A tale of avoiding induction!
by Vicky Lane
Vale of Evesham NCT
Charlie arrived 3.5 weeks early, so I didn’t think the
medical staff would be in a rush to induce me.
However, 12 hours after my waters started ‘leaking’, that was exactly
their suggestion.
Just a couple of weeks prior to Charlie’s early appearance,
my mum casually said, “Of course, you were all early” (I’m one of 4) - which
suddenly alerted me to the possibility of an early arrival. I had also been very stressed at work trying
to finish things and handover my work before starting maternity leave.
As I went to bed at around midnight one Wednesday night, my
waters started leaking. To my deep
distress, I thought I had suddenly become incontinent, which the midwife found
very amusing when I phoned her the next morning!! She suggested I phone the hospital and the
hospital suggested I should go in, even though nothing else had happened.
Once there, I was examined and found to be not dilated at
all. The doctor then said that, since it
had been 12 hours since my waters first broke, and as nothing was happening,
they would have to induce me.
At this point the NCT classes really came into their own –
the one about engaging your brain and asking questions. My husband, Jason, went into
super-questioning mode and managed to discover that the 12 hour time limit was
just the policy of that particular hospital; it would be different if I were in
a different area. He also remembered
that NICE recommended waiting considerably longer before they considered the
‘increased risk of infection’ to be a problem.
So the consultants agreed to leave it until later and see if
I went into labour, but I was told that I should now remain in the
hospital. A monitor was strapped onto my
tummy and I spent the rest of the day feeling ‘tightenings’, watching the print
out and phoning my boss to tell him he’d had all the handover he was going to
get.
Jason rang Clare, our NCT teacher, for advice – were we
doing the right thing? She was very
reassuring and said if all was well with the baby, and we were happy, there was
no reason to be induced yet – NICE recommended 72 hours could elapse after
waters breaking before the need to be induced.
The evening came without any new developments. I had seen the doctors a few more times
during the day, had again been offered to be induced, and had again graciously
declined their kind offer. Funnily
enough, once it got past about 4.30pm they stopped chasing me. We agreed that
if nothing had happened by the morning, I would be induced.
Clare had suggested keeping things as normal as possible. So, to take our minds off things, we went out
to dinner to a Thai restaurant in town – thought we would try the spicy food
theory! It was lovely as it got me out
of the hospital and gave us a sense of normality and helped us both to relax.
At 8am the next morning a midwife from the delivery unit
arrived and said, ‘You’re being induced today, I’m here to take you to the
delivery ward.’ I hadn’t expected this
quite so early, so again said I would prefer to wait. I also felt things were starting to move (at
least my bowels had!). I also said I
wanted to wait until my husband arrived!
She looked a little taken aback and said she would need the agreement of
the doctor.
After another examination – 1cm dilated – ‘That’s good isn’t
it?’ (pitying look) ‘No’ – they finally
agreed to wait a little longer. The
midwife then suggested quietly that if I didn’t want to be induced, I should
walk – and walk. She also said did I
know there was a country park nearby?
The entrance was just opposite the car park exit – a nice little wood to
walk around.
So, when Jason turned up, that’s what we did. There’s also a great café there which does
wonderful hot chocolate and bacon butties!
I had to have regular checks with the midwife to check the baby’s
heartbeat so we kept returning, but once the check was over, off we went
again. As my sister in law had said to
us, ‘if they can’t find you, they can’t induce you!
At one of the checks I was asked where the mud on my shoes
had come from. When I explained, I was told
quite sternly that I shouldn’t leave the hospital grounds as that was
effectively discharging myself!! So we assured them we wouldn’t do it again,
and next time wiped our feet more thoroughly when we returned. When it got dark at around 4pm we explored
the hospital.
By 5pm I felt I was having quite definite contractions but
was told they weren’t anything serious (funny how people not having them can
tell how ‘minor’ they are!!). I felt
like I had walked a marathon and was exhausted and suggested we give up and
have a good night’s rest and agreed that they could induce me in the morning.
At that point, the contractions REALLY started to hurt and
Jason (who had actually read the instructions) suggested we ‘deploy the TENS
machine’. At 8pm, still on the antenatal
ward, it was time for visitors to leave.
I didn’t want Jason to go but didn’t want to move to delivery as I felt
there was still some time to go and was worried they would start clock
watching. So the really lovely midwives
moved some beds around and let us have the day time waiting room which meant I
wasn’t on a ward (although there were beds there if I wanted them) and so Jason
could stay. All those chocolate muffins
he’d brought in for the midwives had paid off!!
We were then left alone, apart from occasional checks on the
baby’s heartbeat. I had a huge room to
roam around in, and roam I did. Jason
turned the lights down low so it was just dimly lit. He got worried when I went completely silent
(not something I’m known for) until he again remembered the NCT classes and
stopped trying to chat to me. He was
brilliant at pushing my back when the contractions came and when, at about
11pm, the combined efforts of Jason and the TENS machine stopped working and I
groaned, “I need mooorrrrree!”, he called the midwife who decided it was time
to finally move to the delivery suite.
I don’t remember much more about it after that – I think
there was a minor argument about the gas and air – Jason and the midwife trying
to tell me to not to use so much or I might be sick. I glared at them and carried on sucking.
At 1.06 am Charlie made his entrance into the world. And it was just wonderful. I felt elated and brilliant and awe struck
and in love with everyone.
Pity we’d left all my bags in the antenatal waiting room and
all Charlie’s things in the freezing car!
So, our top tips for not being induced are:
- Question if the need is real or just local policy
- Gen up on NICE guidelines and be prepared to defend your decisions
- If they can’t find you, they can’t induce you! Stay close by but keep out of the way.
- Keep walking, and walking and walking (and don’t forget to wipe your feet!)
- Speak to your NCT teacher if you want support – they are always happy to talk things through
- Remain pleasant with the midwives but be clear about what you want
And Jason still thinks it was mostly down to his chocolate
muffins!
No comments:
Post a Comment