Methods of inducing labour
There are several medical ways to induce labour. Some women will need more than one treatment to get labour going and it may take a day or two for your baby to be born.
Pessaries
Prostaglandin gel/pessaries containing prostaglandins can be placed in the vagina to ripen the cervix. Your baby’s heartbeat will be monitored for a while to make sure that he is not affected by the induction. Once labour is under way, however, you should be able to ask for the monitor to be taken off so that you can move around and make yourself comfortable. You might need more than one dose of pessaries to get your labour going.
About half of women who are given pessaries for induction go into labour. For some, pessaries don’t work and they need to have their waters broken (if this is possible) and a Syntocinon drip to induce labour.
Breaking the waters (artificial rupture of membranes)
If the neck of your womb (the cervix) is slightly open because you have had some contractions (even though you might not have felt them), it is possible to use a long hook to nick the bag of waters where they bulge down in front of your baby’s head. Breaking the waters in this way may stimulate the onset of strong labour.
Syntocinon drip
This is a drip which contains a synthetic form of oxytocin, the hormone which makes your womb contract. The drip is put into your arm and is controlled so that it delivers a gradually increasing amount of oxytocin. The idea is to mimic the build-up of oxytocin that would have occurred naturally had labour started of its own accord. Many women find that Syntocinon causes contractions to become very strong very quickly and this can be hard to cope with.
You may wish to discuss pain relief options with your midwife early in labour.
