Why is everyone so against inductions?

[Penny2020]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, FTM here so I have lots of them!!!. I’ve been reading up on as many positive birth stories I can find in preparation for the big day and a theme is that nearly everyone says they do everything the can to avoid inductions, sweeps etc. I haven’t seen anything saying inductions are bad so I’m just wondering if I’m missing something. If you had this approach, what about the induction caused concern, is there something I should be asking my midwife should that be suggested to me?
Thanks mumsnet

Because I was 44 third baby they wanted to induce at 37 weeks failing placentas at this age. After three days of failure I phoned OH and said come get me he's not cooked. Hospital were not impressed. He was born at exactly 40 weeks easy labour popped out in under two hours at the hospital. I stayed at home for 12 hours then went in

Zero problems with my induction. Balloon inserted just before midnight, had done its thing by 16:00 the following day and came out no problems. Waters were broken about 12 hours from balloon coming out - would not hesitate to have the same again.

I was induced using the drip with my 1st after my waters had gone but my body wasn’t doing enough quick enough. It’s the fact it’s essentially forcing your body into labour before it’s ready. The contractions from the drip are totally different to natural ones. My natural contractions were painful but manageable with gas and air, my induced contractions turned me into something from the exorcist!

Once on the drip my contractions were unbearably intense, almost back to back non stop, no break. I opted for an epidural.

Unfortunately that came out of place and the pain came back immediately. I’d had a full day of the forced contractions and only got to 7cm by which point my baby had become distressed and had been without waters for nearly 3 days so I was taken down for an emergency section.

I opted for sections with my second and third baby to avoid the possible need to be induced ever again. For me, my calm planned sections were an absolute breeze in comparison.

But having said that I know many of friends who were induced with the pessary option and had wonderful birth experiences. Similarly with sweeps. They can just help your body get going if it’s nearly there anyway. A sweep will only do something if your body is ready.

I think it’s the drip version of inductions that you’ll find the horror stories about. Even then you’ll probably only ever really read about the bad experiences as those are what people tend to post about.

I had my first induced (pessary only) and my second spontaneously. Second labour was shorter, obviously, but they usually are. First one was under 12h. People have stories about them being incredibly long, incredibly painful, needing a lot of intervention... It can happen, but that can happen with spontaneous labours too. Mine were equally painful at "peak pain" and I had much the same pain relief in each one. I progressed at about the same speed (bit slow up to 4cm, then "fucking hell why didn't you say you were about to push the baby out" quite quickly) in both my labours.

It would make sense to me that the average induction is a bit harder than the average spontaneous labour because by definition you're giving the body a push into something it's not totally lined up to do, but there's never any certainty with labour.

If you're going to get induced, take the pain relief. I had a dick head NCT teacher who made me feel like I'd fail if I took medication and pain could be controlled by breathing through it. She obviously hadn't been induced. Take the pain relief. There are no medals for not doing so.

@HavelockVetinari

If you need a syntocinon drip it is extremely painful, much worse than normal labour (which is bad enough). Almost everyone who gets induced with synt gets an epidural. The stronger contractions can also cause foetal distress, necessitating an emergency c-section.

Re: pro-pess, that should just get natural labour kick-started, although it can sometimes taper off.

I ended up with the drip because my contractions weren’t regular. I didn’t find it more painful than my birth without.

I was induced with DC1. I had the pessary, 2x gel and the drip before everything went wrong and we were rushed into theatre. It was the worst experience of my life and I struggle to talk in depth about it 3 years later. I’m now pregnant with DC2 and have already told my midwife and consultant that I will refuse to be induced and if it’s an issue to book me in for the c section now.

@Lostatsea10

I was induced with DC1. I had the pessary, 2x gel and the drip before everything went wrong and we were rushed into theatre. It was the worst experience of my life and I struggle to talk in depth about it 3 years later. I’m now pregnant with DC2 and have already told my midwife and consultant that I will refuse to be induced and if it’s an issue to book me in for the c section now.

I'm exactly the same. You're not alone.

As others have said, for many it’s a concern that one intervention at the start leads to more. I was resistant to the idea for that reason but ended up having one under pressure from my consultant over the predicted size of my baby and health issues I had during pregnancy. I feel lucky as I had the pessary at lunchtime and my son was here by 7:30 that evening, with no further interventions needed and it was a good birth experience. He was my third and I had an idea what to expect. But I was worried about agreeing to the induction leading me down a road of other interventions when, honestly, I believed my baby was ok and would come out when ready in the next week or so.

I have no idea, maybe just fear of the unknown? Excitement of wanting their baby as soon as possible? I was induced and no issues. It was a little uncomfortable having the cervical sweep but nothing compared to actually giving birth!

Sorry I should say, I had cervical sweep twice and then went on the drip.

I did a hypnobirthing course (expecting baby no1 in May) and it made me question why I was so terrified of labour. The answer is my mother and my sister having such horrendous stories - all 4 labours induced. Honestly my mum (without meaning to) must have just conditioned us to believe that it has to be awful because she had a syntocinon drip with all of her babies. I asked her why and she said that she didn't think she had a choice, she was quite naive and thought it best to just do as the doctor and midwife said.

You have options, explore them. They won't be getting anywhere near me with that drug if I can help it!

@Penny2020 Congratulations on your pregnancy 😊 how far along are you?

