Another positive induction story here! I was induced at 37 weeks due to PE. The time from the first pessary going in until birth was 31 hours. Actual labour was about 11 1/2 hours.
Gel pessaries did pretty much nothing (I got the occasional contraction when power waddling). Luckily the little it did do was enough that I was dilated sufficiently to have my waters broken. I think I was put on the drip at the same time.
Not going to lie, the contractions hurt. Especially as they had to ramp the drip up quite high to get the required number of strong contractions in a particular time frame (think they wanted 3 in 10 minutes). I was on gas and air up until 3cm dilated, where I opted for some diamorphine over an epidural.
I may have slightly over reacted to the diamorphine, as I basically slept at this point, only waking up at the peak of contractions to huff on the gas and air I had in a death grip, until it was time to push. I have some vague memories of needing to consent for the drip being turned up further, bloods being taken, a couple of vaginal examinations and a scalp electrode to be placed. Baby was fine, she was just moving around enough, that the CTG trace kept getting lost.
I had the gas and air taken away from me at pushing time, and I had come down from the morphine enough that I was lucid. Drip needed to be ramped up again as the contractions slowed and weakened, but I managed to push her out without any other assistance. It's weird. Despite the lack of pain relief, it didn't really hurt.
I nearly needed to go to theatre for a manual removal of placenta, but I was given a little extra time owing to an emergency needing to go ahead. Fortunately it plopped all out on its own in that reprieve.