Birth story- Induction of Labour Part II

A year ago today I woke up at 6 am on the induction ward at Birmingham Women’s Hospital. I had been having mild contractions all night after having a propess pessary administered twice. The day before I had been told that if I was 3cm dilated or more then I would be put on the list to have my waters broken. That had to be done on the delivery suite because if active labour didn’t start shortly afterwards then I would need to go on a hormone drip to get labour moving.

When I was examined I was 3cm dilated, hurrah, and so was placed on the list to go to the delivery suite. I was having contractions for most of the day. The intensified a bit and at one point were happening every 2-3 minutes, but they were quite short in duration. They started to slow down, though, and by the evening had stopped completely.

Conscious of the couple the day before who had said they had been there for 3 days, and not wanting to have to stay that long I asked the midwives where I was on the list to go to the delivery suite. I was 3rd. I asked quite a lot of questions including:

• Could I go down in the middle of the night- yes I could and I would just have to go to the delivery suite with my belongings
• Should my husband stay overnight? – no, they didn’t know how long it would take for a bed to be available for me on the delivery suite, but not to worry, they would call him if I moved and he would meet me there.
• How long, at most, would it be before I could move to the delivery suite? – it was unusual, but not unheard of for women to stay 2-3 days. Generally they didn’t like women to stay any longer than 3 days as they became cross and teary.

I told them I had had contractions all day, and although I was put on the CTG monitor twice that day I wasn’t examined at all. I was told that if I was 4cm dilated (I think it was 4cm, I can’t remember, may have been 5) I would be moved downstairs pretty much straight away and they would find a bed for me. I think I mentioned my older son, that he was only 2 and had only been away from us for 1 night before now. It was his last week of his school holidays and his last week being an only child. As I was having contractions, and had expected them to continue, I arranged not to see my son that day. I didn’t want to worry him with mummy being in pain, maybe not being able to hide it from him.

My husband is self employed and so he spent the days with me. Thank goodness. I so looked forward to him arriving after 8am. We spent the day wandering the Hallway. There were only really two to wander up and down. We went to the cafeteria and found the restaurant on the bottom floor. We got to know the routine on the induction ward. Whenever I left the ward I told them where I was going in case my spot came up. It was a dull day, but I was on the list and by the end of the day was 3rd on the list. The couple who were 3rd on the list the night before went down to the Delivery Suite in the afternoon, so I still thought it wouldn’t be long before it was my turn.

That night I managed to go to sleep a little earlier, but it was still a very disturbed night with all the comings and goings on the ward. I read, I watched TV on my phone – the WiFi was good thankfully. It would happen soon. So it thought.

Birth story-induction of labour at Birmingham Women’s Hospital Part I

A year ago today was Easter Monday. I was 39 weeks pregnant and, because I was over 40 and a geriatric mother, my Consultant has strongly advised that I should have an induction so that baby was born before my due date (24 April). I had had the fear of god put in me when told that it was because of the risk of stillbirth. My profession before I had my son did teach me that I should have asked more questions. Asked them to explain exactly how much the risk increased in women over 40 who have had an otherwise uneventful, healthy pregnancy. But this was my baby and I just didn’t want to take the risk. Besides, as I told friends and family, there was something nice about having a date when my baby would be born. I wouldn’t be waiting around for a couple more weeks like I did with my eldest.

So, on the Monday, as arranged, I called the induction ward at Birmingham Women’s Hospital to ask when I should come in. I had called a couple of times that day, and at about 6 they said they had a bed for me and I should make my way in. My son, who had one more week of his school Easter holiday left, had gone to my mother’s house to stay and I was excited that I would soon meet my little girl.

On arrival they explained the induction procedure, which I had read in the leaflets I had been given at the antenatal clinic – a propess pessary would be given to me after I had been examined. If labour had not started I would be given a further pessary about 6 hours later, and if that didn’t work then they would consult with the doctors on duty who may agree that I could have a third pessary. Alternatively if and when I was over 3cm dilated I would be placed on the waiting list to go down to the labour ward for my waters to be broken and possibly, if breaking my waters didn’t kick start active labour, I would be placed on a hormone drip.

Before the pessary was placed I had one of many sweeps, never a pleasant experience. I had had a sweep the week before as advised, with the community Midwife, and had discussed the induction plan with them. They said it was good that I would be contacting the induction ward rather than the induction suite in the birth centre itself (the ward was one floor above the birth centre) as it was much more of a “home from home” environment.

