Recommended induction method

So the artificial rupture of membranes, they can't do until you're about 3cm I had the first three, I was also offered dilapan, but at that point it was day 6 & I was only 1cm dilated so I had a c section. However, my friend had dilapan & it was amazing she said

I had the tablet orally 1 every 2 hours total of 8 tablets I got to tablet 4 and started to get pains then had tablet 5 and was in full labour definitely worked but unfortunately my cervix didn’t work properly so I went 1cm-10cm in 11 mins baby born naturally with gas and air only as nobody was aware what was happening x

I had the gel. Really good experience with it! I had 3 doses of it and labour started after the 3rd. I then had a great birth and had a 6 hour labour x

I had the propagandin pessary and my water broke within 6 hours. No progress after 4 hours so they tried to see if there was any waters left (worst experience of my life!) Another 4 hours and they tried again because I still had no progress when I was having 3 contraction within 10 minutes. They decided as we were going up to 48 hours post my waters leaking to go on the oxytocin drip. That wasn't too bad. That only lasted like 15 to 20 minutes and baby pooped. I'd say them trying to see if I had waters left way the second most painful thing I've ever experience. The top being my c section recovery

With my first induction I had a sweep and pessary at the same time. Worked quickly and baby was born within 24hrs. With second baby I had a sweep on the Friday then I went in on the Monday for the pessary and my waters went after 3 hours

I have had a sweep, the balloon and the drip all for my one birth.. sweep did nothing, balloon had minor effect and drip worked. And all of this ended in assisted delivery.

They tend to go in an order you can’t just pick to go for the last one for example 1st - membrane sweep. This is usually done by a community midwife to try to avoid the need for induction (don’t have to have this) 2nd - prostaglandin or balloon - this will depend on your trust policy some use prostaglandins as first line, some use balloon. Some who use prostaglandins will use a gel for women with raised bmis whereas others use it for everyone or not all. Some trusts also use dilapan which are little rods that naturally expand with vaginal secretions 3rd - ARM - this can’t be done until your cervix is dilated enough (normally around 2cm) 4th - oxytocin - in the U.K. we do not do this until after and ARM or spontaneous rupture of membranes as it increases the risk of an amniotic fluid embolism if the membranes are still intact and also just isn’t very effective as it causes your uterus to contract on the amniotic sack not the baby so there’s not much pressure being put on the cervix.

You decline any of them but generally from steps 2 onwards they can’t move onto the next if the previous hasn’t been attempted and obviously if they can’t proceed the other option is a C-section I had 2 membrane sweeps, 2 prostaglandin gels, an ARM and oxytocin. It wasn’t a bad experience but for me it didn’t work. However as a midwife I have seen many successful inductions with all of the methods above

From the ones I've had this is my personal experience (I've had two inductions now) : Sweeps - helped to open cervix but didn't do much else! Gel - I had 2/3 (can't remember) with my first and didn't really work for me! However, with my second, I had 1 gel and IMMEDIATELY started getting early contractions, it was literally crazy quick 🤣 ARM (is this having your waters broken?) - had to have my waters broken with my first as I wasn't getting any contractions and after it started contractions successfully! With my second they had to break my waters as I was having contractions but my waters wouldn't go, I started pushing about 15 mins after they did it! Oxytocin drip - I had this with my first, I would never have it again. I was pretty against it beforehand but had it to just speed things up but the contractions were horrible and the midwife kept upping my levels (without discussion with me or partner!) and the midwife said I was having too many contractions by the end.

i had the membrane sweep at 2cm, but i don’t recommend any if it can be avoided. i wish i had just let my labour progress naturally. i was due to be induced the next day & made an in the moment decision to agree to the sweep because i had reduced movement & was on monitoring etc everyday. but i’m convinced it made my labour more painful than needed be. next time i’ll decline & allow labour to take its course. (unless it’s necessary of course).

I had 2 failed pessary inductions, followed by 1 failed balloon induction, they then ruptured the membranes and put the drip up which worked but ended up in emergency c section anyway 🤷‍♀️ I was in hospital this whole time - 4 days before baby was born and 1 day after I’m now pregnant again and have said the one thing I know is I do not want another induction