How long can an induction take?

[Fuckitydoodah]

Worried about a friend that went in to be induced on Thursday (first baby) and still no word. Don't want to message her or her partner as they'll be in the midst of it all.

I thought the baby would be here by now.

It can take 24-48hrs of induction medication before labour even starts.

With DS1 I went in Saturday afternoon and baby was born Wednesday Night

DS2 I went in Monday eve and baby came Wednesday lunchtime

Can take a long time for first babies and also dependent on how busy they are and how urgent the induction is

DS1 I was induced on the Monday and had him just before midnight on the Tuesday. DS2 I was induced the Friday morning and was ready to have my waters broken the following day however wasn’t taken to a room on labour ward until the Monday as they were really busy with emergencies and understaffed!

With mine - didn't get to the labour ward for 2 days. Then baby came fast but only because he was in distress. Otherwise it could have been longer

I know someone that it took 4 days! Perhaps they are just exhausted and haven’t got round to announcing the news yet though?

Mine took 4 days. And I was very ill afterwards, defo not up to contacting anyone.

I was in 6 days until they finally put me on the drip. They even sent me home for a long walk and a curry at one point - this was 18 years ago though.

From the 1st pessary, my first child took 40 hours, my second (who was stillborn) took 41 hours. After both births i needed to go into theatre, which added hours on, and i was very drowsy afterwards.

I went in to hospital for an induction and was told they could manually break my waters instead of giving me medication ..... However they wouldn't do until they had a free bed on delivery suite. I had to wait 5 days In hospital for a bed to become available 🙈 when they did eventually break my waters he arrived within 7 hours.

I went in on a Tues morning and my six wasn't born until Friday!

Son - I didn't have six babies!

Usually max is about 72 hours once they start the pessaries etc, or 24hours once they start you on a drip. But then you might not message people the minute baby is born. And as pp have said, they won’t start certain steps unless there is room on the labourward.
So if she went in on Thursday and they just monitored that day, started pessaries on Friday morning, did a 2nd on Saturday morning, it’s very likely they are just starting on the drip this morning.
Give it until tomorrow evening and you’ll almost certainly have news OP.

Unless the labour ward is super busy and they haven’t even started on drip/breaking waters.

I went in on a Tuesday, inducement started later on that morning, and not really much feeling/few cramp feelings. Waters broke early hours of the Wednesday morning, nothing happened after that, so went up later that morning to be induced by the drip they use, this went on for some of the afternoon until they couldn't leave it any longer because my babies heart rate had plummeted, which lead to an emergency c section and baby born that night.

I would suggest sensitively waiting for news, and don't be tempted to message or call. The ward may be busy, she may have been delayed having her induction commenced or she may be halfway through her labour/birth. I'm sure everything is fine, however having been 'that' friend (I am also a midwife) and leaving it three days to find that everything was not going well, its sometimes best not to ask, and to let them make their own contact

Mine was 5 days and only then because I pushed for a c-section or it would have been longer

A friend of mine went in on a Thursday, and they tried various things to induce her and she didn't actually go in to labour until the Sunday night. Baby born Monday morning.

I went in on a Saturday lunchtime, DD born Tuesday morning.

I was four days into my induction and only 2cm dilated when they mucked up my epidural. Woke up hours later and demanded a C-section because sod that!

Mine was 51 hours in total, then had a night with catheter and drip in so couldn't move much, then was in another two days.

It can be a long process 🙂

I went in on Saturday morning and the baby was finally born on the following Friday morning! The staff kept saying, “gosh you’re still pregnant!” The induction failed and I went into labour naturally in the end.

Usually they keep giving various drugs to induce and then after 3 days if there's still not baby they do a c-section. So you will probably hear something today or tomorrow. Safe to say she won't have been having a great time.

Different hospitals have different induction processes - mine give you a 24h pessary, then possibly another 6h one, then you wait for a MW to be free on labour ward (and at the min we're so short staffed that that can take a day or two!) Plus emergencies take priority, as well as ladies attending in spontaneous labour.

In my old hospital, they used prostin gel. You could have 3 of those 6h apart, then rest for 24h if they didn't work, then start again - and they wouldn't start the drip if your waters couldn't be broken. Some ladies were in the induction bay for up to a week before having a section because the induction hadn't worked!

My second induction I had the gel Monday, didn't get onto labour ward until Friday, had baby early Saturday morning. The delay was due to no beds. While I could have told people, I was too upset about the delay I didn't.