I finished work a week before my due date. I fully expected to be late as this was my first pregnancy so contemplated working later. As a teacher and being on my feet all day, I decided I needed a little bit of "me time" before baby came to rest up. The weather had been ridiculously hot (for England) and swollen ankles were taking their toll!
On the Monday following my due date I had the first of 3 sweeps... Ouch! Very painful! My cervix was very far back so the whole process was very uncomfortable. I had a failed attempt by the trainee midwife and then a more successful attempt by the midwife herself.
For those of you that don't know what a sweep is, check out this link from babycentre.co.uk
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/what-is-a-membrane-sweep
I had no results from this. My second sweep was done at home and it was less painful but this may have been as I was more comfortable in my familiar surroundings and the trainee midwife managed to perform the sweep. Again this produced no results.
The following Monday I had another sweep performed by a different midwife who tried to convince me not to have one. After making the journey and mentally preparing myself I told her I really wanted this. I kept my fingers crossed for results but alas again nothing!!!
On the Wednesday, I arrived at hospital at 9.30am for my induction. I was monitored for 30 mins. What I found hard was that they wanted me to press a button whenever baby kicked. Now my baby has not really been a kicker. Every so often she shifts around but I've never had the alien moment of a foot or a hand appearing. Fortunately with the bands around my tummy, she did shift a few times.
Although they were pretty sure the head was down, they could not feel the head when they performed an internal so another quick scan was necessary before a pessary could be inserted to induce labour. They didn't show me the screen but they confirmed she was definitely head down. (For information on pessary induction see
http://www.chelwest.nhs.uk/your-visit/leaflets/wc/IOL-Prostaglandin-Pessary.pdf)
The pessary was inserted. The procedure was more uncomfortable than painful. Once inserted, I was again monitored for 45 mins before being sent home. The wait for something to happen was beginning...
On the Monday following my due date I had the first of 3 sweeps... Ouch! Very painful! My cervix was very far back so the whole process was very uncomfortable. I had a failed attempt by the trainee midwife and then a more successful attempt by the midwife herself.
For those of you that don't know what a sweep is, check out this link from babycentre.co.uk
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/what-is-a-membrane-sweep
I had no results from this. My second sweep was done at home and it was less painful but this may have been as I was more comfortable in my familiar surroundings and the trainee midwife managed to perform the sweep. Again this produced no results.
The following Monday I had another sweep performed by a different midwife who tried to convince me not to have one. After making the journey and mentally preparing myself I told her I really wanted this. I kept my fingers crossed for results but alas again nothing!!!
On the Wednesday, I arrived at hospital at 9.30am for my induction. I was monitored for 30 mins. What I found hard was that they wanted me to press a button whenever baby kicked. Now my baby has not really been a kicker. Every so often she shifts around but I've never had the alien moment of a foot or a hand appearing. Fortunately with the bands around my tummy, she did shift a few times.
Although they were pretty sure the head was down, they could not feel the head when they performed an internal so another quick scan was necessary before a pessary could be inserted to induce labour. They didn't show me the screen but they confirmed she was definitely head down. (For information on pessary induction see
http://www.chelwest.nhs.uk/your-visit/leaflets/wc/IOL-Prostaglandin-Pessary.pdf)
The pessary was inserted. The procedure was more uncomfortable than painful. Once inserted, I was again monitored for 45 mins before being sent home. The wait for something to happen was beginning...