I'm 40 plus 2 days overdue with DS2 and terrified of the prospect of being induced.

[mrsm22]

Hi,
With DS1 I went into labour naturally but 12 days over (had a very long and traumatic birth) so naturally am scared this time round of the while thing. I'm 2 days overdue now and my midwife has booked me in to be induced on day 12 overdue as they are reluctant to let you go to 14 days now.
I am terrified of the thought of being induced and am wondering is it really that bad and more painful? What usually happens? Do you always have a hormone drip if induced and if so, do you have to have a catheter? I had a long long labour first time with hormone drip which I didn't like as made me feel sick and I was stuck to the bed in the delivery suite unable to walk around. This time I have planned a home birth and am really hoping I can have one but have an appointment to be induced just in case. The idea is worrying me a lot and I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has been induced and how it was/went. Has anyone been induced and come home the same day? I am keen not to stay in hospital if I end up having to give birth there.
Many thanks in advance

Hi - please try not to worry at this stage. There's a lot of time for you to go into labour naturally first.

I had a rough birth with DC1 at 40+4 - not an induction but due to high bp issues i had an early sweep which started things off then ARM and drip to speed it up due to suspected pre-eclampsia. Horrid delivery, very intense and frequent but ineffective contractions for about 36 hours. Took a long time to recover.

With DC2, I was induced at 12 days over, didn't work. 2nd lot of gel at 13 days worked a treat. 7 hours from start to finish, of which only 2.5 was from 3cm and only 10 mins of pushing. No interventions beyond the initial gel, natural delivery in upright position after staying mobile, all according to plan apart from the kick start from the gel. I was very fearful and in tears the night before but it was actually a wonderful, empowering experience (bloody painful too of course, but that's a given with labour!)

I'm now 40+3 with DC3 and much calmer about the prospect of induction having experienced a good one.

So please don't worry - lots of time to go and if you do get to an induction it may actually go really well anyway.

Also I delivered her at 4.30pm and would have gone straight home but she passed meconium during delivery so they had to do a 6 hour check on her which meant we stayed in overnight as they wouldn't discharge so late. So going home same day is entirely possible if all goes well.

Thank you Everton, it took me a long time to get over my first scary birth too. I had a really long 30 hour labour which ended with forceps and stitches that came out etc, awful. I'm really hoping for a better experience this time. Your induction sounds like it was fine and I would be happy for it to go like that for me if it comes to it. Thanks for sharing and good luck with your next one.

You're just a day ahead of me, I'm 40 plus 2 today. It's not fun going overdue. They seem reluctant to let you go to 14 days overdue now.

I've been induced 3 times. Never had a spontaneous birth so I can't compare. It was fine, quick though!
DC1 we stayed in one night because it was ages ago, DC2 we stayed in until she'd fed and DC3 we were turfed out immediately even before he'd been checked by a paediatrician, we lived minutes from the hospital and I guessed they knew we'd be back the next day. which would have been fine but the car got clamped!
Don't worry. On balance I'd rather cede control and comfort for safety and all three times I felt properly looked after.

Sorry that was an essay- to recap.
3 inductions, no stitches, forceps, epidurals or Caesars and minimal staying in after.

Had an induction with my first at 39 weeks. Really really unfavourable cervix so thought I'd be ages to get going, need the drip, epidural, section, the works. As it turns out, I had the pessary at noon on the first day, was a bit uncomfy by midnight, had proper contractions from about 0730 and had delivered (in a bit of a hurry and somewhat surprisingly as we didn't realise I was in established labour!) by 1pm. No drip needed. And she was back to back. Not at all what I was expecting. If anything a bit too fast - no time to get my head round the idea, just waters broke, wanted to push, baby's here - in quick succession! If it helps, I also had a ventouse which was fine (babe was a bit distressed and badly positioned) and a very quick spinal - which was bliss! And I could still push just fine. It felt weird but worked. She barely had a mark on her from the ventouse.

