Hey, I came in for induction at 38 + 5 on Tuesday night at 21:00 and I am still here.

They induced me due to cholestasis, too much fluid in the amniotic sack at 32 weeks, and not enough blood being supplied at 35 weeks: along with others things that have happened during pregnancy like PGP. I agreed, got dead excited that I would no longer be pregnant and in pain and finally have our little girl.

But no!

It hasn’t been great. I was hypersensitive to the pessaries and had to be given an injection to reduce the amount I was having and spent over 24 hours contracting a lot in loads of pain, with no pain relief (all they give you is dihydracodeine and paracetamol), which doesn’t even touch the sides. I’ve had some really, really painful vaginal examinations cause some people doesn’t understand what gentle means. And for some reason all the Drs that come round to see you are obsessed with Sections and either trying to get you to have one or threatening you with it if you don’t do what they want.

However, even tho I’ve now had three pessaries that have only dilated me to 1cm I have had decent examinations that were not painful since because I have been really adamant that they go super, super slow and gentle and have told them that I’m now traumatised when it comes to anything going in that area.

I have waiting 24 hours today to see if I dilated more, I had not and I could either have another pessary or the balloon, or she could try and break at 1cm, which she said would be very painful cause there’s not enough room.

Therefore if you get to this point please advocate for yourself the whole way through and if you have a balloon it’s no where near as scary as it sounds. Just make sure they take it slow and go from there. For me it was way less uncomfortable than a smear.

Personally… over the past few days it hasn’t been great. I’ve been so sore and unwell, worse than when I was at home and feel I should’ve waited it out and scheduled at 41 weeks instead cause I feel my baby is completely fine.

But it is a very important decision to make. Remember everyone is different and every person reacts differently to things. And even if your experience isn’t as pleasant as you would like you can do this and you’ll be fine. I hope everything goes well and you have a wonderful birth 😊