'The midwife announced I was 9cm. I was in shock!' Alysia's induction birth story
Alysia Leigh hadn't yet started her maternity leave when she was told her labour would need to be induced in 2 days' time. Here, she shares her reaction to the news and her experience of labour and birth
Alysia, a member of the MadeForMums Top Testers Club community, was induced at 38 weeks and gave birth to baby Hallie born at 2.17am the next day.
An induced labour is one that is started artificially – with hormones, administered as tablets, a vaginal pessary or through an IV drip. Induction may be offered if your baby's overdue, if your waters have broken, if you have a health condition or if your baby is not thriving,
This is Alysia's induction birth story:
"I was 37 weeks pregnant with my first child and I felt the baby's movements had reduced. I was given an appointment to go into the hospital to be seen by a sonographer for a scan. Everything in my pregnancy had been fine up to this point but it was protocol to have a scan as soon as possible after an episode of reduced movements.
"The scan revealed that the baby's growth had declined and tailed off. The consultant on duty talked this through with me and it was decided that I would be induced in 2 days' time when I'd reached 38 weeks.
"The worst thing was being on my own when I found out something could be wrong with my baby, as I'd gone to the scan by myself. Luckily, my husband worked very close to the hospital, so he was able to come over when I was told and we were able to to speak to the consultant together.
I wasn't nervous about being induced. I just wanted my baby here safely. It was a shock, though, to be having the baby sooner than I'd planned, as I was actually still working at the time!
"I hadn't really had any big wishes or wants for labour, either. I had quite liked the idea of being in water and having a water birth but I knew that wasn’t guaranteed anyway, so I didn't feel that induction was dashing any hopes. I was just happy to go with the flow and what would be would be.
"I went to work the next morning to tie up some loose ends but finished at lunchtime and spent the afternoon checking over my prepped hospital bag and relaxing. My husband and I then went out for our last meal together before our baby's arrival and I tried to get an early night ready for the induction the next day.
"The day of the induction, I went back to the hospital and all seemed fine. We made our way to the induction ward and then, at about 11am, the midwife inserted a vaginal pessary to start the induction process off.
"After that, we were then told to wait on the induction ward. I was allowed to go for walks around the hospital, though. Inductions can be long, and you can only have one person with you on the induction ward, so my mum stayed with me. I'd decided with my husband that he shouldn't use up any of his paternity leave waiting with me but save it for when the baby was actually coming – and for the time afterwards, of course.
"Mum and I went and got some lunch and I just killed time scrolling my phone and trying to nap. I also spent some time in a bath to keep me relaxed. I was warned that the pessary would be left in for 24 hours and then I'd probably need a second one, especially as it was my first baby and my body might take a while to respond.
"But actually, I started to feel quite uncomfortable quite quickly. I was reassured that it was just the pessary working its magic. This uncomfortable feeling lasted all day but, in the early evening, I managed to drift off and get some sleep.
"My husband came by at about 8pm after finishing work, showering and grabbing some food. So my mum went home at that point.
"We tried going for a walk but things were too painful, so we went back to the ward and I got back in the bath but this time it didn't really help, so I just tried to get some sleep.
"At around midnight, the midwife came to check on me and take my temperature – and my waters went while she was there. She told me to pop a pad on and see how I went – not quite sure why she didn't examine me at that point!
"About an hour and a half hour later, I was in a lot of pain. My husband couldn't find the induction-ward midwife so he went across to the labour ward and a student midwife came across with another midwife.
"The student examined me and, when asked how dilated I was by the midwife, she said she wanted to check again after my next contraction.
The midwife examined me and announced that I was 9cm! I was in shock!
"They wheeled me around to the labour ward and I finally got some pain relief – gas and air.
"They then kept losing the baby on the monitor as she was coming down my cervix so fast. As I was pushing, I was told I needed an episiotomy [which is where an incision is made between the vagina and anus to make more space for the baby to come out]. The doctor made two small cuts but the numbing injection didn't work fully, so I felt one of them – ouch!
"After a very short time of pushing, Hallie was born at 2.17am, weighing 5lb 13oz (2.63kg).
"I needed some stitches to repair the episiotomy which took some time but otherwise all was well. We went home the next day."
Pics: Alysia Leigh. As told to Janet Mtima
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