Induction stories! I'd love to hear them

[highheavenn]

I'm currently 40 weeks and 3 days.

I had a sweep 5 days ago with no success but due to have one tomorrow morning 🤞🏼

If this doesn't work they will induce me at 41 weeks on the weekend.

I hear people say all kinds of stuff about induction. "It's more painful" "avoid induction" etc 🙄

If you got induced and are willing to share your story :

▫️Which form of induction did you have?

▫️How long did it take to work?

▫️Did your waters break before or after contractions started?

▫️How comes you got induced?

▫️Was induction more painful then going into labour "natural labour"

Pessary. Baby out three hours later. No damage to me or baby, no further delivery interventions. Less painful than my equally rapid natural next birth. Good luck OP!

Hi OP, my induction was 41 weeks plus 5 days, induced as no budge despite all the usual efforts (raspberry leaf tea, pineapple, walking)! I had declined a sweep though. Had pessary first, had a few contractions but nothing more. Waited until 42 weeks, then waters were broken for me, then drip. DS was born about five hours later. I had an epidural and delivery was via kiwi suction. It felt more painful than my second birth, but not sure whether it was because I was induced or because it was my first baby. Wishing you the best of luck!

I was induced at 38+4 due to reduced movements.
Went in at 7pm on the Thursday, had the pessary put up me, didn't feel anything really.. went for a wee the following morning and the pessary fell out into the toilet! It got caught on the bowl, didn't land in the water so they put the same one back in (looking back, that's actually rank!). Then started feeling light contractions by the afternoon, so decided I would try for a poo as didn't want to poop during labour! The pessary fell out again, this time landing in the water!

As my 24hrs wasn't up, they put a new one in (different midwife this time). I'm convinced the first midwife didn't put it in properly, because within an hour my contractions started coming on fast and strong! Was given gas & air, taken to the delivery suite. Was going to have my waters popped, but they popped naturally and I had my little girl in 43 mins!

Can't comment on the pain, as I've only given birth once..

40+1 as reduced movement and dipped in growth. Had pessary for 24 hrs, didn't work, had 3 lots of gel (6hrs for each) and a 6 hour break in-between, and then my waters finally went on their own and contractions started. Then had the drip as I wasn't dilating much. Epidural from around 5cm, and went to 10cm within the hour of having the epidural. Episiotomy needed and baby arrived!

First baby so I have nothing to compare it to, but hospital wanted to induce me due to growth scans predicting a large baby (he was 8lb 3oz and way below predictions but that’s another story!).

I had three sweeps, at 39+2, 4 and 6. They got me to 2cm dilated but no contractions.

Went in to be induced at 40+1 and managed to go straight to having my waters broken. They were broken at 11.15pm and baby was born 7.25am the next day. As mentioned I have nothing to compare it to, but contractions were long (90 seconds) with 15 second breaks between so it did feel quite intense. I chose to have an epidural after 4 hours (my hospital do a mobile epidural so I could still feel my legs). It only worked on half of my body but it was enough to make the contractions much more bearable. I have no regrets about any part of my birth and actually feel like it was a very positive experience overall!

Unless there's a really good medical reason then avoid it! No need for the eye roll emoji, women aren't making things up, they don't like induction, so wake up and listen 🙄

I was induced for being late term, 42+1. I was given the sweep, then the balloon, then waters broken, then drip. My induction was absolutely beyond horrific and that's with all the hypnobirthing. The balloon took 4 attempts as did breaking my waters. Balloon followed by agonising back to back contractions. This was over 2 days. Ended up in forceps delivery. He came out extremely bruised with scratches on his head from having my waters broken - the guilt still hurts me.

I am still getting trauma therapy for my experience. I'd personally really recommend waiting it out if the only reason they want to induce is for late term. Due dates are BS and at best, a guess. Sorry - I don't want to terrify you here but if I can save someone from having an experience like mine...

Which form of induction did you have? broke my forewaters (ARM) then oxytocin drip
How long did it take to work? from drip to birth was 8 hours
Did your waters break before or after contractions started? before, ARM got rid of more but still had a gush during early stages
How comes you got induced? concern my hind waters were leaking, I’m not convinced
Was induction more painful then going into labour "natural labour" the epidural failed, so I felt it all and has and air made me feel sick. I went into labour naturally with DC but also ended up on the drip as I didn’t progress quickly enough. I don’t think either was different from the other. I gave birth without pain relief. It was pretty intense at the time but short lived

*Should have said DC1. Induced with DC2.

@Cdoc I’m convinced it’s all an art rather than a science. DC2 measuring normal the whole way through, 10lb9 when he arrived (largest baby midwife had delivered vaginally). Also went from 8cm dilated (vaginal exam) to in my arms in 15 minutes.

