So You’re Gonna Be Induced
Every hospital is different, but when I was worried about being induced, it helped me to understand exactly what would happen.
The further we got away from my due date, the more anxious we got. Several times my husband and I prepared for the moment that didn’t come. One day before week 42 of my pregnancy, we headed to the hospital to be induced, an experience that might have been different if I delivered in an American hospital. Instead, I was delivering in a civilian German hospital.
TIP: Typically as long as mom and baby are healthy, you should be allowed to go two weeks past your due date.
We arrived at 8:30 a.m. and the nurses monitored our vitals for 30 minutes before they drew blood. Then only after asking, the doctor explained that we had to first wait for the blood results to come back before doing anything. I’m not a very patient person, I am not a morning person, and pregnancy hormones are in fact a b*tch –it was very aggravating.
The admitting desk provided us with interminable forms to fill out despite our physician’s referral. After filling them out, we got a room. Of course, not a private room. We got to the hospital at 8:30 a.m. and had to wait until 2 p.m. to be given the medicine to start inducing me.
The labor and delivery department was on the ground floor; however, the maternity ward was on the first floor. My room was on the maternity ward, but I got monitored and received medicine at labor and delivery.
The protocol at my hospital was to only give three doses of medicine a day to induce labor. Spouses are sent home after 8 p.m. Of course, a couple hours after my husband left, I started to feel the contractions.
Before my last dose of the day and after being monitored, the midwife asked what I wanted to do. Cue utter confusion—you are the professional, why are you asking me?! I tried asking her what my options were, what she thought, etc. I didn’t think to ask why or how it could change the results. I took what I deemed to be the “middle option.”
TIP: Know your options. You can ask for more explanation. There is a patient liaison that you can call to make sure you understand what is happening.
When I went back upstairs the midwife asked if I thought I could sleep through the night… I’ve never had contractions before, so again confusion over how to answer this question. I said I would try, but was told if I couldn’t sleep, simply come back down. When you are this pregnant and having contractions, nothing is simple.
I waited at least an hour and couldn’t sleep, so back down I went. Again, I was given options. I’m the type of person where, if I can grit my teeth through it without drugs, I will. So when she asked what I wanted to do for pain relief, I again asked her advice. So we started off with a low dose of painkillers. It took until 2 a.m. for me to fall asleep, after giving in and getting another dose of painkillers.
I went upstairs and drifted off into an “in and out” kind of sleep. Also, having contractions, while trying to sleep while in the room with a crying newborn—no fun. Then, 8 a.m. rolled around, and I went back downstairs to be monitored. This time, they didn’t give me any more meds. All they told me was to come back at noon to be monitored.
Back at noon, they were monitoring me, but not much else. They asked if I wanted pain meds. Again, I said yes, but not an epidural. So I got an infusion—this helped with the contractions. Around 5 p.m., I again was asked what I wanted to do. I heard the option of taking a bath, and I jumped.
Around 8 p.m., the midwives changed… Multiple times I voiced the fact that I wanted to do a water birth. The first time I voiced it that day, they graciously switched me rooms so that I could be in the room with the water tub. As we got closer to go time, I asked again about the water birth and was told that it was “too late” in my labor. Little did any of us know, we had hours to go…
