Tell me about your induction

[missrose0110]

Due to having a baby that's measuring large (estimated 8lb at 38wk5days) I've been booked an induction for next week.

This is my first pregnancy and I'm a little scared of what the induction process can involve. I was hoping for a natural water birth, which I've been told is no longer an option as I'm not low risk anymore :(

Please tell me your experience of being induced so I can have a rough idea of what to expect.

At this point my anxiety is stronger than my excitement of meeting my baby, please send positive vibes!

Hi! I was induced on July and would do it again! 😌
Went in on a Wednesday evening to start induction 1st pessary inserted (was uncomfortable for me). Checked after 6 hours although I had cramping on/off cervix didn't open. 2nd & 3rd pessary sake happened as above.
Then had a break for 24 hours before starting 2nd round of pessary's on the Friday. (In the 24 hours I was again having on/off pain).
Inserted 1st pessary of round 2. Pains started to intensify had a bit of oramorph (didn't even touch the sides) then they died down again, 6 hours later 2nd pessary inserted and I was 1cm dilated. At about 2am Saturday morning By this point I was too uncomfortable having pessary's inserted so they gave me gas and air (only for the insertion). Pains become a lot more frequent.

Checked at 8am and 3cm dilated so they could break my waters. Went from 3cm-10cm in an hour and by the evening my LB arrived safely ok Saturday.

My induction was a positive one even with the failed round. I'm lucky I didn't have to have the hormone drip. I heard that can hurt. My trust did say they could offer epidurals before speeding up the contractions.

Please don't be worried, try and remain calm.
Sorry for the ramble!

I’ve had 4 inductions

It’s hard to get started on no1
I didn’t know I was being induced so was
unprepared. On 2,3&4 I was doing the following from 38 weeks

1 Have Sex
2 drinking raspberry leaf tea
3 walking every day
4 sniffing Clary sage oil
5 eating pineapple

The closer your body is to being ready the better.

I was booked in for my induction at 10am gave me a sweep and inserted a 24hr pessary then told me I was already 1cm dilated. I had some slight cramping but nothing substantial.

10 am the next day there had been no change. Was given another sweep and had another 24hr pessary inserted. Slight cramping most of the day.

2am my mucus plug started to come away bringing the pessary with it. Examined by the doctor and given another sweep and had pessary reinserted. Was told to get some rest.

10am was examined by the midwife again. Pessary removed and my waters broken. Found that quite painful and the sensation horrible.

Contractions started around 15 mins later. By 6:30pm they inserted the hormone drip to regulate my contractions as they were erratic and my blood pressure had risen slightly. DD was born at 8:32 pm.

Not the best experience but that was due mostly to the fear of the unknown and having no clue what to expect.

I was induced 2 weeks ago for the same reason, big baby. First pessary didn't work, so they gave me the choice of having another one or a balloon, I chose another pessary.
After about 8 hours I started getting mild contractions, which went on for 6 hours before my waters broke. I'm not going to lie, after my waters broke the pain was unreal but I was taken to the delivery suite and given an epidural (after screaming the place down for one) really quickly. I was 5cm dilated at this point.
The epidural was amazing and I just chilled out and slept and the next time they checked I was 10cm dilated and ready to push. They put me on the synco drip to ramp up my contractions and my baby was born after 1 hour of pushing and an episiotomy. 8lb 5oz!
It really wasn't that bad and I'd do it a million times over to get my DD! Good luck

My induction was great! I had the pessary put in at 10am, no pain, lounged around the hospital all day! That night I had backache that I put down to the hospital bed being uncomfortable and kept ignoring it and going back to sleep (in hindsight if I'd been awake i might have noticed that it was coming on and off in a pattern but I was too busy getting some sleep 🙈). Midwife kept waking me up to do monitoring on baby and she said hmm something is happening. I dismissed this entirely 😂 more fool me. Anyway the next morning I text my dh to tell him to have a lie in...10 mins later my waters burst everywhere 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Drip for contractions started and epidural. Was all very lovely (until baby decided to turn around but that was nothing to do with the induction just an awkward baby!)

You'll be fine 😊😊 when my waters broke I panicked a little but at the end of the day you'll have your baby to hold safe and sound 😊😊

I agree with PP that your state of mind has a lot to do with how you manage the pain.

Nice to hear some positive stories. I’m being induced on Wednesday with my first. Will only be 37+4 so a little early. But I have poly and very bad hip and pelvic pain. She’s very low already, so hoping she is ready to come out.

Posted too soon.

I had a failed induction (pessary, balloon, drip) about 18 months ago. Over 3 days, I made absolutely zero progress and ended up having an emergency C-section.

Overall, it was a pretty awful experience, but I think it was made worse by the fact that I was an anxious first timer, giving birth in a foreign country where I didn’t speak the language, with no support except for my husband, and that our baby unexpectedly developed life-threatening complications halfway through, and I was terrified we were both going to die.

I am sure a more straightforward induction, though intensely painful, would have been OK otherwise.

During mine, I mostly just stood in place, eyes closed, breathing in and out, perfectly calm and silent, for hours and hours. I could probably have gone on like that indefinitely. It was only when I asked to go to the toilet and the nurse got me tangled up in the wires while trying to detach me from the monitor that I started to lose focus. Once I was out of the zone, so to speak, I couldn’t get back into it. My thoughts started to take over, and that’s when I really started to feel the pain.