I overheard the woman in the bed next to mine say that she had been in hospital since Saturday night waiting to go down to the delivery suite and I remember thinking that I hoped I was not there quite so long (spoiler: I was). They were 3rd on the list to go to delivery suite that night. They were called to go to delivery suite at around 2 pm the following day (Tuesday). My husband, who had come in with me at 7pm went home at around 9pm to get some rest in case he got called in the night to come in. I settled in for the night and got my book out, registered for the free WiFi and watched a couple of programmes on my phone. I was there in time for the last cup of tea to be brought at about 10.30/11 and the observations round at about the same time.

Each time I had the pessary administered both before and after it, I was placed on the CTG machine to monitor the baby’s heart rate and make sure she was doing ok. The machine is very loud, and in a bay of an induction ward with 4 women in, each of whom need to be monitored at varying intervals, the CTG machines are in use very regularly. You can also hear the machines when they are being used in the bay across the corridor. Buzzers are pressed quite regularly throughout the ward and of course, as it is an induction ward women go into labour there quite frequently. Women react differently to the medications and to labour itself. Some are quite noisy straight away. Some really are not.Some vomit (which is never pleasant to hear), and sometimes a woman or a baby gets distressed and has to be moved quickly to the delivery suite. That can be quite scary to hear. Sometimes the woman is upset and worried, and you feel for the woman whilst also feeling apprehensive that it could happen to you. New women come in as soon as one has gone down to the delivery suite and they are settled in, the process explained, the CTG monitor goes on. Sometimes they are very chatty, even in the early hours of the morning when people are trying to sleep. My bed was next to the corridor and I could hear most of what happened in the bay across the corridor as well as in my bay. It is a very noisy place. It is not conducive to getting a good night’s sleep. And the following day begins at medication and observation rounds at 6am which includes CTG monitoring for everyone. Thankfully cups of tea are also brought around at about the same time.

It took a long time to get to sleep that first night. Nerves, excitement, the atmosphere of the ward, being in an unfamiliar place combined with the noise stopped me from getting to sleep until well after midnight. I was woken up for CTG monitoring, then a further propess being administered at approximately 2.30am. There was a further half hour CTG monitoring to check how the baby reacted to the pessary, and this did kick start some contractions, very mild contractions, overnight. I was still excited and still thought I would meet my baby very soon.

To be continued….

I have been thinking a lot recently about my pregnancies, especially the last one, because my daughter’s first birthday is in just over a week. This time last year I was hugely pregnant. Just huge to be honest.

I loved being pregnant. There are some things about it I do not miss- heartburn, having to go to the loo every 20 minutes, everything being uncomfortable by the last few weeks. Generally, though, I loved it. If I were younger I could so see me saying I wanted another child in a few years’ time, but as I was 39 when I had my first baby and 42 when I had my second I really will not be doing this again.

I was very lucky with both my pregnancies that I didn’t have any issues. I had a lot of heartburn, which wasn’t pleasant, but no morning sickness with either. With my first I felt absolutely no movement whatsoever until way after the 20 week scan, but felt those first fluttery bubbles much earlier on in the second pregnancy. I loved feeling the babies move around inside me. R had hiccups a lot; C did not, but she was extremely active- one scan I was asked to go and sit in the waiting room for 15 minutes to let her calm down so the scan could proceed properly. R was generally more relaxed. It was always so odd, but brilliant, watching and feeling their whole body turn over. I never saw either of their limbs protruding, and I had hoped I would. I didn’t have cravings either, other than a slight preference for salty food. I slept better than I ever do, which I put down to the lack of any caffeine, and I had a lot more dreams. I rarely remember a dream, but when pregnant I dreamt all the time.

I was a little worried throughout both pregnancies as I had a miscarriage before getting pregnant with my son. I don’t think I properly relaxed about the pregnancy until fairly late with either of them. And I had a scare with some bleeding with both. I don’t think my former job as a clinical negligence solicitor helped much with that. I remember thinking that once they were out it would be ok. I would know they were safe.

As I was over 40 for my second pregnancy I was closely monitored. In addition I had had a 3/4th degree tear when giving birth to my son, another cause for being monitored a lot. I had to go to the hospital every month to the antenatal clinic because of my age, and I had a couple of specialist appointments for a scan to see how my pelvic floor muscles were coping with the second pregnancy as well as seeing the Consultant and a specialist midwife about my tear. Every appointment took at least 1/2 a day mainly sitting and waiting in the waiting room. It was uncomfortable and dull. But the upside was that I got to see my daughter on the scans every month. With my son I had the 12 week and 20 week scans and then that was it until he was born. It was reassuring to see her and see her moving and her heart beating and to know that as she was being monitored every month any concerns would be picked up. Thankfully for us there were none.

Due to my age, and only due to my age, My Consultant advised that I be admitted for induction of labour at 39 weeks so that the baby was born by my due date. So arrangements were made for me to go in for induction on 17 April, the Easter Monday. The baby was not born for a week.