So following the surprise booking of “tomorrow” for my induction at my 38 week scan I spent an almost sleepless night ensuring things were ready for Jackson at home before going in to hospital this morning. I think I finally dozed off at about 3.15 and had my alarm set for 6.30 to ensure I was up and had everything packed and done before I was induced this morning.
I was told to be at the hospital by 10am, but to phone the hospital before I left to ensure they had a bed for me. I phoned at 8.15 and was told it was all in hand and to come in as arranged.
After bundling the cat off to my parents to be looked after by my dad while I was in hospital and fitting the car seat into my dad’s car so it was ready for the journey home we set off to the hospital.
My mum is my birthing partner, so she came in with me after dad dropped us off – avoiding the parking charges! I had my hospital bag that I had packed and mum had a bag of snacks to keep us going.
On arrival at the ward we were promptly shown into a private room and the lady told us that she would be with us in 5 minutes to go through paperwork and swabs. Half an hour or so later she finally turned up and swabbed me for MRSA and took my weight and blood pressure etc. and told us that visiting hours are 9-9 and that after this everyone has to leave unless labour is imminent. She then assured us that the midwife would be with us shortly to discuss induction. After about an hour the midwife turned up, turns out they’re understaffed and the ward has been split between two places making everything more difficult. Fantastic!
In the meantime I had been to the toilet and lost my mucus plug – I hadn’t even been induced yet, but I seemed far more excited by this than any of the midwife team!
The midwife discussed what would happen with induction and explained that they would monitor baby for about half an hour first to make sure everything is ok, and then do an internal exam and insert the pessary, but that she had to get the pessary prescribed so she had to find a doctor before she could proceed. She finally retuned with the prescription at about 2pm. She put me on the monitor and amazingly I was already having tightenings which she explained were Braxton hicks. One of these even reached 100% which I was quite excited about watching the screen! Jackson seemed to kick more and his heartrate increased with each contraction, but nothing out of the ordinary.

She then went on to perform the internal exam which hurt… A lot. She told me that she didn’t think I was 1cm dilated as they had told me yesterday, but not far off – she could fit the tip of her finger in my cervix but not the whole finger. She did say that it was quite behind baby’s head so may be more but she could feel it. After this she inserted the pessary which hurt even more than the exam. The pessary is on a string and will remain in there for 24 hours during which time I will not be examined. I then had to remain on the bed for another 30minutes to let the pessary start to work and not slip out during which time I was out back on the monitor to see how he reacted to being prodded about. The heartrate monitor was picking up his heartrate fine until he gave a massive shove and moved and suddenly the monitor detected no heartbeat. Having felt the large movement I knew he had just moved, but I could see my mum begin to panic so let her run and call the midwife who came in and got me to roll on my side so she was able to find his heartbeat again. This trace eventually came back fine with no issues and I was allowed out for a walk. It was such a lovely day that me and mum packed up some sweets and drinks and headed out into the sunshine. After a walk right round the perimeter of the hospital we sat in the shade and had a little picnic before heading back inside. While I was sitting there I noticed my tummy tightening a few times, and when I got back inside I took notice of the times this was happening. It turned out they were happening every 5 minutes. I wouldn’t say they hurt, but they were uncomfortable.
I told the midwife and she seemed pleased with the progress saying that some women don’t react at all within the 24 hours, but that regular contractions was a good sign.

Soon after this Jacksons dad came in to see how it was all going and spent a good few hours sitting watching me grimace every time I had a contraction. At about 7 my dad turned up to visit, this worked out well as he could then take mum home at 9, it was nice to while away a few hours chatting about nonsense all the while the contractions were coming every 5 minutes.
It is now 10pm and the contractions are still about every 5 minutes but don’t seem to be getting any stronger so hopefully I can get some sleep now before they do.