Try not to worry (easier said than done, I know!) You can and will get through it. Best of luck!

Forgot to say - I eventually agreed to an epidural and that was absolute bliss. If you need it, have it! Hopefully you’ll sleep through the night and wake up fully dilated and ready to go! I didn’t dilate at all but my experience was far from typical.

I’m very open to an epidural. I get allergies and most painkillers are a no no, so they are hopefully giving me an epidural sooner rather later.
I’ve seen them about my allergies and I think they are more scared at giving me something I’m allergic to than I am.
They wouldn’t give me the chicken pox jab because they aren’t setup for allergic reactions. I’ve got very high immunity to it, so hoping I will pass some of mine to the baby.

I had a pretty good induction - I just wish I had been prepared for how long it would take!

Day 1 - pessary in first thing in the morning. Walked around lots outside and was only mildly uncomfortable (like the feeling of a dry tampon at the end of a period)

Day 2 - pessary out and a little break. First round of gel applied. No change.
Second round of gel in the evening and started having contractions.
Waters went in the night some time and contractions steady but able to sleep a bit.

Day 3 - in active labour and moved to L&D room about 9am. Put on drip at some point, things got very intense, got an epidural early afternoon. Had a lovely sleep! Pushed baby out in about an hour early evening, no instruments or damage.

I wish I had been told honestly how long it would all take - I was given a leaflet on the process and cheerfully told that plenty of women go into labour with just the pessary so had unrealistic expectations!

I was initially very upset that a water birth was off the table, but it was fine and I would be totally okay if it happens again next baby.

All the good vibes to you missrose0110 - you can do it!

Wow thanks for all the responses. It's really nice to read other people's experiences. @Em39ma I'm being induced Wednesday too! We can be induction buddies haha.

From all the responses, I've gathered:

1. It can take a long time
2. Positive mind set is key
3. Don't be afraid to ask for pain relief
4. It's all worth it in the end when that beautiful baby is here 💕

I would insist on an epidural if I had another induction, as soon as you’re “allowed” it. But I’d let them know well in advance that I would be requiring one.

You’ll be great.

I am due to have a balloon induction if I do not go into labour by my due date. Anyone able to give any tips/a heads up with regard to that?

I had the pessary for my first baby.

Turns out I'm one of those lucky/unlucky women who react very quickly to it.
Cervix was pretty much clamped shut when they inserted it (quite uncomfortable) and baby arrived 8 hours later.

They actually removed it after 2/3 hours as I was having non stop contractions with just a 10 second break in between and they were worried about causing distress to the baby.

Wouldn't go for it again too soon, but it's not necessarily put me off.

Pethidine on the other hand I wouldnt touch with a barge pole next time!

@missrose0110
I’m going in at 2.30 so we can chat to each other whilst going through it.
I’m just going to take it as it comes. Be prepared for everything and hope we one of the lucky few.

I had one with DS1 at 35 weeks and it was great. I even pushed to get one for DS2 but he came the day before it was planned anyway.

I agree about the positive mindset. I was totally ignorant and hadn't read a single thing about them so had no pre-conceived ideas or worries. I was put straight on the drip (pre-eclampsia hence the rush) and about 3.5 hours later DS arrived. I had gas and air and half a shot of pethidine. Just a graze with 1 stitch.

@Newmumatlast The balloon thing was more embarrassing than anything else because you have to lie on your back with your feet in the air in stirrups in a very unladylike position while they put it in. It was more uncomfortable than painful though there was quite a bit of pain too. Then you just have to wait for it to fall out. I think it normally takes about 2, 3 or 4 hours though it can be longer.

@missrose0110 Yes to your 4th point! It’s so worth it! I’m doing it all again next Monday! Good luck with everything and congratulations!

They popped a pesary up me to break my other waters, as all of them never broke. I didn't feel anything when they did it. I was induced, to speed up the whole process.

They wouldn't give me any pain relief ie - dia morphine or epidural until I was on the birthing ward. Said I wasn't dilated enough, they like to only give you it once apparently so they wait until you're a bit further on with it all. Gave me paracetamol in the mean time, and I'm not going to lie that didn't do anything for me. However dia morphine was great! Felt weirdly drunk, didn't give a toss about anything! And when that wore off I had epidural! Pain free after that. Then baby came around 2 hours after.

@HarryHarry ah so not too bad then?

No it was fine really. You’ve already gone through 9 months of pregnancy, you can get through anything!

I was induced at 40+10, first baby. I had the pessary inserted at 8am and was 1cm dilated with a thick cervix. Spent the whole day walking and bouncing on a burning ball. At 5:30pm started having mild cramps then a few minutes later my waters started leaking. Went straight to labour ward and at 10pm I was put on the induction drip as j had meconium liquor and they needed my contractions to be more regular (I argued that they were very regular and getting stronger but the monitor wasn't picking them up properly). Would definitely recommend an epidural if you go on the drip, my midwife prepared me that it gets very intense very quickly. I was so against it before my induction but it made things so much more comfortable. I went from 2cm dilated at 7pm, to 4cm at 10pm and then 10cm at 2am. My baby was born at 5:13am the day after my induction - so it can be fairly quick!
Hope everything goes well for you!

I had the syntocin drip and it was totally fine (needed an epidural though!) Had an episiostomy but no forceps or anything. Pretty quick , would do again