Induction of labour

[AlisonM]

Hi,

I'm 37 weeks pregnant & have been diagnosed with lupus for 7 years. My lupys has been very stable during my pregnancy & I have only been taking 1 plaquinel tablet daily. I gave had 2 incidents of a little mark appearing but it has faded of its own accord. I've been seeing a consultant throughout & he prescribed clexane injections due to me having the ro positive antibody.

He is planning on an internal check tomorrow & if my cervix is favourable (tmi sorry!) he will give me an induction date for my 38th/39th week. My question is- how did you cope with labour & lupus? I've got non lupus friends who have had their labours induced & it's lasted over 24hrs. I'm worried that after a long labour I won't have energy to push my baby out & lapse into a fatigue flare which will mean I won't be able to look after my baby.

Any tips/ hints/ suggestions? I know lupus is unpredictable, but its worrying!!!

Many thanks

Alison xxxx

[Tigerlily4]

Hi Alison ... Firstly, I'm not clear why you're being induced. They might at least try a cervical sweep first - bit uncomfortable but worked for me within 48 hrs, although I was at my due date. My labour went fine ... I asked the midwife not to break my waters, which made things much more comfortable. I only stayed in 6 hours and was home that afternoon loading the washing machine and baking. The exhaustion didn't hit until a few weeks later but my son had colic, was irritable and cried a lot so I'd put that down to lack of sleep rather than the SLE. Once they're sleeping through the night (should be by about 8 weeks) things become a lot easier. Very best of luck and let us know how you get on! x

[Sher78]

First of all well done 4 going near on full term! I've gone thru 2 labours with lupus & I was very lucky, no tears, no pain relief & very quick deliveries. The first was spontaneous labour at 4 1/2 weeks early, the 2nd I was induced (although I was already 6cm dilated!) 6 weeks early. Admittedly the contractions on my 2nd were pretty painful but think that was more 2 do with bring induced rather than the lupus, but she still popped out pretty quick.

Try not 2 think about it too much as u'll just stress u'reself out.

If it's any consolation, I actually felt better than I had in years after both babies for a very long time afterwards. Ok, we're all different, but u never know

Good luck x

[AlisonM]

Thanks for replying. The consultant likes to induce because of the clexane, blood thinning injections. Will try not to stress and hopefully I will have a sleeping baby!! Will def let u know how I get on!! xx