Induction- Refusing a drip?

Please help!

I have been booked in for an induction on 6. june, due to amniotic fluid being a bit low(not very low though, could def. see fluid on the scan), and I am absolutely dreading it. They refuse to give epidurals to women in labour at that hospital, and being induced without one sounds like absolute hell.

What I am most scared about is the drip. Could I let them try to get labour going with the gel, and if that dosen't work refuse a drip?   

I laboured for 10 hours (being induced cold turkey) with out an epi, only had one when they made the call for the c section It is definately possible! Fear is the biggest hurdle you will have (I believe a LOT of it is a mental game when it comes to pain, I mean people in the 3rd world who have been working right up till the day the pop and tehy just have their babies, with out a big fuss (generally!) so there must be something in that right?)
The types of inducion they use will depend on whether your dialated or not.. if not then they will use the gel to ripen your cervix and then the drip to start contractions, so they do different jobs.
Can you get a 2nd opinion on the low fluid? Scans can be so inaccurate, it might be worth getting it checked? (and drink lots of water the day or so before hand!) Is there anything you can do to try and improve the amount of liquor?
And I agree with Wiggles, you dont have to do anything you dont want to. If your waters are only borderline then see if there is something else that can be done - more monitoring and waiting as long as you can before being induced, or things to increase amount of liquor or?? You always have options
GL!

I was induced with the drip with my first and ended up having an epidural which i really hadn't wanted. I had complications with that birth. Baby was fine though, the complications were with me.

I was determined to not have the drip next time and my MW was supportive of my decision and told the doctors that i only wanted the gel. But then he came in and assessed things and said i had an irritable uterus, so the gel wouldn't be the safest thing for the baby. So i agreed to the drip. It ended up being only 5 hours all up, 3.5hrs established labour, 15 minutes pushing. Compared to 12hrs all up, 7hrs established labour, 1hr45m pushing last time.

I managed for a while just focusing on my breathing then used the gas. For around an hour before baby was born things got pretty painful as i just had to lie on my side breathing with the gas through contractions as there was a 1cm lip of cervix that had to move and baby's heart rate was dropping a bit. But i got through it and had no complications this time and felt so much better than last time. My MW said if they had used the gel that i probably would have been in labour a lot longer, so i was glad in the end that i had the drip.

Sorry for the novel. Hehe. Just wanted to show that even IF you have the drip it isn't always so bad. How they end up inducing might depend on how things are with your cervix, the baby etc. Definitely talk to your MW about all of concerns and what you want. Good luck.

I have been induced with both my kids and never even got to the stage of asking for an epi (which I didn't want!) So is definitely possible to be induced without one.

First time they broke my waters and then I went on the drip 6 hours later, second time I had gel and then waters broken 5 hours later - drip 2hrs after that.

I was induced 16 days overdue and like the others have said the way they do it depends on what your body is doing, and the hospital policy. With me there was no progerssion at all so I had the prostagel put on my cervix which started things moving along nicely - then a few hours later my MW was feeling my cervix at 3cm dilated and broke my waters as my bubba had finally engaged... a few hours later I was checked again and was 7cm (no pain relief taken yet)... the MW started the oxytocin drip up because... well I dont actually know why it was started but never mind.. I was totally OK with getting an epidural and so she ordered one the same time as the drip started - but the anaesthatist took a couple of hours to get to me!! By the time the epidural was done I was almost at transition anyway!

So yup I guess I didnt really need the epidural up until that point - it hurt but its not something your body cant handle - its what were designed for :) For me though the epi was good because my wee bubba wasnt moving and she was also posterior so we ended up going for an emergency c/s - having the epi in meant I could go to theatre that much sooner..

So ask your MW as many questions as you can, and it is your body so feel OK with what is going on... I was absoutely terrified of labor, the pain etc... the way I tried to deal with it is learn WHY we are in pain in labor (muscle contraction, lactic acid buildup etc) and so when I was having contractions I was thinking to myself 'its ok - this is happening ** in order for this to happen **' Haha but thats just my crazy controlling mind taking over Try and relax hun - once you start the roller coaster it is over before you know it and you are holding your new wee bundle in your arms! I would go through it all again in a heartbeat for my wee sophie

I was induced due to low fluid at 10 OD. There was definately some fluid there but there were places where there was pretty much nothing between me and baby. Their concern was the cord clamping between baby and me during contractions.

I tried pretty much everything to get labour started on it's own. A stretch was the most positive as it got me into the early stages. They did gel when I got in and I was already 2cm. They did put a drip in but for fluids and I delivered DD with gas only and she was posterior and refused to turn until my midwife turned her. I would consider that I had a good experience with induction.

Thanks for all your replies! It helps hearing about other peoples experiences.

I am going to the hospital tomorrow morning, and I will have another scan. If the amniotic fluid hasn't gotten any lower I will refuse an induction(it wasn't even that low in the first place)

I just hope they'll know that we are coming, as we don't actually have an appointment, we where just told to come in in the morning:P

Good news, bubby came on his own this morning:D And it all went very well.

awesome!!