Induction to Birth - Florence

Wednesday 30th January after a long complicated hospital appointment filled with blood tests, urine samples and blood pressure monitoring two consultants decided to plan induction for Monday 4th January 2019 at 11am at 39 weeks as they both agreed with wasn't beneficial to keep Florence cooking any longer.

I left he hospital that afternoon feeling a little bit disheartened again, induction was never my best friend and I really wanted to go into labour naturally at home so I was could be with the boys for as long as possible but on the bright side at least we knew it was a matter of potential days or hours before we welcomed our daughter into our crazy world.

I spent the last few days at home organising (nesting) everything in the house and re packing my hospital bag about 50 times to make sure I had everything!

So Monday flew round pretty quickly to say the least, I dropped Oscar off at pre school and then George to my dads as my parents were having the boys at there house until she was born, I did get a little emotional at the thought of leaving them but I was hoping my induction would go as well as George's only 24 hours.

We arrived to ward 11 about 10:45 and I got to pick a bed, we were the first ones there so I picked the bed next to the window and tv as I knew we were both going to need to kill some time. The midwife then done the regular admission checks so all my observations and to my surprise my blood pressure was sky high... but everything else was fine and my urine was showing no protein (thank god) I was then put on the CTG (this monitors the baby's heart beat and movement and also if you are getting any contractions) I was on there for half an hour while we waited for the consultant to prescribe the induction medication.

The midwife then came round and first of all she checked to see if I was able to have the 24 hour pessary or the 6 hour tablet, my cervix was already soft and short and about 1cm so she gave me the 24 hour pessary to give me the best chance, I was then left on the monitor for another 30 minutes to make sure Florence was happy with being disturbed and to my surprise I had a few contractions!

Once I was off the monitor I was then free to roam around climb as many stairs the paget had to offer and bounce on the birthing ball to try and get Florence to move on out into the world... unfortunately it didn't go to plan and the pains stopped that evening. Rob decided to go home and get some rest and I did to.

Fast forward to Tuesday morning rob arrived at 9am and I was in no pain at all so I said to him "I think it's fallen out" the midwife came round at 1pm to check me as the 24 hours was up and I hadn't made any progress and the pessary has actually fallen out... Great 24 hours wasted! I then had the 6 hour tablet put in, and was due to be checked again later that evening, I had a few niggles that day and me and rob done a lot of walks of the hospital and watched a lot of Jeremy Kyle! That evening I was checked again and I still hadn't made any progress, I then had the second tablet (when being induced you are allowed 2-3 tablets, after the 2nd tablet the midwives have to hand over to the consultants who will then decide on what to do... this depends on you as a patient health wise and of course the baby).

By this time I was getting very worked up as the thought of being told I was going to need a c section or 24 hour break from induction to start the process again just wasn't sitting well with me, I had two children at home who I hadn't seen for 48 hours and I was missing them incredibly.

So it got to about 10pm on Tuesday night and I told rob to go home, thankfully I'd made a lovely friend who was being induced next to so we actually spent most of that night talking and bouncing on the birthing balls which helped me stay calm. It got 2am and unfortunately the consultant I needed to come and see me was rushed to surgery to help another women and baby who needed to c section but she did arrive at 5am and luckily I'd had some sleep.

By this time I was incredibly saw and the thought of someone rooting around down there again wasn't appealing... but with a few tears I hadn't made any progress again and the doctor decided to put another tablet in and perform a sweep to try and get the cervix to completely thin out at the back by Florence's head, if this tablet didn't work then by 11pm the consultants would have a talk with me and rob about the next steps. After the doctor left I did have a few tears and by my surprise I had quite a few contractions although I didn't think much of them because they have been starting and since we arrived Monday morning.

However by 9am when rob arrived I was doubled in pain ( I had never wished to be in pain before and I was so pleased the contractions had started to pick up and were coming every 3-4 minutes) rob suggested that I have a bath and try to relax a little before the doctor arrives so I did and it really helped I even felt a little be fresher and alive.

