I spent a lot of my pregnancy worrying as I was told at 12 weeks that I had low Papp-a. This was something completely new to me, as my first pregnancy was straight forward (apart from resulting in a planned caesarean as baby girl was breech). Low Papp-a meant that my placenta could fail later in pregnancy, so I’d need regular growth scans to check that baby was staying on a healthy percentile and I’d likely be induced no later than my due date too. It was all a bit daunting and the thought of induction scared me because I was desperate for a VBAC. I am also not a fan of intervening with pregnancy if it’s not needed, but the risk with low Papp-a is apparently much higher past 40 weeks and there’s also a risk of having a small baby so I knew I had to listen to the professionals. At 39 weeks, I had a sweep which didn’t do anything. I had another sweep a few days later where the midwife said my cervix was thinner and I had progressed a little but she wasn’t convinced that it would do much. 40 weeks came round fast, and on my due date we went to hospital to have the foley balloon inserted. After first having a Covid test (negative) and being monitored on an ECG for half an hour, at 11.30am the balloon was inserted. It wasn’t too comfortable being inserted but I can honestly say that it was just like a bad period pain. There was the offer of gas and air if needed but it was over with quickly. Once the balloon was in, we were monitored again for half an hour and then sent home when they were happy that baby was still happy.
On the way home, I felt tightenings and my husband had to pull the car over so I could get out and stand up as I was uncomfortable. Once home, I got on my ball and bounced while I watched some cookery programmes. I could tell things were starting so I started to use the Freya app on my phone to time contractions. They were coming every 4 minutes and lasting 20-30 seconds. I stood up to answer the door as my Mum had come to take my other daughter to gymnastics, and as I stood up I felt my waters go. It wasn’t a big gush, but I could tell that it was my waters. The contractions were then coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting 40 seconds. Hospital asked me to go back in and have the balloon removed, so off we went back to hospital where I was monitored for 50 minutes and then they removed the balloon around 6.30pm. What felt like minutes after the balloon was removed, I felt a big pop and there was water everywhere. This was my hind waters going. At this point I also felt my contractions change and very quickly afterwards I knew I needed to push. My husband was upstairs in the labour ward waiting for us (due to Covid he wasn’t allowed to be on the antenatal day unit), but one of the midwives had to rush and find him as we knew this baby wanted out and was coming quickly. She was born at 7.50pm after 8 pushes weighing a healthy 7lb 3oz. I had no time for any pain relief at all. I was so thrilled to be able to have a VBAC and have no further intervention after the balloon.
Overall it was a great experience! I trusted that my body could do what it needed and baby would come when she was ready too. For anyone needing to be induced, I highly recommend starting with the foley balloon if possible.