The most recent research shows that you're less likely to end up with a section if you're induced at term than if you have expectant management (watch and wait with monitoring) so that's one good thing. If you want an epidural then your chances of needing an instrumental delivery double, but only from about 7% to 14%. So not a foregone conclusion by any means.
Being a multip (ie not your first baby) also often means you do more by yourself, even if you need a bit of a kick start to get there.
Hope all goes well. Please don't panic. Remember, healthy baby and mum is the name of the game, how you get there becomes much less important in the end.

Please don't worry, my last was an induction, went like this:

Pessary at 12 noon (already 3cm dilated as most second time mums are)

No pains, lot of walking around

Waters popped at 10.30pm

Immediate pains

Started pushing at 11.45pm

Baby born at midnight

So labour was about an hour and a half all in all

Home at noon next day

No stitches, no tears

I was petrified before hand but if you have birthed before it's not always a horror story, your body knows how to do it the second time, have faith

Thank you to everyone who has responded. It has given me a bit of hope that not all induction stories are that bad. I'm now 40 plus 3 and hoping this baby decides to come himself very soon. x

Thank you Ella for sharing your experiences.

I went over by 2 wks and had to be induced. I had the pessary and was allowed home. Went into labour early that morning. Was still considered low risk so went on to labour in pool as I wanted.
I also stressed about being induced. I tried everything to get him out but nothing worked. All fine in the end though.
I found it helpful writing a what if list with different scenarios. Helped me feel a bit in control even if I wasn't!

I was induced with my DD at 40+13

Went in for gel Tuesday lunchtime. Went home, went for walk/coffee, and had back ache by the time I got home which turned into full contractions overnight. Didn't settle into regular pattern though. so they broke my waters at about 11 (gel hot me to 2cm dilated).

Unfortunately there was meconium, so had to transfer from MLU to delivery suite, but was given a mobile monitor so could still walk around.

I dilated very quickly to 5cm on has and air then things slowed down..Tried pethedine but it didn't do anything for me so asked for an epidural, which I got around 4.30. Because things had slowed, they suggested drip which I accepted... by this stage epidural had kicked in so didn't feel it. Had a lovely couple of hours chatting to midwives!

They were very good at keeping me mobile even with drip etc and at around 7.30pm felt I wanted to sit on the birthing stool. Moving round was convinced I was doing a poo which was obviously the baby coming out. They didn't top up the epidural at that point, so I could start to feel the contractions to know when to push. But between the remaining epidural and the gas and air they were quite manageable.

Baby moved down very fast. However, I struggled to push her out, and did need a cut (only 4 to 5 stitches, which did fail a couple of weeks later but has healed fine). Baby was born at 9pm, less than 24 hours after contractions started and less than 12 hours after I was admitted.

So overall, although I had ALL the drugs, which was not my plan, I thought it was a pretty good birth experience. Helped by a LOVELY midwife and trainee.

Hope that helps. Induction really doesn't need to be a nightmare!

Hi my story is a little bit different, on Friday my waters had started to break, but so slightly I did not realise at first. By Saturday morning I realised something was up, and so went to hospital to get checked out. They told me to come back at 7pm that evening. We had a lovely pub lunch in the afternoon, then returned to hospital. The labour ward was very busy, so instead of being induced, I was kept in overnight and monitored. On Sunday morning they got me into a delivery room, and wanted me to start the drip right away, as I was already 2-3 cm dilated, however on my sister's advice (she is a midwife) I insisted on having an epidural before the drip was started. Once the epidural was in place, the drip was started at 10.15. Not very long after I started to feel pressure very low down, and mentioned it to the midwife, who checked and confirmed that the baby was about to be born. I only felt the muscular waves if contractions and not the actual pain at all, and DD was delivered by 12.50.

I was really surprised since I was terrified of being induced as well, but in actual fact this turned out to be my most positive birth experience out of the three.

Good luck I hope you have a similarly positive experience.

I was induced a few weeks ago at 39 weeks. Not favourable, etc.

It hurt, but I just took all the drugs I was offered (natural birth is all good and well, but when you're in the moment and in pain with being induced, the drugs are the best way to go) and it was fine. Honestly, I would do it all again. And that's with an epidural that didn't kick in until just before my DD was born (I was put on the drip to speed things up as she was in distress).

You will be fine and watched like a hawk.