Statistically, you’re more likely to need further interventions with an induction because you’re starting something that your body may not be ready for 😊 so forceps/ventous delivery or unplanned c-sections are more likely. I was keen to avoid induction because all I ever heard was horror stories but I was advised to induce at 39+5 because my baby was a whopper 😅

I was induced and had 3 pessaries, waters broken then the hormone drip. Contractions started 1 hour after the first pessary and it was then 39 hours before I delivered my baby. For me, the only negative was that it took so long and due to covid, I wasn’t allowed my husband with me for the first 26 hours - I was just in a room alone with midwives coming in to examine me every so often so I was pretty lonely! It was painful, but it was my first baby and I have nothing to compare it to 🤷🏻‍♀️ I ended up only having gas and air, no interventions, and only a few stitches. My baby was born at 3am and I was home with baby by 3pm the same day 😊
So on the off chance that you do end up with an induction - they’re not all bad 😊

I didn't mean that comment to sound like everyone that accepts the drip is naive, my mum just didn't think she had any option and did as they said, knowing every time that it was going to be a bad experience for her.

My preference was to have a water birth in a MLU and so therefore I didn't want an induction as they don't have them in MLU and you need a cannula inserted in your hand so can't use the pool.

Having read up about inductions and pain, although my plan A was MLU gas and air in the pool. I decided that if it went to plan B with an induction I'd ask for an epidural right away because I think that induced birth is not the same as spontaneous and therefore it doesn't always make sense to have the same pain relief preferences for both.

I had my waters broken and induced straight on the 'dreaded drip' due to unstable lie and risk of prolapse. Its not the birth I wanted (pool birth, moving around etc) because I was hooked up to lots of monitors and couldn't really move, but it really wasn't that bad. I didn't need an epidural, I just zoned out to get through the contractions and had gas & air. I got to 4cm after a few hours and then had some pethidine; baby surprised everyone and popped out 50 minutes later. My only regret is I probably wasn't very 'present' due to him arriving so soon after the pethidine, but hindsight and all that.

Mine was awful, non stop extremely painful contractions that had no rest time in between.
I was absolutely exhausted and in agony.
Never again.

I had induction for third as I was over age 40 and over 40 weeks and that’s the protocol for my area

I listened to friends when they said have the pain relief before you start the drip.

I did a natural birth at home for second and maybe it was in my head too but the pain felt worse for induction even in very early stage pre drip.

I also only just escaped a c section as managed to push as they were prepping theatre as it was taking too long and I couldn’t feel anything

So in the end it wasn’t bad, pretty much pain free after drugs and no section but I can see why people try to avoid it

I had an induction 3.5 years ago. My experience of the actual induction itself was positive (I was induced due to going to 42 weeks with no sign of labour starting). I only needed the lowest dose of pessary to get things going. I did end up in theatre to have an episiotomy and forceps delivery which I gather is more likely if you are induced. For me what I really resented about the process was specific to my trust - once I'd been induced I wasn't allowed to leave so had to spend 2 days in hospital when I really didn't want to be there and was told I couldn't give birth on the MLU despite being low risk. In the 2 days I was in and waiting to have the induction /labour to start I was surrounded by other women on the open ward who were further along and screaming non-stop about how unbearable it was. (For the record this was not my experience or reaction to early labour, I found it manageable with a TENS machine and hot water bottle, but as a first time mum hearing the others it was terrifying and overwhelming to be around. I subsequently got less than 2 hours sleep before going into established labour myself so was absolutely exhausted). I'm now 35 weeks pregnant with our second child and have said I want an elective c sec if the same scenario presents itself as although induction as a process wasn't so bad at all I want to either just go in and have a baby delivered or be able to labour in my own home with my husband there for the first stage, which still isn't permitted where I live.

Both mine were induced due to being high risk. First one on drip. Pretty painful but managed on pethidine.second by having waters broken. Both positive experiences, much rather that than a c section!

I was induced with the drip. I quite literally wished for death it was so painful. I ended up with an emergency csection and my DD nearly died.

@HavelockVetinari

If you need a syntocinon drip it is extremely painful, much worse than normal labour (which is bad enough). Almost everyone who gets induced with synt gets an epidural. The stronger contractions can also cause foetal distress, necessitating an emergency c-section.

Re: pro-pess, that should just get natural labour kick-started, although it can sometimes taper off.

This.

My bestfriend’s baby went into distress after her induction and then they had an emergency c section. The baby was brain damaged due to the suddenness and violence of the contractions bashing her head against her mum’s pelvic bone.
Plus the process is not pleasant - hand inside you ... etc. It hurts.

Clearly this friend’s experience was not in any way normal, however clearly women want to go into labour naturally if possible. Hence all the advice to eat dates, drink raspberry leaf tea, have curry, a bath, sex and walk a lot ... all to induce labour naturally if at all possible.

It’s interesting reading here that there are gentler ways ... pessaries etc.

I was induced at 38 weeks because of complications. One pessary and the contractions came on very strong. It was extremely painful but I didn't need any pain relief so was manageable. Active labour about 4 hours and pushing for less than 10 minutes. Every experience is different but I'd do it again if necessary.

All 3 of my DC required induction, 2nd and 3rd on the drip. All were positive experiences and I even managed a water birth with DC1. Stayed mobile through each labour and had just gas and air for pain relief. No issues at all.

I know women want to avoid them as there is a greater chance of intervention due to distress or uterine hyperstimulation, but mine weren't like that. I do have a friend who had a different experience though.

The thing with labour is no one really knows what starts it off. Is it baby sending a message that they're ready? Is it the body evicting baby? Is it both?

Because of that inductions are a lot of guess work. Your body might react to one hormone but not the other. It might not react to any.

That said, induction is necessary sometimes and can save lives.

Like with a lot of things to do with birth, there is ideal and there is reality