I'm being induced on Friday how does this work?

[Andrea77245]

So I'm being induced next week, but have no idea how this will work, I have read the NHS website of how and what drugs they use but during this pregnancy I have found inconsistencies with what the website says and how midwifes/nurses/ doctors go about things. Should I bring my hospital bag with me to my appointment, will I be staying in the hospital from then or will they send me home?
I've heard being induced is more painful than normal labour, is this true? How long should I expect to be there, in my hospital bag I've only packed 1 spare outfit for myself to go home in essentially would I need more?

Take your bag in case you are admitted. Mine was quite a few years ago now, but once I was there I didn't go home until it was done.
I had a pessary (did nothing) then a drip (didn't do much) and finally a C-section which cracked the nut!
I heard the pain described as the same amount, but in half the time! The transition between stages is fast and each time the drip was altered it cranked up the contractions. That bit hurt!
I took whatever pain relief was offered. Disliked gas and air but found pethidine very calming. Personally I didn't have any issues post birth with feeding, but some babies can be quite sleepy.
You'll probably still need maternity clothes afterwards and my feet were incredibly swollen. I shed excess fluid very quickly post birth. Walking around, both during labour and soon after was helpful.
Go into it with an open mind. I daresay some of the website inconsistencies are because there will be some flexibility.

My hospital said you couldn't leave the grounds once the induction process had started (even though I lived 5 minutes away!)
I had a pessary, then 4 hour monitoring. After 24 hours labour had started and then baby was born 6 hours later.
it can be more painful( I had back labour)
All in all I was in hospital for 5 days. I'd packed some clothes for me and baby but my mom did need to go and grab a few more things for the extra couple of days.
Induction can take up to 3 days though. If it fails, the next step is a drip, if that fails then it's c section.

I had to call in the morning to see if there was a bed free and didn't actually go into hospital until after 6pm- they didn't even start the induction till after midnight.

I went in at 11am with my hospital bag, pessary inserted and ctg on. Pessary caused 7 contractions in 10 mins which they didn't like so they removed it after 6 hours and gave me 2 injections to stop the contractions. They kept me there til 11pm at which point the dr told the midwife to take me to labour ward and break my waters and DS was born at 1.30am 😁

It varies significantly though, several women on the induction bay while I was there were on their 2nd or 3rd 24hr pessary and from what I overheard they had been sent home and had to come back every morning despite nothing happening.

I’ve had 8 babies and three of them were induced

first one I had the peasant, went into labour an hour later, normal fast birth.

second they broke my waters and went into labour an hour later, normal fast birth.

third one was because my waters broke but didn’t get contractions, had to have the drip, worked quickly and gave birth an hour later.

id say the first two inductions were no more painful than my spontaneous labours but the oxytocin drip was horrendous, worst pain of my life. I had no pain relief like with all of them but I’ve heard on here some people ask for an epidural before it starts working.

Not allowed to leave once induction has started.
We were free to walk the hospital not sure if you can do that these days.
First pessary 9:30, MW broke my waters 22:30, DC born 13:00 the next day.

I had the drip too so contractions were pretty bad, epidural saved me.

Take your bags and notes.

I went in Tues morning and got out Thursday afternoon.

Good luck!

Why are you being induced? I think the process will vary based on that, and based on what they find when they examine you when you go in.

I was induced a couple of days ago at 37 weeks due to my waters leaking at 34.5 weeks. The process for me was the gel (which for me started contractions very quickly), then 6 hour wait and then moved to delivery ward. Here they found a bubble of waters in front of DD so they broke that and contractions were regular so I didn't need to go on the drip. DD was born 11 hours after the gel went in. I didn't find it more painful than my previous labour I don't think, for 9 hours it was very manageable but ramped up very quickly after they broke my waters. I went from 4cm to her being born in an hour which wasn't that fun but don't know if that was due to it being my second, or due to the induction. I managed with just gas and air.