Inductions with balloon

almiller86

Did a search and haven't seen much mentioned about this. I'm being induced a week from today due to gestational hypertension and signs of preeclampsia. My OB mentioned she'd like to use the balloon almost like a Foley Catheder to get things moving along with cervidil.

Did anyone else use the balloon during induction and what were your experiences? Also how long did you labor? She mentioned this usually helps speed up the first part of labor due to the fact I'm not dilated at all. Thanks ladies!

Bombmom3

It's very similar to the Foley Bulb. It is pretty effective at dilating the cervix but only gets it so far (depending on the size of the balloon/bulb). It's a little unconfortable because it's stretching your cervix out but preferable to not being dilated before they start pitocin or some other induction method.

Good luck on your induction!

LMJL

I know some ppl have since I read about it somewhere, I'd check the labor & contractions thread, as well as birth stories. There's also an induction thread somewhere I think. Although I'm sure ladies will respond as well. Good luck!

yl1m32015

Yep, I had a balloon cath placed for 12 hours. I was completely closed, so placing it hurt like a bitch! I was induced at 35 wks due to severe eclampsia. They used cervedil, cytotec and pitocin to get me into labor. After 12 hours of the balloon I was 3cm.

Taylovesbrad

This is what I had. It was painful. I don't know if I'm a baby but I got an epidural because of it. Had it along with an oral cervix softener. It got me to 4 centimeters.

Melissadmag

This is what my doctor plans on using with me if I'm not in labor on my own by 41+2. I like the idea because it's drug free (assuming I turn down the cytotek and cervadil) and he said it's very effective at getting things going usually on it's own without other interventions. We shall see how true that is for me, and if I end up needing it or not, but I'm hoping that if I don't go into labor on my own that the balloon and membrane rupturing are enough to get me going without anything else. Fingers crossed!!!

Ken122014

Cytotech and catheter got me to 1.5 cm. it was painful, but I was able to tolerate it. I was 37 weeks

yl1m32015

Melissadmag said:

This is what my doctor plans on using with me if I'm not in labor on my own by 41+2. I like the idea because it's drug free (assuming I turn down the cytotek and cervadil) and he said it's very effective at getting things going usually on it's own without other interventions. We shall see how true that is for me, and if I end up needing it or not, but I'm hoping that if I don't go into labor on my own that the balloon and membrane rupturing are enough to get me going without anything else. Fingers crossed!!!

thats interesting. The way I understood it, was that the ballon itself won't put you into labor, it's just stretching. But that when you combine it with the cervix softeners and other induction medication, you'll be farther along once real labor begins.

knew1212

This was how my induction began on Sunday night. Placement was uncomfortable, but not excruciating. However, the cramping they told me I would feel turned into super painful contractions within an hour. After a couple more hours I asked for an epidural, and so the balloon was yanked out and it was found I was 4 centimeters. I wasn't happy about the fact that it didn't fall out on its own at 3cm like I was told it would, but it definitely got the process moving!

groovylocks

Yes. It was traumatizing for me. If it hadn't been, i would have thought the pain to be shitty but bearable.

paigeivey

When I was induced I didn't have a bulb or balloon. I was 0 cm dilated and They inserted some tiny pill for 4 hours and I got to 4 cms without any bulb or balloon. They started pitocin at that point and I had my DS like 4-5 hours later. I am a FTM and they say that it takes your first longer with being induced but mine moved along fairly quick... So maybe see about an option of not using it before you put yourself from what I hear is clear discomfort!

Catherine1021

After 3 days of Cytotec and Pitocin I went from 0cm dilated to only 1cm dilated. My OB finally decided to place a Cook balloon to dilate my cervix. It was very painful when it was placed, and soon after it was placed I had constant cramping- felt like severe menstrual cramps. I was also still on Cytotec at that point, and after several hours with the balloon I received Pitocin again. The constant cramps from the balloon mixed with the 2-3 minute long Pitocin contractions with only 1 minute break in between sent me over the edge. That was when I finally asked for pain medication. My doctor said I still wasn't in active labor, so first I was given fentanyl (which only worked for about 45 minutes) and then a walking epidural (which worked for a couple of hours.) I finally got a full epidural, and it was such a relief. I was told the balloon would fall out on it's own when I was 3-4 cm. After 12 hours the nurse tugged on it a little to see if it would come out, but it wouldn't. As I was waiting for the doctor, fully believing I was headed for a c-section, I got really nauseous and then violently threw-up, and the balloon shot out. At that point I was 5cm. 13 minutes later I was 10cm! My epidural was topped off and I was asked to labor down for a couple of hours. When it was finally time to push, I pushed for probably 10-15 minutes, and then my baby girl was born!

The balloon was painful, but I'm pretty sure without it I would have ended up having a c-section.

violetigerlily

I actually had two attempts at foley balloons being placed over the course of my unplanned induced labor (I had bleeding without dilation past my due date and they were worried about partial placental abruption).  The first was about 6 hours after being given Cytotec. I started completely closed and was only about 1cm dilated at the time. The OB was a male with large hands and I think that, plus the small dilation and the fact that my cervix was high led to it being incredibly painful and unsuccessful after about 5-10 min of trying.  It didn't help that I had a strong reaction to the cytotec and was having almost unbearably strong contractions every other minute which probably made it harder for him and certainly didn't help me with the pain.  

After that attempt I was given morphine which took the edge off and was followed by my contractions spacing out a little more.  It started to wear off about 2 hrs later when I was about 2cm and a helpful nurse helped get me from the antepartum unit to L and D so I could get an epidural.  After the epidural, they placed another balloon, which of course was painless. I also got pitocin then.  Within 20 min or so I was at 3 cm and while it didn't fall out,  it did easily come out when the nurse checked me. So once it got placed it worked pretty well. 

I think for that first placement, if the OB had smaller hands, I wasn't contracting so strongly or frequently, or he had been a bit more experienced about placing it the whole situation would have been better. The woman who placed it the second time only took about a minute, and I'm guessing that even without the epi, it wouldn't have been nearly as bad. 

Latina211508

I asked to be induced with 2 of my 3 children. I was over due with both babies. I was already at 1cm with both for weeks. I was given pitocin and labored total about 2 hours with both girls. Quick and easy deliveries. But everyone's body reacts differently.

amye02

I had the balloon after my water broke naturally. It was uncomfortable during placement, not excessively painful. It didn't work for me though and I wasn't able to have pitocin so after 9 hours of labor LO was delivered via C-section.

teachmegs817

I had that done in order to get active labor going.  My water broke last Sunday.  They had me on Pitocin for pretty much all day on Monday, until about 5pm.  I felt nothing more than mild period cramping and when the Dr. checked me at the end of the day, I had no dilation and my cervix was just starting to thin.  So, we started round 2 of Pitocin on Tuesday.  More effective in causing me higher levels of pain, but STILL NOT even close. At the end of the day my cervix was just barley at 1cm. So on Wednesday, they did the catheter with the balloon first thing in the morning at 6.  Wasn't painful going in, but caused me to have intense and unbearable back labor and hip pain within 2-3 hours of being in.  It dilated me to about 5cm and then fell out on it's own.  At 2:17 my son was born.  It did the trick for me, and when I look back, I considered my labor/birth to be pretty quick from start to finish, but the two days leading up to finally having the procedure done were just awful and stressful.