Induction process ?

[grace1991]

Hey! I'm being induced on my due date on Thursday and I've been hearing really really bad things about induction. I've heard you NEED an epidural as it's more painful? And I've also heard it is likely to all result in a x section?
Could I please hear all your good or bad stories of induction, what happened, were you allowed home with the pessary etc? Do they just go straight onto the hormone drip?
Any information would be sooo appreciated. I don't really know what to expect. How long it can take etc.
I've had three sweeps to try and avoid being induced but none have worked!
Thankyou xx

I was induced with a pressary. I had lots of contractions so within 90 minutes they had to remove the pressary. (So make sure you have something to time your contractions.)

About 7 hours later after using a TENS machine and gas and air I gave birth to my baby daughter. I gave birth on my side. I did have some tears but that was not hearing probably when to push.

4 days after giving birth to her I was out at the supermarket. 5 days I was at a baby fair.

I was induced late on a Sunday evening, another pessary six hours later (early hours Monday). My waters broke early Monday afternoon and I started getting contractions. They then stopped. I was moved to labour ward Monday night and had an epidural before they started the hormones as that was my choice. I didn't want to be in pain. I barely used the epidural top up. Tues morning my contractions were still too few but I was fully dilated. I ended up in theatre prepped for c-section if the forceps didn't work. DS was born on the first push with forceps Tues lunchtime. I had an episiotomy too and I was stitched by a consultant's registrar who did a fantastic job (midwives said it was the best they'd seen!) It sounds scary but I had a really positive experience. I was never scared or worried. They reassured me and took great care of me. I wasn't allowed home after the pessary but the time flew by. I went home Weds afternoon.

Wishing you the best

I was induced due to reduced movements. I had a sweep at 37 weeks when I was already 2cms. Induction started when I was 38 weeks, they could have broken my waters straight away but delivery suites were busy so I got started on the 24hour pessary. That done nothing for me, I got 1 round of the gel next and this started period like cramping. Day after that I got my waters broken and I requested an epidural after an hour on the drip as for me personally it was too painful. Drip had to be turned down or off a lot as babies heart rate kept dropping. I signed paperwork to go for an emergency section but thankfully didnt require this. Baby had clip on his head and eventually had blood taken from his skull to check distress levels, he was lying in an awkward position. Consultant manually turned him and after this I was able to deliver with no need for interventions. After 14 hours I had my ds with no stitches. Was very tiring but glad it turned out the way it did and I avoided interventions etc. Good luck x

I was induced with pessary when I was 38 weeks pregnant ( due to reduced movements). My induction failed as my labour did not start and I did not had any contractions. After 3 unsuccessful pessaries they broke my waters and put me on a drip. I request epidural immediately because of the horror stories I read how painful it can get with synthetic drip. Almost after 12 h I was fully dilated, but unfortunately baby was in the position that it was impossible for him to be laboured naturally (he turned in last minutes) and I developed shivering and high fever, so they performed c section. Following that there was lengthy hospital stay whilst they treated my infection! Contrary, lady who was in the same room as me and was also induced with pessaries gave birth to her baby within 5 h since induction process began. So , it is different for everyone! Good luck to you!

Hi, I was induced with the balloon. It was in for about 12 hours and it got me to a point where they could break my waters. I wasnt allowed to go home with it but that was due to some other health conditions and I needed monitoring.

After waters were broken, the hormone drip was put in. I was on this for 24 hours and had contractions the whole time. TBH I didnt find it that painful and just had gas and air. I did end up with c section as it just wasnt progressing quickly enough but that is probably because I was induced at 37 weeks. I was told that we were going to a c sec and the whole thing progressed very efficiently and low stress. I think all in all about an hour.

Good luck, I think when searching for induction stories it is generally the horror stories that come up and most are fine. All in all, not pleasant but not terrible.

Good luck.

Unless your waters are broken, they usually get you started with a pessary/gel/balloon catheter. And they might try a couple times first (e.g. I had two gel pessaries, 6 hours apart). If they send you into labour, great. If it doesn't, then they'll manually break your waters.

They need availability on the labour suite first before they do this. This is usually why inductions can take a while. If you're not in labour, and your waters are intact, and the labour suite is busy, then unfortunately you're pretty low priority.

