Wednesday 17 September 2014

My Second Induction Experience

Baby Jacob is now four week's old and things have been rather hectic at home with a newborn, a toddler and a tweenager, so I am only just slowly getting back into blogging when I find the rare hour or so of peace and quiet which is not very often.

me at 39 weeks pregnant the day my son was born
Me on the morning of my induction

As any of my readers, or anyone who follows me on twitter or facebook will know I was suffering from pregnancy-induced high blood pressure and put on blood pressure medication at the start of my pregnancy. My blood pressure was fine and well controlled throughout my pregnancy. But due to the medication, I was taken (200mg of labetalol, twice a day) I was under consultant led care and classed as a high-risk pregnancy. I had to have extra midwife appointments and growth scans throughout my third trimester. The growth scans showed that baby was measuring small throughout my pregnancy and so it was decided that I would be induced at 39 week's pregnant, as this was felt to be the best thing for baby and me.

I had been induced in my first pregnancy with my oldest daughter Chloe, which you can read about here. So I knew what to expect, but as with every birth, my second induction experience was completely different to my first. So here is what my recent induction experience was like.

I received a phone call from the hospital the afternoon before my induction date telling me to arrive at the delivery suite for 11am the following day. So on the next day, me and Lee set off to hospital leaving the girls at home with Lee's mum and made our way to the delivery suite.

When we arrived at the delivery suite we were met by the midwife who had delivered Sophia just 14 months beforehand, which was so strange but nice to see her again. We were shown to the induction room, which was a four bedded bay on the labour ward and opposite the room I give birth to Sophia in. It felt so surreal being back there again so soon. I was introduced to the midwife who would be looking after me, who was another midwife I had met when I was pregnant with Sophia which was reassuring.

I was then shown to my bed and I was asked lots of questions, then I was weighed, fitted with surgical stockings, had blood taken, my urine and blood pressure were checked then I had swabs taken to check for MRSA. I was given a quick ultrasound to check baby's position before being hooked up to monitors to check baby's heartbeat.

I was then examined and told my cervix was closed and they could not break my waters, which is how they like to induce you if you have had a baby before. So a pessary was inserted (which was really uncomfortable), and I was hooked back up to the monitor to check baby's heartbeat for an hour.

I was then told I could go for a walk, which I gladly accepted as the induction room was so hot and stuffy. We went for a walk around the hospital and for some lunch in the hospital cafe, after lunch I started feeling really uncomfortable so we made our way back to in the induction room. At around 3pm I was getting niggling pains every few minutes but they were not painful I just felt like I could not get comfy at all.

 At 5pm I was hooked back up to the heart rate monitor to check baby and everything was OK. At 6pm I was examined again to see if they could break my waters, the first midwife could not do it so she asked another midwife who managed to break my waters and said I was 2cm dilated. Breaking my waters was not painful at all it is just uncomfortable, I have had it done with all three of my children now. I was hooked back up to the heart rate monitor for half an hour to check baby was OK which he was.

I was then moved to a delivery room and told that they would leave me for a couple of hours to see if labour started on its own, if not they would attach me to the drip to kick start my labour. By now it was around 7pm and I was feeling really uncomfortable, I had loads of pressure at the bottom of my bump every few minutes. I bounced on a birth ball and walked around the room and I started getting pains every few minutes.

The midwife came to check on me and she took my blood pressure and it was really high so she decided to attach me to the monitor to check baby's heartbeat which was fine but it showed that I was getting seven contractions every ten minutes which she was concerned about, so she called for a doctor to decide if they should give me some medication to slow my contractions down or not. The doctor was concerned with my blood pressure as it kept rising so she took some blood to get checked and inserted a cannula in my hand to administer some liquid blood pressure medication to try and lower it.

By now it was 8pm and there was a switchover of midwife's, I was told to lie on my side to try and slow my contractions down which it did and I was given some gas and air. At this point,  I was still not in established labour as my contractions were irregular and I was not in pain, I just felt really uncomfortable. The medical team were concerned about my rising blood pressure. 

I remember asking the midwife if the baby would be arriving soon and she said third babies are very unpredictable and I would either have a very fast, easy labour or I could end up having a long one. The fact that I had given birth only a year beforehand meant that I would probably have a quick labour and she was right about that.

I went into established labour at 8.50pm and at 9.31pm baby Jacob was born!

So my timeline of induction was

11am arrived at the hospital
12pm pessary inserted
6pm waters broken
8.50pm in established labour
9.31pm Jacob born

newborn baby Jacob
Newborn baby Jacob


I have to say my second induction experience was better than my first, I did not have to have the drip this time around and the fact that all I had was one pessary and my waters broke made labour seem like just a normal labour. It was not any more painful than a natural labour. So that was my induction experience, it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting and I would happily go through induction again - not that I am planning any more mind. 

Were you induced? if so I would love to know if your experience was as nice as mine or not.
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2 comments

  1. Aww! That seems quite quick....Probably didn't seem it at the time.....hehehe
    So glad it went well for you and he's a little stunner x

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    1. thank you kim , it was so quick there was no time for pain relief so every second was horrible but it was much quicker then i thought it would be i thought i would be in labour for hours xx

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