Hi everyone,
I am 34w. pregnant and recently I have been offered to have an inducing at week 38 as my baby is bigger then the average. I have done couple of research online and what I think is C-section is less risky then being induced for my baby.
My question is does anyone here had been induced before? If so, have you had anything that wasn't normal during labour? What are your thoughts if you compare caesarean and inducing?
Pls help,
thanks!
Hi bixteth, whilst I can’t comment on the c-section part of your question or what is medically best for you or your baby I can give a really positive spin on induction from my own recent experience.
Baby #1 arrived at 39 weeks so I assumed baby #2 would be early too. When she was still comfy in there at 41 weeks we went for an induction as i was advised it was the safest option due to my age (38 for reference).
I’d heard nothing but horror stories but I had a really positive experience and wouldn’t change a thing. My labour was uncomplicated and quick (2 hours!) and was actually a more positive experience than my first birth which was completely spontaneous & also fast but caught me by surprise (so much so we didn’t make it to hospital and I delivered on the bedroom floor!).
The only thing I can really say is I hope that whatever you decide is the best for you both I hope it all goes well & you feel supported & informed. Take care & all the best for the last few weeks of your pregnancy.
Hi Sar,Thank you for sharing your positive story which was deeply needed. 2 hours of labour is amazing.
I am afraid I have focused on risks too much, such as deaths or excessive contractions which can diminish baby's oxygen supply and lower baby's heart rate etc.
However one last thing, which medication did you go for was it Propess prostaglandis or Oxytocin?
thank you for your wishes 
No probs, I had the propess pessary & it worked its magic within an hour so I didn’t need anything else.
I will add that I did have to adjust my expectations on the day - I’d hoped for (and discussed with my community midwife) a water birth on the MLU but when we got there & they saw I’d had a PPU with my first birth I was moved to labour ward. I was gutted but had always said my birth plan was flexible & I’d do what I had to to keep myself & baby safe. Despite being moved to a more medical setting & having to adjust my expectations I still had the calm, intervention free labour I had hoped for.
I really hope that you feel supported in whichever decision you make & all goes well for you x
Hi bixteth , I can’t comment on c section but I gave birth naturally at 40weeks after being induced at 39 weeks due to my baby measuring. I had a positive labour and the midwifes let me give birth the way I wanted and let me be in control, once they broke my waters I asked to be left alone for 1 hour to see if anything would start naturally and they were very supportive of this after a hour they put me on the drip and let me control everything what I wanted to do, I had my waters broken at 01:30 , drip at 02:45 and was having full contractions by 5:30 and gave birth at 11:19 so my labour was very positive and nice and relaxed
I would suggest writing down what you want in the delivery suite, I found this helped me, I played my own play list which kept me calm and also looked into other positions you can birth in. If your on Instagram I followed the naked doula and I found a lot of her techniques helped aswell
I hope everything goes well for you and you have a nice smooth delivery and hopefully you can look back and say you made the right decision, everyone has different opinions but it’s what’s best for you and the baby x take care and wishing you all the luck on the world dxx
Hi Jade, Your story sounds empowering too, thank you for sharing and for your suggestions, I started to follow the naked doula.
thanks for your wishes also. xx
Hi Bixteth,
I had gestational diabetes in both of my pregnancies so had larger than average babies. I opted to be induced at 38 weeks both times and had two normal deliveries. My oldest was 8lb 15oz and youngest 8lb 7oz. Both are perfectly healthy boys. I can’t comment on c-section, but can say I have had positive experiences twice with early induction. Good luck!!
Hi Hayley_C,Thank you for sharing your story, I am so glad to hear that babies can be born naturally in such weight and still be healthy! I am afraid when I heard “the bigger baby” it made me scared a lot. But looks like I will not be the first women to go through this
Thanks again.
Hi, I was also offered induction due to my baby measuring big and worried so much about all the risks of giving birth to a ‘big’ baby but also didn’t fancy an induction from what I’d heard about them. I booked an induction for due date in the end after lots of deliberation. I did ask the consultant if I would be offered a c-section and he just kind of said no that’s not the way to go. In the end I moved my induction forward a week as I was so uncomfy and fed up. I had the pessary and it started to work almost immediately, I had pains before I had even walked out to the car!
I then had contractions on and off for a few hours but by 10pm (I got the pessary around 3pm) the contractions were strong and very regular. Baby was born by 4am and I had a straight forward birth and labour with so much support from my midwife who just left me to get on with it. And in the end, baby wasn’t even that big, he was smaller than first! So don’t forget there is also a good margin of error in baby measurements even with growth scans so baby could need up being an average weight.
Hope you can make a decision you are happy with and everything goes smoothly for you! Don’t feel like you have to make a decision now and stixk to it. You can always change your mind!
Hi SV88,Thank you for writing your story. It is exactly what I am scared of, to have a normal size of baby but being induced at 38, I asked for another scan to see if his growth chart is still going up then I will decide. Like you said I should also keep in mind that I can change my decision. Thank you!
