If I have to be induced, is there anything I can do to avoid further interventions? Specifically, how can I avoid an emergency Caesar? I've heard that inductions can lead to stronger contractions and a more distressed bub - which leads to caesarean.
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If I have to be induced, is there anything I can do to avoid further interventions? Specifically, how can I avoid an emergency Caesar? I've heard that inductions can lead to stronger contractions and a more distressed bub - which leads to caesarean.
I have heard this too, but I had 3 inductions and no problems I went the theory that every labour is unique.
Gabi, the surest way is not to be induced. I am sure Kelly will post in here when she sees it. Her last two clients who were induced had bad outcomes, so I'm sure she will want to point out the risks of induction and some ways to avoid it. Mostly when inductions are done there is no medical need, with monitoring it is safe to go longer than 40 weeks.
Gab, unfortuneatly in my case it wasn't the best situation. I was induced due to waters breaking and there being meconium. After 60mg of the hormone i was onlyn 2 cm dialated. Bubs heart rate was jumping rapidly from 175 to 80 and contractoins werent close together. I laboured on my own with no pain relief for 4 hours before i couldnt handle it anymore they were so intense. Then due to fetal distress i was taken for an emergency cesar.
I was induced with DD1 after my waters broke, and labour didn't happen naturally. I was one of the lucky ones where everything went smoothly and didn't need an emergency c/s. But I know many do. Yes, the contractions are a lot more intense. If it's not completely necessary to be induced, then try not to be.
60% of first time mums being induced end in ceasarean section. Once you start intervention, then doctors and midwives will continue the interventions through to the end. If you google 'cascade of intervention' then I'm sure you will find some good info. If you don't need to be induced then don't be induced. Tiredness, partner going away, sick of being pregnant, sore back, big baby and being 40 weeks are not good reasons to have an induction. That's the best way to avoid the c/s at the end. And remember it's not just about this birth, but your next births, as having a c/s or traumatic birth this time, will influence you and your caregivers next time and make your battles that much harder.
As the other posters have said, to lessen your chances of having a c/s don't be induced. Not all end in c/s but alot do too. If you are going to be induced, I would suggest that it doesn't happen until at least 42 weeks, they can monitor you to make sure everything is ok with bubby and your placenta. I would also get them to make sure that your body is ready -I was one of the unlucky ones too. My body simply was not ready - 3 days before the induction my cervix was not ready however they still induced me a few days later without checking to see if my cervix was even ready. I should have said something then. I was also only 10 days over - it seems like a lifetime but really, the long term effects and consequences as Samantha mentioned are worth a few extra days. I now have the limitations and stress associated with going for a VBAC, being classed as high risk at every turn, the worry of what will happen if I do have another c/s and how I will look after my girl. Sorry to be a downer but really unless there is an absolutely medical reason for it, not being late, or bub too big or a weekend coming up etc. then I would strongly suggest you disagree to any intervention.
Here are a few articles that might help!
Here
And here!
Some people have no problems but it shouldn't be treated lightly. My last two clients who had inductions just recently, one with gels one with synt:
1 lost her uterus, 2nd (last night) got uterine hyperstimulation and incredibly intense contractions with slow dilation and had a c/s. Both inductions were avoidable but that was my clients decision and thats what they wanted, I was willing to support them and they heard my concerns. One was told her baby was big (ended up an 8lber) and one was told blood pressure was eratic (details are sketchy will find out more) but was normal on induction day. Both first time mums.
So while they can go fine, if there is no medical reason for induction, you gotta think about it properly. What are you willing to barter? If its to save your baby's life I would risk my uterus any day. But if my baby was really fine, then I wouldn't risk my uterus and my ability to have more children in future.
Hi,
had pre- labour for weeks!!! My waters broke at 41weeks 4days a Wed, I had a slow leak.... Cervix was not ripe... Hospital too busy to induce me on Thursday (tried everything to get bubba going!) Induced on Friday 09:00.... no gel straight on the drip, meconium present, bub prosterior.... bub finally born via vac @ 03:50 Saturday morning.... Bub in new born centre for 5 days ..... Very hard and extremley painfull birth... would not like to be induced again .... Sorry but I am get anxious about when I am pregnant again and have to go through labour!!!
