This lovely story was sent to me from a lady who wanted to share her story with you all but remain anonymous.
As the name of this website would suggest, I love to hear all about positive induction stories, and I’m so glad to be able to share yet another inspiring story with you to help reduce the fear and stigma that goes with the word “induction”.
Grab a cuppa and read on…
I had my heart set on a natural home birth using Hypnobirthing, so was devastated when I found out at 34 Obstetric Cholestasis (O.C.) and would be offered an induction at 37 weeks.
Obviously I wanted the safest option for my baby but I felt he wasn’t ready to come on the induction date given of ’37 plus 2′ weeks, as the hospital due date given was about 4- 6 days earlier than the possible due dates I had worked out.
We read up on the risks of OC and asked for extra monitoring and blood tests. We decided to postpone the induction until ’38 plus 2′ weeks as my bile acids remained below the abnormal level that had only shown up on the first blood test.
However at ’37 wks plus 4′ my blood work showed the bile acid level had gone back to the abnormal level, so we moved the induction again to ’37 plus 6′ weeks.
On the morning of the induction we arrived at the hospital at about 11am and were very happy to be given a side room, the ward was really busy so we sat and watched comedy stand up until the midwife was available to give me the first pessary at 5pm.
As soon as it was in and I was hooked up to ctg monitoring I put in sound cancelling headphones listening to my Hypnobirthing mp3, eye mask on, dimmed lights and sniffed essential oils. I was feeling positive and relaxed as I waited for my cervix to ripen.
My mum brought my partner and I a healthy dinner of quinoa and veggies plus some cake once the monitoring finished and we walked her to and from the car park as I was told it was good to stay active.
I was starting to feel some twinges and cramps by the time she left at 8.30pm which was when the ward staff told me they would be moving me to the bay.
As the bay wasn’t as comfortable as the side room I told my partner to go home at midnight so he could get some sleep. I settled down but struggled to sleep as the ward was noisy and the cramps were getting more intense.
At 4am I sat up crossed legged in bed to take some paracetamol and my waters broke. I stuffed a towel between my legs and the ward assistant came and gave me some pads but couldn’t tell me if this was the start of labour or not.
The cramps were now coming in waves however being my first labour I wasn’t sure if they were contractions as I wasn’t expecting them to start so soon. I spoke to the midwife who just said that now the waters had broken they would continue to flow until the baby came but gave no other indication that labour had properly started.
I messaged my partner to come back just for support and he arrived at 5am when I was ready to empty my bowels! I was getting strong contractions now without any let up, it would be 3 to 5 contractions in a row and then a break. The midwife examined me (and did a stretch and sweep) and said I was 3cm dilated. I asked her to take the pessary out and she said this might slow down labour, I insisted I’d be fine and needed a ‘break’.
I asked what pain relief was available on the induction ward as I couldn’t go to the labour ward until 4cm and she said pethadine, a bath or my own tens machine. I decided on a bath – I think the private bathroom really enabled the labour to progress as I got naked, in and out of the water and made more noise.
The surges were getting more intense so I thought I’d try the tens machine, I didn’t realise I was way too established for that. I thought I needed to poop again (I didn’t) and on the way back to the bed was greeted by a morning midwife who witnessed a contraction, when I was telling her I need to push,she then examined me. She said I was doing really well and was going to move me to the labour ward. (Partner thinks he heard 8cm at this point). They lifted the sides of the bed and wheeled me over, as we headed to a room we happened to see the home birth midwife who had been looking after me previously and she kindly switched so she could birth my baby.
Once in the labour room I kneeled against the back of the bed and finally had some gas and air. After 15 mins of down breath pushing I delivered my baby boy at 8.50am weighing 7lb5 oz.
I had a couple of grazes but no tears and most importantly he was happy, safe and healthy.
Our midwife monitored us and was satisfied he had breast fed well that we were discharged and sent home at 1pm.
As soon as we got home my partner and I burst into tears at the shock of how positive and quick our induced labour had been.
As I had a few weeks to prepare myself for the induction I made sure I had 4 cups of raspberry leaf tea and 6 dates a day. I also practiced pregnancy yoga, breathing, and Hypnobirthing every day and had reflexology once a week beforehand including the day before.
I think this all contributed massively to how quick my cervix ripened and the induction worked.
I hope my birth story gives some confidence to others who are being induced especially before their due date as I would not change a thing!!
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Thank you to the lady who shared this story with us, I’m so glad to hear everything went so well and all of her preparation paid off!
If you have a positive induction story you’d like to share, please do get in touch via the link on this website, we’re quite happy to post your story anonymously if you’d prefer!
Jade x