Hi Bixteth, I was induced a week over my due date, all my pregnancy I was under growth scans worrying my baby would be big also. The propess pessary was put in around lunch time and after 24 hours sadly it didn’t progress my labour, I was moved to the delivery suite so they could break my waters which was a lot less painful than I was expecting. I was then on the hormone drip which unfortunately didn’t agree with me or the baby and we had to have an emergency C-Section. Honestly the C-section was probably the most relaxed I’d felt the entire experience, nowhere near as scary or daunting as I thought. If I was lucky enough to fall pregnant again, I would definitely opt for a c-section again. Hope this helps! Hope whatever path you choose goes smoothly and is right for you! Good luck x
Awwww I hope you are feeling ok it’s a lot to process isn’t it? So I can relate to you here. My baby was due 1st Jan this year and was always measuring big but at my 36/37 week appointment I was sent for a growth scan to confirm as he had gone way off his curve. It was confirmed baby was big and I was told the consultant would be in touch. I was also contacted by the research midwives who wanted to put me on a ‘big baby’ trail and basically it was 50/50 if I would have been left to see what happens or induced early…. Personally I didn’t want to be induced I had the dreams of the natural non medical birth…. Consultant respected my wishes and was happy for me to wait until due date but didn’t want me going longer than a week over due date so i had an induction booked for 2nd Jan. 1st came and went and no sign of baby so I went in for my induction on the Saturday morning and was allowed to go home and be back again after 24hours if nothing progressed any sooner- I went back the next day and they examined me and sent me over to delivery ward as induction had started to work and they could break my waters which they did and put me on the drip. Already this was everything I hated and didn’t want but looking back it really wasn’t that bad and I used a birthing ball and elements of hypnobirthing…..for us around 10pm Sunday night they started to check me more frequently as I wasn’t progressing and long story short ended up with an emergency c section as baby was in distress and stuck. It took me a while to process what happens and I think it left me with a bit of trauma and personally in hindsight I think I should have been booked in for a c section as I was never delivering on my own but I’m sitting here 11 months later My boy is here and is wonderful and he’s nearly 1 and you just get through it no matter what. Every birth is so different and amazing in its own way. My only advice is ask all the questions you feel you need to, get all the information on all your options and make the decisions you feel are right for you and baby and push them if you are not feeling heard xxx
Ps my boy was 9lb 10.5oz !!!
Hi boy-mum,I will be fine if I can make this decision and move on I just would like to skip this part!
They have told me if I wait until w40 he will be around 9lb 15oz and he might stuck. Also I had a call from research midwives too and asked them to have another scan to see if he is getting bigger as they expected then I will decide.
Thank you for sharing your story, looks like you had been through what I am going to experience, I cannot express enough how helpful it is.
Xx
Hi Bixteth
I was induced at 39 weeks as my baby had an irregular heart beat.
I had the pessary and then the drip, but after 3 days I had only dialated 4 cm so I then had an emergency c section.
I would say that although my experience was long, I’m really glad I tried the induction first.
I was in the Womens Hospital and the midwives were amazing.
The csection experience was also really positive. Although it was classed as an ‘emergency’, the baby was safe, it was just because my labour wasn’t progressing, so I was prioritised, but they could take their time. They did everything they could to make it a ‘nice’ experience. Taking photos, explaining every step etc. It was honestly much better than me and my partner could of imagined.
I also found that once my daughter was here, the labour and delivery melted into a blur I couldn’t remember anyway haha!
I know this doesn’t answer your question, but I was bombarded by people sharing horror stories when I was booked in for induction, so I thought I’d share my positive one.
Xxx
Hi Bixteth, You’ve had lots of great replies here, I hope all these positive stories have helped put your mind at rest. It is a tough decision so I can see why you are so unsure, I think medical staff would always encourage you to try for a natural delivery as generally the recovery is quicker and easier, though there are pros and cons to both options.
If you are really very anxious about it then do reiterate this to your midwife, these are the current NICE guidelines, they aren’t legally binding but hcps do have to have good reason for departing from these recommendations:
Maternal request for caesarean birth
1.2.25 When a woman with no medical indication for a caesarean birth requests a caesarean birth, explore, discuss and record the specific reasons for the request. [2011, amended 2021]
1.2.26 If a woman requests a caesarean birth, discuss the overall benefits and risks of caesarean birth compared with vaginal birth (see the section on planning mode of birth) and record that this discussion has taken place. [2011]
1.2.27 If a woman requests a caesarean birth, offer discussions with the woman, a senior midwife and/or obstetrician and other members of the team if necessary, for example an anaesthetist, to explore the reasons for the request, and ensure the woman has accurate information. [2011, amended 2021]
1.2.28 If a woman requests a caesarean birth because she has tokophobia or other severe anxiety about childbirth (for example, following abuse or a previous traumatic event), offer referral to a healthcare professional with expertise in providing perinatal mental health support to help with her anxiety. See the NICE guideline on antenatal and postnatal mental health for more detailed advice on providing mental health services for pregnant women. [2011, amended 2021]
1.2.29 Ensure healthcare professionals providing perinatal mental health support to women requesting a caesarean birth have access to the planned place of birth during the antenatal period in order to provide care. [2011, amended 2021]
1.2.30 If a vaginal birth is still not an acceptable option after discussion of the benefits and risks and offer of support (including perinatal mental health support if appropriate; see recommendation 1.2.28), offer a planned caesarean birth for women requesting a caesarean birth. [2011, amended 2021]
1.2.31 If a woman requests a caesarean birth but her current healthcare team are unwilling to offer this, refer the woman to an obstetrician willing to perform a caesarean birth. [2011, amended 2021]
This suggests that if you really do want to go ahead with a c section, then they have to make that happen for you, there is however a lot of provision for counselling/support to try and convince you to try for a natural birth.
There are risks to both induction and c-section, indeed there are risks to unaugmented vaginal birth too, I suppose it is a case of weighing up the pros and cons and seeing which is a better option for you.
I hope you can make a decision and have peace of mind soon.
Hi MumsSocialAdmin,As someone who moved to UK only 3 years ago and never been in the hospital till I got pregnant, you cannot imagine how much I needed those informations! I had no idea that I can choose caesarean, it is like something no one wants to talk about!
Thank you so much for your informative reply. 😊
