Our induction story begins on a Tuesday, when Otis (or Potato as he was then known) decided to stop wriggling around! It wasn’t the first time this pregnancy he had done it, so we popped along to the hospital again to be monitored. All looked well on the CTG but since it was the fourth or fifth visit for reduced movements, we were offered an induction at 38+5. Up until now we had been planning on a home birth and had been using hypnobirthing techniques throughout our pregnancy. An induction was so far from what we were hoping for. For this reason we weighed up the risks and benefits of accepting or declining and asked what our alternatives were. The hospital were happy for us to come back in the following day for a scan and further monitoring, so at this stage we opted for that!
We returned the following day for our scan, which took around 45 minutes. The baby was measuring ok and blood flow etc was all fine.. however he didn’t move at all during the entire scan, and the sonographer said this was unusual. After discussing things with the obstetrician and Midwife, panic mode set in! I was scared an induction would be slow, difficult and increase my risks of an instrumental or section birth. Thankfully, we were under the care of the home birth team, and as they were returning to hospital at the end of their shifts, one of the amazing Midwives we had met in our pregnancy came in to talk to us. She explained all of our options (like water and wireless monitoring) and talked on our behalf to the hospital team about our preferences. She gave me a hug when I cried, filled me with confidence and was the most incredible support. Even now 18 months on I remember her as the person who MADE our entire birth. We decided to opt for a sweep at this point, since we had now decided to have a medical induction anyway. And at this point we chose to leave the hospital for a few hours, go home and regroup, watch some telly, have a bath, gather our bits together and eat some food. This was SUCH a good move because by the time we came back we were able to leave the fear at home and arrive feeling confident and excited.
As it happened, the hospital was so busy we were unable to begin the induction that night! We had another sweep at 1am and the CTG was showing regular contractions, though I couldn’t actually feel them. (I did for a moment think maybe I was magic and on the way to a totally sensationless birth!)
The following morning at 11am, we had an examination which found me to be 2cm dilated. They suggested at this point they could break my waters, however since I wasn’t actually feeling any contractions at this point and keen to take the induction as slowly as possible, we requested the pessary.
After the monitoring for the pessary we were free to head off for. Walk to get things moving. We actually decided to leave the hospital and headed to a cafe for our final lunch without a baby! Midway through lunch (around 2 hours after the pessary went in) I felt some fairly intense cramping sensations right inside my vagina- not what I was expecting of labour, but we decided it was time to head back to the hospital.
We got the Midwife to help pop the tens machine on my back and then headed for the stairs! Walking up and down the stairs to get things moving, the ongoing cramping sensation became contractions and from this point on things ramped up (and become a bit blurry memory wise!)
We headed back to the Antenatal ward as I wanted to be lying down. I actually found the most comfortable position to be lying on my side with my legs propped up in the air! (I mean I’m not sure you can get any further from my ‘planned’ position of birth!) but it’s what my body wanted!
At this point things ramped up quite a lot and I began hyper stimulating (where I was having too many contractions in 10 minutes and getting little rest). They removed the pessary at this point, which helped slow things back down. This was the hardest part of the birth for me. I put my earphones in and listened to my hypnobirthing scripts and closed my eyes- blocking out the rest of the ward wasn’t actually a problem! I was using gas and air but requested either the pool or an epidural at this point, but was found to be 3cm dilated so they encouraged me to wait a little longer (and the pool was in use), and offered me pethidine instead. I accepted the pethidine but by the time the change of shifts had happened it was about 8pm when I finally got it!
We then moved to the labour ward where I was re-examined and found to be 8cm. This was the push I needed to get through without an epidural and I’m SO glad I did! It was only about half an hour before my waters went and I quickly felt the urge to push! There wasn’t meconium in his waters so at the point of giving birth there were quite a few people in the room- but I didn’t actually notice until after he was born! The hypnobirthing made me able to stay in my little zone and block everything else out, just focusing on Birthing my baby. The pushing stage was SO much more satisfying. I could finally DO something with the sensations I was feeling. Laying on my side and 40 minutes of pushing later, At 10.11pm, 10 hours after the first cramping sensations, our baby was born! He went straight on my chest and was perfectly healthy. I had an active third stage and a couple of stitches. We were supported to breastfeed which was easy and natural, despite him having had pethidine just 2 hours before being born!
Though it wasn’t the home birth I had imagined, it was amazing! I felt like a total superhero that not only had I given birth but I had had AN INDUCTION! The support of the Midwives and the hypnobirthing techniques as well as knowing how to ask the questions and being as informed as we could be made for such a positive experience! Inductions don’t have to be horrible, if that’s the right way for your baby to be born!
I actually loved it SO much that I trained to become a Hypnobirthing Teacher to help other women feel as prepared for their own births!
Thank you so much Megan for sharing your story with us, you can read more about Megan, her hypnobirthing classes and her thoughts on birth over on her website: www.positivelybirthing.com
{Do you have a story you’d like to share, you can submit your Positive Induction Story on this site}