Drnicolebullock.com

Abilene Physicians Group
Nicole Koske Bullock, D.O.
Cervical ripening: Yes or No (circle one) Date/time of ripening: ________________________ Date/time of Induction: ________________________ Your induction of labor will be at Abilene Regional Medical Center. You should report to the nurse’s station on Labor and Delivery at the time above and tell the nurses you are scheduled for an induction. Do not eat or drink 4 hours prior to admission, and please do not be late (you could lose your appointment). Bring everything that you wish to have for your stay. If you are being admitted for cervical ripening, the nurses will admit you in the evening and place you in a labor room. Your blood will be drawn and they will monitor the baby. We generally use Cytotec (misoprostol) to ripen the cervix; your nurse will place a small tablet inside the vagina. This will soften the cervix and will generally make you cramp. Sometimes, this will be all you will need to go into labor. On occasion, we will use two doses of Cytotec. If you need something for pain or sleep, the nurse will give it to you. In the morning, your nurse will start IV Pitocin to make you contract. We will come see you in the morning and break the bag of water if possible. We would expect you to deliver some time that day. If you do not have cervical ripening, you will come to the hospital the morning of your scheduled induction. The nurses will admit you, have your blood drawn, and start an IV. Pitocin will be administered to make you contract. They will monitor your baby as well. We will be in that morning, and will try to break the bag of water if possible. We would expect you to deliver some time that day. There are many reasons to induce labor, including high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, diabetes, other maternal health conditions, poor fetal growth, excessive fetal growth, low amniotic fluid, post-dates, history of poor pregnancy outcome, social timing reasons, maternal exhaustion, etc… Talk to us if you are unclear on why we are scheduling your induction. You will generally deliver the day you are induced. Shorter inductions usually occur if you have had children vaginally before, have cervical dilation before the induction begins, or if the baby is smaller. However, the timing varies greatly, and, rarely, can extend into the next day. While most inductions are successful in producing a vaginal delivery, sometimes (like spontaneous natural labor) a cesarean delivery is required. Your chance of cesarean delivery does increase with labor induction, but it is only a modest increase. Please let us know if you have any concerns. Your nurse should have your prenatal record, but remind them of any specific requests/information that you think they should know. Examples are if you are GBS+ (the culture we did at 35-37 weeks), or allergic to medication, or if you have a health condition, if you do/do not want an epidural, etc… On occasion, Labor and Delivery will be too full to accommodate scheduled inductions. Please be understanding, and they will schedule you for the next available date. If it is unsafe for you to be delayed any further, we will make arrangements and induce you as soon as feasible. If you have any questions before induction occurs, please let us know! We are proud you have chosen us to care for you. Please let us know if there is anything we can do better to help meet your health care needs.

Source: http://www.drnicolebullock.com/forms/induction.pdf