Induction?

I got induced with the pessary with my 1st during covid times, the lead up wasn't great due to being on my own with no pain relief but once I got on to labour ward and had relief it was fine it actually went really quick I gave birth within 12 hours. I'm being induced on Thursday if I haven't had my second by then and they're using the balloon method and I'm dreading it. If you have the pessary just don't let them fob you off by not checking due to not being time to be checked as it may go quick for you. Good luck

i was induced with the pessary with my first. i had an outpatient induction and went home with cramps, contractions started about 5 hours later and then baby was born after about 10 hours of labour. managed to labour at home until i was 8cm dilated, had gas and air at hospital and baby was born in 3 big pushes. i had a great experience. good luck with whatever you decide to do xx

@Ashleigh thank you for your reply!! is the pessary the one they use first? How far over was you when you had your 1st? I just hope I’m not in there for days and hope I don’t end up having a c section x

I had a low risk pregnancy, 3 attempts at sweeps from 40+3 - 41+4 which they couldn't do due to my cervix being closed and high and was induced at 41+4, gave birth at 42 weeks. The best advice I would give is stay mobile and take pain relief if needed.. I made the mistake of not staying mobile and only taking pain relief when in agony and took from 41+4 until the evening of 41+6 to get to 5cm x

@Sophie when you say stay mobile do you mean in hospital? As I thought I would be kept in after being induced x

@Sophie I have had 2 sweeps both 1cm and I’m sure I lost my mucus plug last night x

With my firstborn I was also induced with pessary and my contractions started really quick. Hyperstimulated (contracted way too quickly and intensely that it became dangerous) so had it removed after 6 hours. By then I was 2cm dilated and it had put me into labour and was contracting every 5 minutes so was taken to delivery and broke my waters. This caused fetal distress and my sons heart rate to drop so it ended with an emergency c section

@Sarah yeah they tend to offer you the pessary with your 1st one. I was only 40+3 but I was having continuous reduced movements. I think the pessary works really quick so fingers crossed. X

@Ashleigh ahh thank you so much x

@Sarah yeah.. I was kept in but was allowed to go for walks around the hospital so did that with my husband when he came in

@Sammy I’m not too anxious I just don’t know what to expect. Hoping it all goes well for you!! X

I declined induction at 39, 40 and 41 weeks, I went in to spontaneous labour at 41+4 x

@Natalie im so undecided on what to do x

@Sarah have you got any medical risk factors that mean you need an induction? I'm 41 years old which is why they wanted to induce me. Induction can start a cascade of unwanted interventions, have you looked up the pros and cons? Dr Sara Wickham has lots of info on her website about it https://www.sarawickham.com/articles-2/induction-of-labour/ I'm so glad I held out, I had a natural birth with a little gas and air and got to use the birthing pool , I was out of hospital and back home within a few hours of giving birth! X

I had an induction with the balloon only as it sent me into labour the second it was inserted, I had a lovely experience and it didn’t require any interventions so you have to do what’s best for you and baby xx

I opted for the new dilapan induction and had no complaints and no pains or sickness. The rods were in for 12 hours but unfortunately the heart rate dropped due to him being tangled in his cord so had an emergency c section just before they were going to pop my waters x

Personally I declined induction with both my babies as I was low risk and no medical reason to induce me! I gave birth at 41+4 with both my babies! I know you don't want to wait until 42 weeks BUT you've already waited this long, what's 1 more week? Statistically you will go into labour naturally within that time anyways! X

I had a induction this week. Only needed a pessary , had it at 1pm contractions were very strong by 1am on labour ward at 4am at 7cm gave birth 9am. I found the contractions less painful than my first natural . It was quite smooth and straight forward and I would have one again if I needed too.

I went into hospital on the 17th October, and they told me I needed to be induced (I wish I didn’t listen to them). I was 1cm dilated and long story short, despite all the pessaries, I remained at 1cm until Monday 21st. They couldn’t break my waters and due to the pessaries, I was having contractions but nothing was changing. Hand on heart, I wish I never said yes to being induced. I demanded for a c-section in the end as my body had just had enough of them examining me so I had the section on Tuesday! If you haven’t got a medical reason to be induced, do not do it. If it’s because you want baby here, then please re-consider just waiting! I wish I never got induced - that is just my personal experience and opinion!! (Also fully aware that the induction is different for many many people)

@Bianca-Jasmine thank you for this. Were you overdue when you went in on the 17th? X

@Sarah I was 40+1. They only wanted to induce me because of reduced movements but once he was on the monitor, he was fine. The doctors are very good at getting in your head😂 I was adamant I didn’t want to be induced. The c-section was the best experience and I’m so grateful he arrived safe and sound but, I’d have rather a natural birth without any form of induction etc x

@Bianca-Jasmine I really want to go natural and haven’t really been told what is going to happen on Wednesday so just feel like I am left in the dark regarding the induction. I had two sweeps last week and was nearly 2cm on both of them so I’m hoping when I go in they tell me I’m even more dilated and they don’t have to induce me 😔 x