June 2014 Moms

Induction: words of wisdom?

FTM. Induction scheduled for Monday morning. Any suggestions/words of wisdom?? Dr. said to mentally prepare for a long ride, other than laying there & letting the drugs do their thing, is there anything I can or should do to help the process? I'll even take old wives tale suggestions :) thanks in advance, Ladies

Re: Induction: words of wisdom?

  • jlripljlripl member
    Thank you for asking this. I'm scheduled to be induced on Wednesday and I too am nervous. It's great to read all these responses. Do inductions tend to take longer?
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  • Don't let them break your water too early. Make sure u are progressing. Once that's done u have 24-36 hours. Some inductions take 50 hours.
  • jlripljlripl member
    Holy hell. . 50 hours? That's scary. I'm currently 2 cm and 50% effaced with lots of pressure so at least my body is starting something. I'm hoping I go before then. I was due on the 11 th.
  • emfoxcemfoxc member
    I was due on the 8th and my induction is also scheduled for Wednesday night! My backup OB (normal one is out of town until Thursday AM) talks unbelievably fast, so I really only understood about half of what she said. But it sounds like depending on the favorability of the baby/cervix they will either do a method that is more chemically inducing (stronger impact on progressing contractions), or if my body seems to be progressing decently on its own, something more gentle/natural? Just piggy-backing on the question of words of wisdom, any other info on what to expect going in would be super helpful!
  • According to my doula, my OB insists that any of his patients who are bed bound (epidural or whatever reason) switch from side to side every half hour. Apparently helps baby move down? Never done it myself but they seem to think that helps :)

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  • I had a failed induction on Thursday of last week and a successful one on Saturday.

    They only gave me the oxytocin and maxed it out and nothing happened from it. I was about 3-4 cm, cervix was soft and stretchy but baby wasn't engaged. Nothing changed that whole time except losing my plug. They offered to break my water or try again another day and I opted to rest.

    On Saturday they started slowly increasing the oxytocin again at around 8 or 9 am. Still wasn't doing anything so they broke my water at around noon. Everything was fast and hard after that. I did not have an epidural and I was at 7 cm very quickly. I found it much more painful than my labour with my daughter, but I did it with some morphine and nitrous oxide.

    For me it was the water breaking that accelerated everything, but I'm glad they didn't do that first on Thursday because it allowed me time to rest and try again on Saturday. My labour with my first was only 8 hours and this one was 4.

    Best of luck!
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  • cas889cas889 member
    edited June 2014
    Be prepared for the worst, but like someone else said, not all inductions are bad. 

    With my daughter, at my appointment on a Wednesday, I was checked and was closed and not effaced at all.  On Thursday, I went in for the induction, cervadil was placed just before 6pm.  I progressed through the night, was at 10cm at 9:15 the next morning and delivered her at 10:02 the next morning.  No pitocin needed.

    Good luck!  
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  • I was induced with Cervadil on Thursday the 5th at 5:00 pm because of high blood pressure. Cervadil gave me nonstop contractions so they had to give me Turbaline to slow down the contractions. I labored all night until 7 am the next day when I got an epidural. After that, I labored until 4:50 when it was time to push. I pushed until 8:03 and my daughter was born. The epidural ran out at 6 so I felt contractions after then. I didn't need Pitocin. My dr. said Cervadil brings on labor for some people, instead of just softening and opening the cervix, that was the case for me. It was a LONG amount of time for me, hopefully yours will go smoother. It didn't help that I was 37 w 5 d with no dilation and the baby at the highest station.
  • sjn00sjn00 member
    I would say no to Cytotec!
  • SaraJoy00 said:

    I would say no to Cytotec!

    Please elaborate. I'm scheduled for an induction with Cytotec on the 19th at 40+6. I've read a lot on both sides of the controversy, and it seems like the risks are pretty comparable to other prostaglandins when used at full term. Do you have personal experience with it?
  • I didn't have the best outcome (c-section due to turned baby after a 4 day induction) BUT I will say what really helped with the induction was thinking about it as a different experience than birth. If you think about labor and the induction experience as different, you might not be as anxious to get to labor. That can be a very good thing if the induction turns out to take a long time. 

    One more thing: for me, cervidil was very, very painful. I had a reaction to it that made me very uncomfortable and we stopped during early during the second dose. My advice is just to speak up when you feel something is particularly uncomfortable/painful. I didn't know that this kind of reaction happens rarely, and didn't speak up because I thought it was normal and expected. 