Personally I think that if they had induced me on Thursday bub might not have been in the new born centre :(
Hi Gabi,I was induced with my first three babies, the second baby was because I fell and slipped on wet concrete out side a chemist late one rainy night,and my waters broke, but the others, they were nearly 42 weeks,and no sign of wanting to come.my 4th the waters broke at home and baby 5 was c- section only due to shoulder displacia, try not to worry all went really well for me, no problems at all ,you need to relax and stay calm as you can,for your bubs sake,good luck.
As SamanthaP said, the rate of caesarean in first time induced mums is horrendous and if you want to avoid a c/s, avoiding an unnecessary induction is crucial.
This reminds me of a client I had a couple of weeks ago. Her story really shows how much and how quickly things can change.:
At 10 days over the hospital wanted to induce her. Her baby wasn't engaged at all, her cervix was a fingertip dilated "at a stretch" according to a midwife. The hospital was convinced she wasn't going to go into labour before their "deadline" of 14 days past EDD. She refused the induction, agreed to some monitoring as tanstar mentioned, and went into labour on her own 2 days later - had a 3.5 hour labour with her first baby. We concluded her body knew damn well what it was doing ;)
Things can change just like that at the end, that's what makes it so damn frustrating to hear women being told their bodies are never going to go into labour and they need to be induced.
I was induced with my first and third babies and have never had a c/s. DD1 was forceps but DS wasn't.
I'm not going to run in and have an induction for no reason, but if I do have to have one is it just luck whether or not I end up with a caesar? Is there nothing I can do to help baby not to get stressed? Is there nothing I can do to help my body not to get those really powerful contractions which lead to foetal distress?
Unfortunately there really isn't much you can do hun, but there are a few things that could help. You can ask for a good amount of time to be allowed after each stage of indcution. For eg. I had the gel inserted at 9pm and then 8am and we waited a few hours. My waters were broken at midday and tehy gave me a few hours to see if that could trigger labour. I then had the drip started at 2pm, and you can ask them to start it on the absolute minimum to try and get labour to begin gradually rather than starting with really intense contractions. I never had any fetal distress whatsover but even after all of that AND I got to 9cms dilated I still ended up in theatre for a c/s for "failure to progress" after 36 hours. 9 cms is failure to progress?Pfftt. So if you do end up having one ask for time between each stage to allow your body to go into labour naturally using those methods. Having said that if your body isn't ready like mine was - a few hours here or there didn't make any difference and the odds are a little stacked up against you BUT you could be in the minority like some of the gorgeous girls on here who are induced and basically have a textbook labour with no complications hun. Hard to say! Good luck with it all!
Gabi there isn't anything you can do to affect the intensity of the contractions, no. The drug that is given during inductions (syntocinin) literally forces your uterus to contract. The intensity of the contractions is related to the dose, and the dose is increased on a regular basis until contractions become "productive". You don't have much control over how quickly the dose is increased or high it goes. From this point it is really luck of the draw whether or not your baby will cope - some babies are totally unbothered, others will show signs of distress. There is no way of predicting this beforehand and there is nothing you can do to control it - except to refuse to be induced without a clear indication that it is necessary.:
So I guess the short answer to your question is, yes - it's just luck.
I was 12 days over EDD, my water broke the morning I was going to be induced. It was my first baby and I trusted the hospital and midwives... never again!
Unless you absolutely need it for safety reasons I would not induce. Your body and your baba know better!!!
The contractions were so strong, I wasn't dilating, and the bub was distressed... I blame my ignorance... if only I knew that I could refuse induction! I was so naive and silly.
I ended up having epidural (which I didn't want... they basically forced me to have it), I gave up after 2 hours of them saying I absolutely had to have one (at that point the contractions were so strong I was jumping on the bed (luckily I had a great anesthetist!!! I was so scared of the epidural, scared of being paralised for life!).
Anyway, everybody has a different story and you can be lucky and happy!
My friend was induced on her request, didn't have any epidural or drug, she delivered naturally, thanks to the support of her doula and husband, massaging and pushing on pressure points... see there are good stories and bad stories... as a mother though you learn to trust your instinct above anything else!