@PurBal completely agree! Every scan they told me 90-95th centile for head, tummy and weight, frightened the life out of me by mentioning shoulder dystocia and he was born 8lb 3lb on the 75th centile. Second degree tear but came out quite easily!

10lb 9 is a big baby! Hope you recovered okay from that!

Pessary inductions because of polyhydramnious at 12pm on my due date. Mild contractions started at 8pm that night. Waters broke at 2pm the following day and DD was born the following morning at 7am!

I found my second natural labour much more painful. He flew out of me 😳

I was induced at 38+5 as I had GD.

I had my first pessery about 12pm on the Wednesday.

Had my last pessery (no4) on the Thursday and then I had my sweep.

My waters started to break slowly.

By Friday afternoon they were gushing and wouldn't stop.

Got sent to the labour ward (finally) at 11:30pm Friday.

Started the hormone drip about 12/1am early Saturday morning.

By 3/4am things started to get really intense. I had the gas and air and morphine drip by this point. Contractions where 3 mins apart

Had a slight emergency with DD heart beat. Came back within seconds thank god.

By then I decided to get the epidural incase of another emergency.

By around 12pm I had the sudden urge to push. They kept telling me I was only 6cm.

A doctor came around and examined me and said I was ready.

7 minutes later she was born.

8lb 5oz.

Good luck ❤️

I was induced in 2020 at 41+5 as I never started labour naturally, including after 2 sweeps.

I was induced by the cook balloon. I would say insertion was a little uncomfortable but not painful. I then started to get some cramping and back pain afterwards.

They remove in after 24 hours unless you dialate faster) and they break your waters. Sadly with me, there was no room on delivery suite for anyone to break my waters, so I got sent home again. Pandemic care was a nightmare, meaning they ultimately forgot about me and I ended up with EMCS for failure to progress.

However, lady in my antenatal class was induced with same method at same gestation, progressed fine and gave birth naturally with epidural.

It’s also great that you’re being induced at 41 weeks instead of nearing 42. The safety rules have been updated since I gave birth and therefore less risky for you :)

So sorry but from my personal experience, I have to disagree with this. I ended up with EMCS at 42 weeks exactly after being induced 2 days earlier. They found that my DS was having to work hard as the placenta was losing function by this point.

You might want to google this OP, but recently the NICE guidelines have changed to say women should be induced no later than 41 weeks instead of 42, due to the increased maternal and baby death risk at 42 weeks.

• Prostaglandin pessary
• Recall a bit hazy but I think about 36 hours from going in to hospital to having a baby in my arms
• waters broke after contractions started
• induced at term because of pregnancy complications
• pain was tougher than during natural delivery next time round, but then I was mostly at home, less scared, and knew better what to expect second time round so hard to compare

I've been induced with both my babies.

Which form of induction did you have?
Gel pessaries to ripen the cervix to start things off. DC1 because that was the protocol at the time. DC2 because he was riding too high for the cook balloon. Then ARM on delivery suite, then drip to get contractions going.

How long did it take to work?
Contractions only started for me with the drip. I seem to need a high dosage of the drip to get labour going, so at least I had a semblance of latent labour rather than going 0-100.

Did your waters break before or after contractions started?
Before. But only because they were broken for me as part of the induction process.

How comes you got induced?
Pre-eclampsia. Both times.

Was induction more painful then going into labour "natural labour"
Wouldn't have a clue. The drip caused all my contractions. When the drip was turned off (pushing for DC1, wanted an epidural with DC2) contractions continued for a short while, but eventually got weaker before stopping. I try to go as long as I can on gas+air until I can't anymore. Both times that point is 5cm, but the time taken to get there was different. 6 hours with DC1, 11 hours with DC2. I had diamorphine injection with DC1, and epidural with DC2. The diamorphine was great. I was sound asleep between the peaks of contractions. Epidural was also great, but did cause residual back pain post birth.

With my first I had the balloon induction. Inserted balloon into my cervix when I was 13 days overdue. They leave it in for 24 hours unless it falls out by itself.
I went to hospital to have it removed the next morning 10am Fri(slow contractions through the night) as she removed it, my water broke. I was sent home, had a bath, then my contractions ramped up.
Went back to hospital at 6pm that evening when contractions were closer. Given a bed and a gown, labouring for hours. I was put onto a drip to speed it up. It was still slow going, I was just having gas and air the whole time. Finally I got to 10cm and was pushing but couldn't push out his massive head. I was taken down to theatre, given a spinal and had an episiotomy and forceps and he was out in 3 pushes at 4am Saturday.

My second birth was spontaneous, with waters breaking at 10pm (10 days overdue), went to hospital at 2am. Baby was back to back so it was far more painful than the first. I had an epidural and by the time that has kicked in I was 10cm and he was out quickly, born at 6am.

The induction with my first was fine, I wouldn't say I had a bad experience with it. It worked to induce my labour anyway

Also no, my induced labour wasn't as painful as my back to back labour, not even close