Induction on Thursday - scared!

[BabyChunk]

I’m 38 weeks 3 days and will be being induced on Thursday due to baby being big. Any positive stories and reassurance would be nice.

This is first baby so I am terrified!

[pinkie93]

I've never given birth before, it's my first too, but my sister was told her second would be very big with a massive head. He was perfectly average, even smaller than her first.

[BabyChunk in reply to pinkie93]

I’ve been told my baby has a massive head as well, actually off the scale and they were worried she wouldn’t fit out through natural delivery with the size, which terrifies me 😂

[pinkie93 in reply to BabyChunk]

Exactly the same as my sister, will be interesting to find out if they're actually right this time. But try not to get too scared, these measurements are far from infallible.

[LucyJJ]

I’ve given birth to three babies now:

No 1 and No 2 were natural births, very traumatic and horrendously painful. I do quick births so both times was too quick for pain relief and I fet completely out of control and very traumatised after.

No 3 was born 8 days ago and I almost fee as though I haven’t actually given birth?! Like I cheated my way through that whole process. He was big at 8lb13oz but I was induced due to the traumatic experiences previously, a heart condition and reduced movement towards the end.

They did a sweep first, nothing happened (really wasn’t painful). The following morning they broke my waters... nothing happened. In the afternoon they set me up with an epidural (quite unpleasant process, if you want to know the truth) and I was hooked up to IV drugs to medically induce labour.

The epidural was amazing. My whole body was itching and scratching doesn’t make a difference as you can’t see it... so that was a bit unpleasant but I was able to move my legs and everything, I just didn’t feel pain! My boy was born at 7pm. Everything was in control, we were just relaxing throughout all the usually so painful contractions...

So personally, the induced labour was BY FAR the easiest I’ve had. Like i said almost to the point that I feel I cheated my way round labour!

[pinkie93 in reply to LucyJJ]

Sorry if this is too personal, but why do you think you found the first 2 births so traumatic? I'm hoping for natural birth, standing with just gas and air, that's how my mum had her 3; but I do wonder if I'm being naïve.

[Lovefood1984 in reply to pinkie93]

I wasn’t induced but had my first with just gas and air so you aren’t being naive at all, like LucyJJ mine was quite quick, 5 1/2hrs from start of pains to delivery but over an hour pushing. I was 9cm dilated when they first checked me! I wouldn’t call mine traumatic at all so not everyone’s is, mine was about as good as you can get I think, just an episiotomy to help baby out, no tearing etc and I’ve healed really well so please don’t be too worried x

[LucyJJ in reply to pinkie93]

Hi there,

Sorry, I don’t mean to write horror experiences and scare anyone, my post was really to say that the best birth I’ve had was the induced one!

With No1: when contractions started we set off for hospital and got stuck in rush hour traffic. I’d planned for a very natural water birth, with calming music etc. When we finally got to hospital I was begging them for an epidural as i was in so much pain. The doctor was VERY dismissive and told me I was only 2cm and that it’d be another 12-18 hours so can’t do anything for me. She wanted to send me home but said “i can see you’re a bit distressed” and kept me in. I’ve never felt so helpless and left alone in my life! I just screamed in pain for half an hour until she agreed to check me again, and I was 10cm! Too late for pain relief other than gas and air which I tried but vomited. My son was born about 20 minutes later - after his head got stuck... then my placenta didn’t deliver and in the end I had retained placenta with surgery under general anaesthetic later on. The whole process was about 3 hours.

No2: waters broke at 9pm, no contractions. Got checked at midnight and only 2cm. I was advised to go home and have a bath but my husband wasn’t having any of that so we just walked around the car park. 1.25am and suddenly contractions kicked in, like proper... and she was born at 1.46am.

Again I had retained placenta and ended up in surgery under general anaesthetic later.

Whilst my No2 was over and done with in absolutely no time, my body went through all the changes that you normally have over half a day or a day in minutes. I know my situation isn’t standard and unusual to be quite so quick, but because of the speed and immense changes, i really thought I was dying.

This time round, with me being on a drip already, with lots of monitoring going on and the epidural it was just such a relaxed experience! I was scared of the I diction as I’d heard horror stories of having to have assisted deliveries etc but it was by far the best, and even enjoyable, birth I’ve had!

Also, I had to be cut with No1, tore with No2, and no damage whatsoever wifh no3 (and so far no retained placenta found).

[Hidden]

ive got 2 kids one is 12 years and other is 10 weeks I had a water birth with both of them.... I was only in labour for 3 hours with both... my 12 year old was 6lb 3oz and my 10 week old was 7lb 3oz.

you hear so many bad stories about giving birth but it aint as bad as people make out. I would defo suggest a water birth if you can have one.

end of day dont be scared just think of your little bundle of joy you will have in your arms xx

enjoy every minute of it good luck xxx

[AJBee]

Hi lovely! Don't be terrified!! Be excited, this is a wonderful time and you're going to finally meet your baby!! I gave birth to baby number one 3 weeks ago at 36+3. My waters broke with no signs of labour so obviously I had to be induced. there was a lot of waiting around and a lot of nothingness for a good number of hours, just try and get as much sleep as you can at this stage we were kind of lucky and that it was happening in the early hours of the morning so naturally when we should be sleeping anyway. They put me on the hormone drip at about 2am, my contractions started at around 7 a.m, just ever so slight to start with, then at 10 a.m. I was 2 cm dilated and he was born at 11:43 a.m!!!! So pretty rapido in the grand scheme of things!

I have heard several other stories from people who've been induced to say that it happens very quickly, so fingers crossed you won't have 20 + hours of labour to deal with.

the other thing I've heard recently is loads of people have had their babies weight estimated as being huge via scans, but when they were born they were a whole 2 pounds or more lighter then had been predicted, so kind of take that with a pinch of salt, I think these predictions are pretty inaccurate.

My baby's head was measuring in the 90th percentile, which had me a little worried, but honestly everything was fine. I don't think your body allows your baby to get so big that you can't give birth.

It's very easy for me to say, but please don't be scared, you're in the best possible hands, the staff are all incredible and the moment is just so magical, it's what you've been waiting for all these months after all. Good luck darling and congratulations!!! Xxxx

[kt_11]

Good luck for tomorrow. Hope all goes well. Not long now before you get to meet your little one.

I was induced at 38+4 (IVF + estimated large baby). It took quite a while before the process actually worked for me - baby was born on his due date in the end - but once things got going it was ok and not too long (maybe about 7 hours in established labour).

No previous natural labour to compare it to and won’t deny that it was painful but just had gas and air and TENS which was what I’d wanted.

I did end up with an episiotomy and ventouse as baby was getting a bit tired and distressed but my body doesn’t feel any different now so I’m happy I had that instead of tearing. Hope all goes well for you. Looking forward to seeing your update! xx

[Hidden]

good luck for tomoz xx

wont be long now and you will have you little bundle of joy in your arm's xxx

[BabyChunk]

Just an update,

Inducing didn’t work as my stubborn little girl decided to turn, decided she wasn’t ready to join us yet. So I have a c section booked for Thursday. Thanks to everyone who replied x

[Hidden in reply to BabyChunk]

not long and you will have your bundle of joy in your arms xxx

[kt_11 in reply to BabyChunk]

All the best for Thursday xx