Good luck
Your body isn't designed to labour hard from 0 dilation which is why most women don't cope well and end up with epidurals and c/s. If you are post-dates, trust your body, in the time you wait, your cervix will start to thin and efface and do all the work that the drugs are designed to do, but your body does it slowly, in its own time so you can cope. Much harder to cope when your body is forced to do something sooner than its supposed to at an intensity which is stronger than is meant to. But also you have to remember while you have an epi and might not feel it, your baby still does. The contractions are faster, harder and longer and your baby will be deprived of oxygen longer and is being compressed longer, stronger and harder, for the whole labour. This is why they go into distress. This is why we have so many c/s. Inductions play a massive role in c/s around the world, Obs admit that. Yet we are doing far too many inductions, and if your induction is medically necessary, then I wouldn't worry because the percent of women needing medically necessary inductions is very low.
Gabi, I guess what it comes down to is not "what can I do if I need to be induced", but rather "do I really need to be induced". As you will find from reading people's experiences, mostly people did not need to be induced. They were told they needed to be, but if the doctors had taken the effort to monitor the baby instead to see if there was indeed any problem with it staying there longer, than most inductions could have been avoided. I would inform yourself about the overuse of inductions, note that "term" is 38 - 42 weeks - there is no magic mark at 40 weeks. And if you feel pressured to be induced, ask for monitoring instead and take it from there. GL.
Gabi - I agree with what others have said here. It may all go well, but you give yourself the best chance by waiting (and hopefully avoiding induction).
When we agreed to be induced at 42 weeks we knew we were pretty much crossing off a lot of the preferences on our birthplan. We accepted this because we believed it was the best option for us. He ended up being delivered by forceps as he went into distress - I think I would have ended up with a c/s if this had happened before I was fully dilated.
Take care
I had a similar question to Gabi - how to not let a possible induction due to medical reasons turn into a c-section. ie is there a better non c-secion rate with gels or S&S or drugs, is getting a private mid wife (or the hospital) to do a S&S in the days leading up to deadline going to help much if my body is not showing any signs of labour.
As the medical reasons are GD with insulin, is it possible to monitor how the placenta is going as this seems to be the reason why the Ob is concerned, that the placenta might stop functioning properly before bub's gets out.
Petals, I also had insulin controlled GD. I wasn't happy with induction at 38 weeks so I agreed to go to the hospital every second day for 30 minutes of CTG monitoring. In the end I was induced at 39+4 weeks, but was already 3cm dilated and started having contractions after the cervidil strip (gel alternative) was placed.
How are your blood sugar levels? I firmly believe that if you are controlling your BSL's, either with diet or insulin, then there is no need to induce. I am constantly disappointed in myself for agreeing to the induction when I knew that it wasn't needed. I would have had a far better chance at having a good birth experience if I had waited for natural labour but found it really hard to stand up for myself around the doctors.
As for induction resulting in C-section, that just depends on how ready your body is, how you react to the drugs and how bubby copes on the day.
Good luck
Thanks Artechim - thats handy to know. The more facts, the more likely I am to be able to talk my way into a more prefered outcome (for me!).. and daily monitoring would be something I could easily live with.
Hopefully the G and D scan on the weekend will give me some more ammo as I really do not think I am carrying a bib bub's...
Gabi the most important thing is not to stress easier said then done i know ,i never wanted to be induced but yes i was 5 our of 6 times and yes they all went beautifully now i know thats not the case for everyone ,not all labours that begin of there own accord end in a vaginal birth either,be informed they usually say there is a heart rate issue find out what is normal and for how long and how many times its ok for it to be higher or lower if its slow dialation if bub is happy in there ask for more time my last abay was breech and i was not going to have a c/s it was that simple so i looked all this stuff up found out what were the normal ranges so they could not scare me into having one,and when i was told at 39 weeks i had no choice i had to have a c/s i tolf them i knew all this information and the last time i looked it was my body and they were not cutting me open unless and untill it became dangerous for my son ,he was born vaginally after having my waters broken for me which didnt put me into labour so they put me on the drip which they didnt want to do but hay if you wont sighn a concent form they cant do much ,its your body and your baby not all inductions go wrong in fact my only natural labour is the only one i had any problems with pph so if thats how it ends up try to remember you have done all you can and they dont all end in c/s.
With GD, then I would strongly suggest reading these two things:
Gestational Diabetes: A Symptom In Search of a Disease
Gestational Diabetes & Induction
Bear in mind that the last link there is to an independent, medical database which collates studies from all over the world, assesses them for their quality, and makes a conclusion based on the best quality studies. There is no bias or commerical/corporate interests in it at all.