Is it painful to be induced with a cervical foley balloon?

You mentioned that you're going to be induced in just a couple of days, so first of all, congratulations on that! And you mentioned that your doctor is going to use a cervical foley (or a balloon) to help with the induction process, and so let's start out with what that is. It's a rubber tube that's inserted through the cervix, and so you at least have to be a little bit dilated for it to go through, and then a balloon is blown up on the other side of the cervix. This applies pressure onto the cervix, and that, in conjunction with contractions that are usually induced by using pitocin, causes the cervix to basically dilate over a period of time. The balloon is about the same size as a 3 to 4 centimeter cervix, and so when the balloon falls out, then we know that you're 3 to 4 centimeters along.

The benefit of doing this is that the active stage of labor starts when you're 4 centimeters, and so a lot of the labor process happens between 0 and 4 centimeters (or trying to get you to the active phase), so the cervical foley helps with this. And then from 4 to 10 centimeters, you should go a little bit faster, and your body should pick up, and change about a centimeter per hour. It's good to go into it expecting an induction to take a while, because if your body were to go into labor on its own, it would prep for it in the days to weeks leading up to the delivery of your baby, but when we induce you, we have to squish all of the prep and the labor into a shorter period of time. So if this is your first baby, expect that, on average, if you were to go into labor on your own, it takes 12 to 18 hours. And if we have to induce you, you have to allow for time for the induction, and then time for the labor. So sometimes the cervical foley can be in place for a couple of hours up to 12 hours before it comes out and you're at the active stage of labor.

Now you asked specifically if the placement of a cervical foley is painful. And it's definitely not comfortable. It's like a vaginal exam that lasts anywhere from a few seconds up to a couple of minutes, depending on how long it takes for the doctor to place it. Talk with your OB provider at your next appointment about pain control options so that you can be more comfortable during the procedure. Good luck with everything. Again, congratulations ahead of time on the birth of your baby. And if you have more questions for me in the future, feel free to ask them on our Facebook page at   / intermountainmoms  , and recommend us to your friends and family too.