How different is the hospital experience of natural labour as opposed to induction?

fro9etb8j5qsl2

I was induced because of high blood pressure with my last pregnancy so I'm hoping to go naturally this time. I only live a 3 minute drive from the maternity so ideally, I would love to spend as much of the labour at home before heading in to the hospital for the final stages What is the procedure for natural labour? I know they will check you in at admissions and put you on a ctg and check you for dilation etc but what happens after that? I was constantly supervised during my induction (understandably) but tbh, I would have preferred to get up and walk around or even read a book or magazine, which I couldn't do because of the constant monitoring. I presume that a normal labour doesn't require such supervision? At what stage do they bring you up to the labour suite?

Oh and ETA- Anyone who has had both types of birth, is it true that an induced labour can be more painful than a natural labour?

Sligo1

Hi mrs postman, on my first labour my water broke a few days early. There was a little bit of meconium in them. Anyways because my waters broke I went straight into the hospital. My contractions were about 4 min apart. Because there was mec in the waters they put a ctg on me. I don't think they do ctg unless there is a reason like mec or fetal distress or if ur induced etc, etc. Anyway they checked for dilation (I was 2cm). 2 hours later I was 4cm dilated and they wanted to put up oxytocin which I refused as I was progressing well for a first time mum. I got the epidural at about 5cm. 2 hours after the 4cm check I was 10cm and ready to push. Didn't feel I thing and pushed baby out in 7 minutes. Was confined to bed due to the epidural.

On my second birth my water never broke. Friday night I was getting very strong regular contractions so went in when they were about 4 min apart. I think they say you should go in when there is 8-10min between contractions and lasting about 40seconds. Anyways... They were false contractions. I was raging. And. Had to spend night in horrible antenatal ward! Torture!

Went home that Saturday morning. Contractions came back that night. Bounced on my ball for a couple hours and went into hospital at 12.10 midnight. I was dilated 2cm. They broke my waters. Bounced on ball and had a few giggles with a small bit of gas. Baby born one hour later. I didn't get a ctg or anything or pain relief like I did last time. Was good to be mobile and bouncing on ball gave great relief.

I think with induction the reason it is meant to be more painful and usually goes hand in hand with epidural is due to the administration of oxytocin. Oxytocin increases the contractions making them come a lot harder and faster than normal labour contractions.

RentDayBlues

I've had both - well sort of. First waters went at 38 weeks, contractions started within 2 hours, went into hospital 7 hours later. I was put on trace to check baby. It being my first labour I went with what the midwife recommended and ended up with a epidural, lying on my back and constant monitoring, hated the whole thing, except obviously the prize at the end

Second time I was induced at 39 weeks, I happened to be in labour when I arrived anyway so they just broke my waters. It was intense, as another poster said when they administered oxytocin it got a lot more painful. But I managed with gas and air and it was definitely a much better experience than the first. From breaking waters to baby in arms was less than 3 hours

For me I think a lot of it was due to the fact I had some idea of what was happening the second time and a supportive partner and midwife. I also knew it would be quick, my first labour had only been 13 hours so I had been warned to expect a quick second one, so much so than when midwife told me baby's head was crowning I didn't believe her!

Jerrica

Zoe Chubby Sleepyhead wrote: »

I was induced because of high blood pressure with my last pregnancy so I'm hoping to go naturally this time. I only live a 3 minute drive from the maternity so ideally, I would love to spend as much of the labour at home before heading in to the hospital for the final stages What is the procedure for natural labour? I know they will check you in at admissions and put you on a ctg and check you for dilation etc but what happens after that? I was constantly supervised during my induction (understandably) but tbh, I would have preferred to get up and walk around or even read a book or magazine, which I couldn't do because of the constant monitoring. I presume that a normal labour doesn't require such supervision? At what stage do they bring you up to the labour suite?

Oh and ETA- Anyone who has had both types of birth, is it true that an induced labour can be more painful than a natural labour?

The big difference between spontaneous labour and induction is that it's a little easier to have a say in how things go when it's spontaneous. When you're induced you go on the clock and it's can be awkward to negotiate around procedures.

It's worth finding out what your hospitals own policy is, all three Dublin maternity hospitals have slightly different admission procedures for example. The Rotunda do a ctg on admission, Holles Street and the Coombe don't.

Once everything is normal you really don't *have* to have any procedure you don't want to- you can opt to not consent to VE's, ctg, ARM, pain mess, coached pushing, you can say you'd prefer to be mobile and walk around as much as possible. Have you thought about doing a list of birth preferences? Babies will obviously have their own ideas about how they want to enter the world so plans have a habit of going to waste fairly fast, but a list of preferences helps the staff know what kind of experience you'd prefer.

pwurple

I've had both, first was spontaneous, second induced.

Didn't find the induction any more or less painful to be honest... I just hd the gel though. No oxcytocin drip so no experience of that. I'd say they were about the same, pain-wise.


For the hospital, I preferred the induction actually! Didn't have that, 'will I go in, will I not' middle of the night pacing at home, not knowing if things were progressing or not. Once I went into labour at home, we drove (with me extremely uncomfortable squirming around in the passenger seat, telling my husband to hurry the feck up so I could get out of it!) checked in and was examined, and then sent to labour ward, where there were 5 other women in labour. After I got to 3 cm, went to delivery room.

With induction, it was induction ward, followed by delivery room. So not a whole pile of difference there, except I had my hospital bag and was much more organised in my head.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Thanks girls

Sligo1 wrote: »

I think with induction the reason it is meant to be more painful and usually goes hand in hand with epidural is due to the administration of oxytocin. Oxytocin increases the contractions making them come a lot harder and faster than normal labour contractions.

Yeah, I was dealing ok with the contractions and the midwife kept warning me that I was only on the half dose of oxytocin and they would get a lot more intense when they turned it up full whack. I didn't want an epi (not out of martyrdom, I was just afraid of not being able to feel any damage I might have been doing to my back) but my bp went so high that I got it in the end. It was just as well that I did because by the time the anaesthetist arrived, the contractions were coming strong and fast with very little break in between and I was glad of the relief I hated the aftermath of the epi though

Jerrica wrote: »

The big difference between spontaneous labour and induction is that it's a little easier to have a say in how things go when it's spontaneous. When you're induced you go on the clock and it's can be awkward to negotiate around procedures.

It's worth finding out what your hospitals own policy is, all three Dublin maternity hospitals have slightly different admission procedures for example. The Rotunda do a ctg on admission, Holles Street and the Coombe don't.

Once everything is normal you really don't *have* to have any procedure you don't want to- you can opt to not consent to VE's, ctg, ARM, pain mess, coached pushing, you can say you'd prefer to be mobile and walk around as much as possible. Have you thought about doing a list of birth preferences? Babies will obviously have their own ideas about how they want to enter the world so plans have a habit of going to waste fairly fast, but a list of preferences helps the staff know what kind of experience you'd prefer.

I wrote out my birth plan and the midwife went through it at my antenatal appointment yesterday My birth plan went straight out the window the last time because of the induction so I know to be open minded about what might happen but it's still good to have everything written down even if it's just to remind myself what I want! My hospital do routine ctg on arrival at admissions, just to make sure that the baby is happy etc. The midwife told me that it would be ok to stay at home with contractions but that they strongly advised to go straight in once the waters break. At least I have some idea of what to expect now, all I have to do is drink litres of raspberry leaf tea and bounce like a mad woman on the birthing ball for the next few weeks and hope that everything will start itself naturally