as much as possible.

With my last even though I was on continuse monitoring after the first 30 min of monitoring I was allowed to walk around with the monitor on and every so offten to get a better trace the mw would get me to try and stay closer to the bed and lean over it so she could hold the monitor more in place.

I would voice what you want etc, I was pretty much aloud to do what I wanted. With my first I was not monitored constanly just every few hours.