For those that were induced - was it more painful/did you require pain control you had hoped you would avoid

[Jellybabie3]

Just curious as it says on the nhs website that alot of women ask for an epidural as induced labour is more painful i am due in on Thursday.

I was also hoping for a water birth..

Yeah back to back labours really suck because they take so long. It’s different when the baby is the right way round pain wise.

I have had 3 inductions.

dc1 - he was 2 weeks late, and ended up being 10.1 lbs, and had an enormous (think bowling ball) head, and was back to back.
I started off with pessary, which started labour, but labour didn't progress so they put me on a drip and suggested an epidural as it would be harder. By then I had been in labour for 24 hours, and was happy to have the epidural, all thoughts of a natural birth etc going out of the window.

dc2 - was induced with pessary, one of which eventually worked, and then laboured as if a natural labour. Very quick, didn't use any pain relief. Very straight forward birth.

dc3 - was given a pessary and didn't work, midwife suggested she break my waters as I was 3 cm dilated (due to being dc3 and 10 days late). I asked her to phone dh first, as it was 9 pm, and he had gone home having been told they wouldn't do another pessary til morning.
Good job she did. We went up to delivery suite, she broke my waters and dd arrived 90 minutes later - so from no labour to birth = 90 minutes It was very easy though, and natural birth once started, although a little harder than dc2, which turned out to be because she weighed 10.5 lbs.

Ah ok thats a good tip about calling dh before waters are broken. Hes terrified he will miss it

As in the birth.....not the waters being broken

Failed induction after prolonged rupture of membranes and had to have a emcs... niaively planned to get by on just G&A but once the hormones kicked in that was out the window and think I had morphine. And the relief when I got the spinal anaesthetic for emcs!!
However my mum had 2 inductions which went fine, no complications and just G&A. And my friend who was pg at the same time as me just had G&A for her induction too, and had baby in a matter of hours :-) so really can go either way.

My first was induced due to meconium in waters and labour not progressing on its own. Had the pessary then the hormone drip. I managed just fine with breathing up until I was 9cm and then I had gas and air and a local anaesthetic prior to episiotomy. I counted my breaths through each contraction like a woman possessed and wouldn't look or talk to anyone in case I lost focus

I was induced, I just had the pessary which brought on contractions fairly quickly (within a few hours). It was slow going though, my DD was back to back and I had no progress for ages (about 16hrs I think) and I went from tens to gas and air to eventually having an epidural (after 20 hours of active labour, I was exhausted and hallucinating on the gas and air!)

Honestly there is no medal for getting through childbirth with no drugs! The epidural was absolutely excellent when I eventually had it. I slept, finally relaxed and managed to dilate those last 4 cm.

Drip with first. Managed with no pain relief until the last few minutes wherein I had pethadine, threw up, dd's heart rate dropped and I had a forceps delivery. All a bit traumatic.
Pessary 2nd time. Embraced the gas and air and then, when things looked like they were getting a bit hairy again, asked for the epidural which was a blessing as had emcs.

So I've learnt that I'm ok with pain but not very good at giving birth!!

I would say just go in with an open mind dont be dead against an epidural and then gutted if you want one. All depends on your body too, i was forced to have 1 with my first as my bp got into stroke territory and it was all a mad panic, but once i had it they smashed the drip right up to get baby safely delivered. Im currently 2 hours into my 1st pessary with this induction and im getting all sorts of pains but holding out until i really need something. Hoping for no epidural this time and asked for a waterbirth but babys hr isnt amazing at the mo keeps dipping so being monitorred closely. If i need an epidural i will have it. Its all just about getting baby here safely not about bravado. I have a friend who took great pleasure in telling me how her hr never went above 60 all through labour even when pushing and I was like am i meant to be impressed?! Basically what im trying to say is do what is best for you at the time, try not to overthink and dont be disheartened if things dont go to plan. I hated the thought of the epidural right up to the point of having it but i was glad to have it when the forceps were brought out!

3rd baby was induced at 41+5 and was the best out of all my labours. Had the 24 hour Pessary at 12, no contractions, waters popped at 11pm and had him at 4am after 45 minute active labour with just gas and air. Wouldn't have had an epidural anyway but would have had analgesic if there was time. It hurt, but it will anyway.

good luck luby!

I was induced with DD, pessary started contractions nicely and I felt I could cope well. When her heartrate dropped I was advised to have the pessary out and ARM with drip to follow. The pain on the drip was a shock to me, it was so much more intense. Epidural took all the pain away.

DD was also back to back so I'd recommend looking up ways to sit etc. to make sure your baby is in optimum position for birth.

I'm really worried about induction this time because I did not cope well with the pain on the drip but hopefully I can avoid it!

Wasn’t more painful for me. What ended up just normal straightforward birth

Induced at 38 weeks due to pre-eclampsia. Had 24 hour pessary at 11am Friday (that got me to all of 1cm), then a gel pessary and stretch n sweep - was getting regular contractions but still only got to about 3cm. Then they manually broke my waters which started really intense back to back contractions alongside vomitting - they didn't let me have any gas and air for several hours though.

Then I had the drip and an epidural. The epidural was pushed on me as it helps stabilise blood pressure and I had issues thanks to pre-eclampsia. I don't regret having the epidural at all and will have one again. Got to 10cm about 8pm.

Had forceps delivery at 1am Monday morning.

I wouldn't wish induction on anybody but everyone is different so I wouldn't worry too much!! Best of luck!

OK thanks all its really helpful hearing all the different stories.

Goodluck Luby

I had the pessary and gels, and then moved on to the drip on Day 3! They did the epidural before setting up the drip - just said that it was standard practise there.

I was induced with the pessary. Nothing happened, they considered a second, and my consultant said no. I recall him saying induced Labour was much more painful normally and if I was given a double dose, it wouldn’t be bearable. I had to have a caesarean in the end, but still I recall the conversation clearly.

I had the drip because I had started labour naturally but they needed to get my LO out in a hurry. The labour and contractions I experienced before the drip were a lot less painful than the ones I experienced on the drip. My biggest fear was getting induced and it was horrendous, if I went through it again I would get the epidural a lot sooner than I did.

I have only given birth once and I had an induction using the drip, No pessary was used as my waters had broken and they were worried about infection etc. I have no ther experience but the contractions with the drip went from 0 to very intense pretty much straight away and they came 2-3 minutes apart from the beginning. I managed with tens machine for the first 3-4 hours, then moves to gas and air for the last couple of urs. It only took 8 hours intotal though and at the end just before the pushing bity I really was struggling but it was too late for an epidural then.

On the whole it was OK, though I did end up with quite a bad tear which needed an epidural for the stiches to be put in, so I was given one after the birth anyway!

DS was not a back to back delivery though, he was in the correct position etc so that probably makes a difference

I was so upset about being induced and thought my birth plans were going to go out the window. But one pessary was enough to start things off - 10 hours later i was in labour and got into the pool after that - had DH less than 24hrs after being induced. It couldn't have gone any better.

Hope i am as lucky as you crackles

I was 42 weeks by that point so they did say they thought he'd have arrived by himself within the next day or so but they also don't let women into the midwifery led unit after 42 weeks in my area so I left it as long as I could to still have a water birth. My waters never broke - midwife had to break them once DS was lifted out the pool. When I was waiting to be induced I couldn't find any positive stories but it does happen!

Ah ok. Thanks for sharing. I am 41+5 tomorrow so fingers crossed!