Once your waters are broken, they wait a couple of hours to see if that sends you into labour. If you're still not in labour, then the drip gets hooked up. The dosage starts off low, and is gradually turned up until you're contracting as often and as strongly as they need you to be.

Gah! Stupid fat finger!

Anyway....

As for how long it takes... It's a bit like how long is a piece of string. Some women can go into labour after the first pessary. Others can have days of pessaries and the drip, but their cervix just won't dilate. And everything in between. Mine was ~31 hours start to finish. As I wasn't in labour until the drip, I was only contracting for 11 hours of that. Unfortunately people are much more apt to share the horror stories than the positive experiences, but I didn't find mine all that bad.

I don't have another labour to compare to, but I'm told it is much more painful on the drip. That's because there's no build up (other than the initial turning up of the drip). You start contracting quite hard immediately. But you don't need an epidural. Only you know your pain tolerance and what you can stand. I managed on gas & air and diamorphine, with some paracetamol + codeine in the early stages. But that's me.

Interventions are more likely yes, but it's partly because: baby getting a bit distressed due to the lack of build up of contraction strength, cervix not dilating (progressing) as quickly as they'd like (see: Friedman curve), and the likelihood of having an epidural. It's far from guaranteed you need one though. Other than putting on a foetal scalp electrode to monitor baby (the external monitoring kept falling off), I had no other interventions.

My induction was at 37 weeks. Had the gel pessaries, so couldn't go home. But then I wouldn't have been allowed to anyway due to the pre-eclampsia. The pessaries didn't do much. Couple of cramps, but certainly no labour. Once space opened up on the delivery suite, I had my waters broken. Still no labour, so onto the drip I went. After about 6 hours on the drip I needed more than gas & air, so had diamorphine. I was falling asleep between contractions afterwards! 5 hours later, once the morphine was wearing off, it was time to push. Ordinarily the drip would be turned down to let your body take over to push. In my case, my contractions started dying off and I had no urge to push. So the drip was turned up, and I was coached through pushing. 20 minutes later I was holding my baby daughter. A minor second degree tear was all the damage I sustained.

Good luck @grace1991. Hope it all goes well for you on Thursday.

I had 2 inductions, both at 40+12, both pessaries as an outpatient (going home after it's been put in).

First time took 3 hours for contractions to start and then 15hour labour with gas and air. I ended up with an episiotomy and stitches because they rushed to get him out when his heart rate dropped. All fine though and home the following day.

Second took 19 hours for contractions to start and he was born after a 6 hour labour. Again just gas and air - I had a tear this time as he was was in a hurry and arrived 7 minutes after i started pushing. We went home same day.

They booked me to stay in the second time and I had to push my midwife to call and rebook me as an outpatient with pessary.

For context, I’m mid/late twenties, healthy and had my first baby.

I was induced at 37 weeks on the dot. I heard horror stories and was convinced it would be horrific. I packed for 5 days in and was warned numerous times it might not work at all.

When I got there 10am on a Tuesday morning, I was told I’d be given a pessary, wait 24 hours, given another (then possibly some gel), wait another 24 hours, then moved to a hormone drip until they could hopefully break my waters, then I’d be in labour for however many hours....etc

That is not what happened.
I was given a pessary at 11am, by 9pm I was contracting. Had pethodine injections to sleep, by 10am I was ready to go to labour ward.
Had an epidural (they’re wonderful 👍🏻) Waters broken at about 1pm and DS out at 5pm!

So about 18/19 hours start to finish. Stayed that night then was discharged the next morning.

No matter what stories you hear there’s no way to preempt your experience. Labour is a rollercoaster, just got to ride it out!

I have had 2 inductions. One terrible one fine.
DC 1 was back to back and 16 days over. It was very painful (but I think mostly due to being back to back). I hadan epidural and it ended in emcs.
DC3 I was induced (much to my fear) because of high BP. It was fine. I was mobile throughout and she was born about 7 hours later. Just had Gas and air for the last hour.

Good luck. X

Literally THANKYOU all so much for your stories. It's really helped reading about a variety of experiences. You're all very like and lovely. Here's to hoping I will be one of the lucky ones in and out in seven hours I'll update you as and when! Xx

Literally THANKYOU all so much for your stories. It's really helped reading about a variety of experiences. You're all very like and lovely. Here's to hoping I will be one of the lucky ones in and out in seven hours I'll update you as and when! Xx