    In any case GOOD LUCK! You do get to enjoy the "hotel" for a few days without labor, and that does make the experience more interesting ;)
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  • sjn00sjn00 member
    edited June 2014

    SaraJoy00 said:

    I would say no to Cytotec!

    Please elaborate. I'm scheduled for an induction with Cytotec on the 19th at 40+6. I've read a lot on both sides of the controversy, and it seems like the risks are pretty comparable to other prostaglandins when used at full term. Do you have personal experience with it?

    **** LOSS MENTIONED*****
    Its not FDA approved for inductions.. It is a stomach ulcer drug and used for abortions..
    "Personal Experience"
    A girl I went to school with was 40 weeks and went in for an induction, they used Cytotec and her placenta ended up abrupting from her uterus.. Baby lost oxygen and was still born.. I have noticed a few ladies on here getting placental abruptions after recieving Cytotec as well.. I just personally would not risk it.. Some people are lucky... Others are not.. I would stick with Cervadil and Pitocin for those are drugs FDA approved for inductions.
    I know my hospital only uses Cytotec because it allows the laboring mother to continue to get up and walk around.. I would rather take the Pitocin and be bed ridden than risk it. I would find out why your hospital wants to use Cytotec and ask lots of questions about it before you make your final decision.. This is just my personal preference.

    You can learn more about her story on facebook- Makayah Lynn Foundation
  • @SaraJoy00‌ , thanks for the response. I was aware that it's an off-label use, but had read that "big pharmacy" has little motivation to have such an additional use FDA-approved when the process is so expensive and it's already routinely used in the OB field.

    I'm so sorry to hear about your classmate. That is definitely tragic and scary stuff. Worth another convo with my doctor, for sure.
  • I had an induction with my daughter and it was favorable. I was already dilated to a three when they started pitocin. Two hours in they broke my water and a half an hour after that I got an epidural. Five hours after that my daughter was born after an hour of pushing.

    I watched episode after episode of "Arrested Development" to keep my mind off labor. It was really helpful.

    @Jaime5124‌ did your doctor evaluate your Bishop's score? That should give you an idea of how favorable your induction might be.
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  • I had an induction with my daughter and it was favorable. I was already dilated to a three when they started pitocin. Two hours in they broke my water and a half an hour after that I got an epidural. Five hours after that my daughter was born after an hour of pushing. I watched episode after episode of "Arrested Development" to keep my mind off labor. It was really helpful. @Jaime5124‌ did your doctor evaluate your Bishop's score? That should give you an idea of how favorable your induction might be.

    I'm scheduled for induction on Tuesday and have never heard of the Bishop's score before, thanks for mentioning this!! This thread is helping ease the nerves overall, thanks ladies!
  • sjn00sjn00 member
    edited June 2014

    @SaraJoy00‌ - I'm glad that you were able to give some insight to that drug, but for future references, please include ***loss mentioned*** or something to that effect at the beginning of your post if you're going to post something graphic like that.

    It may seem silly to some, but many ladies on here have dealt with loss, and are already worried enough about their LO's. Again, you should absolutely share what experience or knowledge you have! Just please be a little more discreet and give a warning.

    Sorry, fixed it.. I dont find it silly, I was just half asleep and wasnt paying much attention to details when I wrote it.
  • I was induced at 38w w cervadil first and then pitocin. Received cervadil at 8 pm, it started labor and they had to remove it 5hrs early to give the epidural. Labored over night and they started pitocin at 8am. I was moved every hour side to side, but my lo stressed out when I was on my right so I spent the majority on the morning laying on my left. I also had compressors on my legs to prevent blood clots. They never progressed my pitocin past level 3, but it definitely progresses labor and brings on intense contractions and quickly! I delivered at 4pm so start to finish I was in l&d for 22 hrs. If you are not having a drug free labor, get the epi as soon as you can. They gave me morphine before the epi and it didn't take the pain away for long but made me feel extremely out of it and groggy for about 5 hours. The epi has no affect on how you feel other than numb from the waist down so it's easier to be comfortable and sleep. Good luck!

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  • Not to be a negative Nancy but just be mentally prepared to to possibility of a c section. And the chance that the c section might come before you reach that "24 hours after water breaks" point. I was quite shocked to have to have one after only 12 or so hours. I also wish I could have walked some to help things progress (I wasn't allowed to get up though). Also try really hard to get sleep the night before!
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