Can you give me brutally honest experiences of being induced please!!

[DinoRoars]

I have 2 children, both born at 36 weeks naturally. One super fast delivery with no pain relief which was horrendous and the other standard labour no problems with gas and air.
Im currently 38 weeks and being induced next week due to her growth if she doesn't make her appearance before then.
I need brutally honest experiences. I have no clue what happens, anything. Tbh im bricking it, more because of the unknown i think.
Thankyou!

My induction was at 36 weeks 4 days as waters had broken. Pessary put in, nothing happened, monitored all the time and woken throughout night for checks for 2 days so little sleep. Then put on drip which stayed in until gave birth which caused a fair amount of pain - had gas and air and at last minute had epidural but reacted badly. This was another 24 hours. They then said if baby didn't appear within next few minutes they were going for emergency c-section. Thankfully with ventouse and pushing she came out, small for dates but OK. Then emergency doctors called out as reacting badly to epidural and placenta needed removing. Finished about 3am. Kept in a week as small for dates and she got jaundice.

I think it was partly as the baby wasn't ready to come out that it took so long, think yours should be better, mine was a first baby as well which doesn't help.

Good point from @Silkiecats about being woken for monitoring. They were in every 3/4hrs or so with me to monitor fetal activity for 30mins at a time so no chance of any continuous sleep while they had me in!
They kept telling me I would be down within the next half a day or so for the whole time I was waiting for labour ward too so pumped up on adrenaline for days thinking I would go down anytime now! DH eventually went home to get some sleep in a proper bed but we were both shattered by the time it came for some actual action!

I had the drip with only gas and air. I didn't find it any worse then natural labour.

I was away dancing with Len Goodman in my gas and air highs!! I cant wait for more gas and air later this year!!

It can take awhile my induction was over two hospitals they tried the pessary but then ran out of space on the ward so they "stopped" the induction the consultant came around stated i couldn't go home because they had started induction but not to worry they had loads of room on post op surgical and they can just give me a csection i didnt want one of those I had a phone call from my doctor telling me I had a uti i told her what they said she flipped out about them giving me unnecessary surgery and told me I didnt have to go through with that hence why I ended up in hospital 2 with a drip!

The drip is fine they just need to cut it off and they didn't seem to but I've had a retained placenta before and apparently that makes me more prone to them

I was induced at 40+10, went straight to the gel and skipped the pessary as waters had been leaking. Gel started at 3pm got some mild contractions going, went through the night with contractions building (no sleep!) but following morning exam showed no dilation so they hooked me up to the drip. Tried to manage drip with just gas & air and a tens machine but the pain was unbearable and contractions too close together. Midwife encouraged me to consider epidural. Finally got a blissful hour of sleep but babies heart rate kept dipping. Another exam showed only 3cm dilated after hours and hours on the drip. Baby heart rate bottomed out. Emergency cord pulled. Emergency c section with epidural top up. Scary but everyone OK in the end. This time I'm having a elective c section!

I've had two babies. Induced with my first, spontaneous with my second. I had the same amount of pain relief with both (basically piss all, then gas and air near the end). For my induction, I was told to arrive at 9am then waited for EVER being checked and whatever before the pessary went in at 12pm. Walked around for three hours before it started kicking in properly, then baby born around 11pm that day. Both my labours took a little while to get going then I went from 4-10cm FAST.

It's a complete crapshoot what kind of labour you get, imo, just like spontaneous labours! So try not to worry too much beforehand about it being super painful. Mine were both about the same (though the second was only 4.5h, so that was nice!)

Be prepared for the fact that they can be really boring . Even though mine worked well, we still had a three hour wait before anything really happened. Also, if they come and check on you, ask when they're coming back and where to find them in the meantime. My waters broke explosively into the loo and my husband couldn't find anyone! Turns out I was 8cm and still on the antenatal ward because no one had come to check on me for several hours so they RAN me upstairs to the labour ward.

Also, discuss beforehand their full plan of action including how long they'll try each thing before moving on. If I have to be induced again, I have a personal exhaustion limit when I'll say "Let's just skip ahead to the c section" even though I'd really rather avoid one. I don't think it does you any favours to be in hospital for days and days without adequate sleep and not being able to relax. C section would be my last choice of birth, but there's a time to say enough's enough and you're better calling it quits and being in better shape for postnatal ward hell.

Induction did absolutely nothing for me. I ended up having a caesarean

I was induced 2 weeks ago so it's still relatively fresh. I was 12 days over and 2cm dilated on arrival. I was given the pessary at 2pm on the Wednesday and started contracting 12 hours later at 2am on Thursday morning, baby was born 24 hours later at 2am on the Friday with a kiwi cup assisted delivery as by the time it came to pushing, I was so exhausted that my contractions went away, so I had to be moved to the labour ward and given the drip to prompt contractions. Baby was distressed and so, I was screamed at to push and helped via the kiwi cup. Baby was totally healthy on arrival.

My biggest tip would be to make sure you sleep and rest whenever you can during the process. I didn't sleep at all as I was with my partner and felt awful sleeping in the single bed and leaving him on the chair. Totally regret this now - you need every single scrap of energy you can muster as the process can take so long. Also, pack your favourite drinks and snacks as again, you're gonna need that sweet, sweet energy.

Ultimately, you're so close to meeting your baby and whatever happens, you get those sweet, sweet newborn cuddles when it's all said and done. Good luck, everyone's story is different and I hope yours is positive

I've been induced twice, both times at 37 weeks due to growth restriction concerns. I was given the drip straightaway. Labour came on fast and hard. Sorry to say that the drip made me extremely nauseous and I was needing to be sick in between contractions. Both times, it became too much, so I requested an epidural and got it. For my third pregnancy, I went into labour on my own at 39 weeks, and the contractions were noticeably easier (sorry to be the bearer of bad news!) and I was able to make it through with only gas and air. Also, no needing to be sick. That was definitely the drip.

This is maybe not the most encouraging report, but the good news is that both inductions went well, the babies were delivered safely, and I recovered quickly! =)