11am arrived and unfortunately the doctor had another emergency, so we decided to go for a walk which proved more difficult and I was having to stop in the corridors when the contractions were hitting (finally progress!!)

It got to 2pm and the consultant arrived, I was put on the ctg and she checked me and to our relief I was 3cm dilated and I could have my waters broken. So the consultant had to hand me over he delivery suite, it was a bit of a wait and by the time the midwives arrived to take me over I was having nearly 4 contractions in ten minutes.

We arrived at delivery suite at about 3pm and I was put on the ctg again to make sure Florence was behaving, I had some pte bloods taken to check if anything had changed in regards to preeclampsia and my bp was behaving, but my temperature wasn't it was 37.5 so normal but only a .1 from being classed as high so we had to try and get it down otherwise they would query sepsis... this automatically set me in to panic but with a few wet paper towels being stuck to my face and wrists it came right down. It then got to 4:20 and I felt a little gush, my waters had started to break on their own so the midwife decided to have a quick look and I was 4cm but I still had waters that needed to be broken so they broke them. They then decided I was allowed to go for a walk but my contractions had other ideas, as soon as my waters were broken they really kicked off and got pretty intense really quickly, my and rob were left alone for about an hour the midwives came back in at 5:30 to find the pain was getting too intense. With both of my boys I was in control of my labours then pain was manageable on gas and air but this time I was crying and screaming I just wasn't getting a break through each contraction and I felt so embarrassed... rob was really reassuring and he could always tell when things were getting near the end... obviously him and the midwives were having discussions without me noticing as by 6pm they decided to examine me and they don't normally examine until every 4 hours when in active labour but when she examined me I was only 5cm and I then decided I needed an epidural so the consultant came in and out a cannula in but my midwife looking after me didn't actually call the anaesthetist, they decided to turn on the resuscitare ready for her arrival and I was in disbelief so made a few comments to rob I can't write on here.

I without noticing was pushing on the ball, so the midwife suggested I get onto the bed and no position in the world I could find was bearable... so I got on all fours and just clung onto rob thinking that was somehow going to make me feel better, but having him that close actually did. With each contraction I was pushing and the pain hit hard and I unfortunately vomited over rob (poor bloke) but he took it well! While all this was going on the midwives were due to do handover but Florence had other ideas and just as the other midwives were about to change over they couldn't because she made an entrance at 7:02pm... she was back to back (which explains the level of pain in my back) but I was so thankful it was all over.

While all the madness calmed down Florence was left on me and rob cut the cord the other midwives left and I was then well and truly looked after by the new midwives on shift they were lovely and the care they gave was outstanding and made me feel so comfortable I was in a lot of pain and couldn't sit down so holding flo was hard as I tore so they took over for me, rob was having a cuddle and then they decided to do her checks first before we found out her weight thankfully everything was fine and my placenta came out pretty quickly and I didn't loose too much blood! We then found out Florence weighed 6lb 6oz which was a shock considering we were told she'd be more 8lb so that did red alert the grow and she had to have blood surges monitoring but it was all fine. After I was checked over and made sure I was comfortable they made us some food and drinks and let us have some time to ourselves, rob didn't stay overly long as we decided it was best he went and got the boys and took them home but after rob left. Hannah one of the midwives was very attentive and made sure I wasn't on my own too much and even when flo decided to vomit everywhere she came and re dressed her for me and even helped me to the bathroom a few times.

After a few hours I was taken to the ward at 4am to just wait for the doctors to be discharged. I didn't get discharged until 4:30pm that Thursday but we had some lovely bounty photos taken and flo met all the lovely staff who had looked after me during our induction and stay.

I'm very grateful to all the midwives and staff who looked after us we had fantastic care and we are over the moon with our little Florence.

To anyone who reads this though please don't think all inductions go like this all my inductions were so different it just depends on your body and baby.

I hope you enjoyed ready my experience and didn't find it too graphic ( apologises now)

Are family is now complete and I just hope Florence doesn't grow up too soon.

Morgen x