Is induction always more painful?

[greeneyeblue]

I have an appointment with a consultant to discuss my labour options.
I'm consultant led due to being over 40 and having strep b in my last pregnancy, the plan was to give me iv antibiotics during labour but it all happened too quickly so there wasn't time and I ended up with a very sick baby who had a long stay to get better.
The midwife said I could be induced at 37 weeks, this scares me as I've heard it's so much more painful.
A c-section is an option but with a small child and a baby I'm worried about the recovery time and risk to baby being cut.
It's not advised that I go over dd so it may be that leaving things to nature isn't possible so with those 2 options what would you choose?
I'm leaning towards induction but the pain is a big factor for me.

Sorry OP not able to help but I’m in the same boat as consultant led and I’m 40 in august so this is a possibility for me too so commenting to follow the thread - hope you don’t mind x

I have had 4 births and 2 were induced. I would say they were different to my others and baby number 4 just didnt want to come but after 3/4 days of being induced and nothing all of a sudden intense pain and he flew out within a couple of hours. Baby 1 was 17.5 hours being induced snd it felt long but I was only very young and was mard i suspect ha. I have never had a section and would always refuse if safe, as i could bare not having sensation in my legs, being in pain, restricted and not sble to drive etc… i literally like to give birth and be on the school run the same day for routine 🤣 everyone has different experiences though.

Typo… i could bare not having sensation**

I think it’s only if pitocin is used. There are different types of induction.

Could you not ask for induction at 38+ instead of 37 weeks?
I'd have thought induction would be less painful the closer to natural labour you are,
What gestation did you go into natural labour at last time?

I was 9 days over due, ended up having a sweep.

IOL carries risks (they vary depending on method) and is often more painful than natural labour. It has a higher rate of forceps/ventouse and c section too.

This is anecdotal - but ime 37 week babies, while technically term, do seem to have more feeding problems.

At your consultant appointment I would be asking them to be very clear on why the induction is being offered. Is it just your age? If you were 39 how would the care plan change? Do you have GBS in this pregnancy?

NHS guidelines are based on what appears to be best for a whole population of women (ideally - sadly some are based on fear of litigation). You are not that average woman though and a thorough, meaningful chat with your consultant could help you make your decision.

I've had 2 inductions, 1 spontaneous labour. Both 1st and second inductions were at 37 weeks. Second baby only needed gel and it kicked off contractions and I gave birth a few hours later. With first gel didn't work and I needed hormone drip (synontocin) which is very painful and usually requires epidural. With second I learnt my lesson and as soon as they gave me gel I insisted on being off monitor and on birthing ball to help contractions come on. Being strapped to bed on a minor is not helpful with inductions but they don't tell us this enough!

I’ve had 2 births. One with induction and one without. Both pretty similar and no different pain wise x

I've had an awful induction and a lovely one. Have a look into the different methods used, usually it's the syntocin (drip) which causes the most issues but you could ask to try the other methods first (this is usual in UK) and you can say 'if X doesn't work I'd request a C-section'. Ask about options like going home or to the mlu with a cooks balloon. I believe that induction does have a higher risk of further intervention and recovery from that might be difficult too. I ended up with episiotomy and forceps delivery, and I honestly don't think recovery was that different from some C-sections.

I was induced at 39 weeks with my second as was 41. My first was a natural labour, quite quick and straightforward at 40+5. The induction was frustrating, pessary gave me 12 hours of contractions and then they tailed off. There was a lot of waiting around for my waters to be broken, took five days to get round to the labour ward, which was hard on DD1 not being able to see me much. When I got round to labour ward, they broke my waters and put me on the syntocin drip, it was a lot more intense than my first, and I think that made me feel more out of control, the midwives though were amazing and she arrived 5 hours after my waters were broken with no intervention. Whilst it wasn't the best experience for me. I will say that most of the women that came in for induction when I was in and were on their 2nd, 3rd etc child had the pessary, went into established labour and were whisked off to labour ward the same day. I had antibiotics for strep b started as soon as they broke my waters.

My last birth was a planned induction was the most amazing experience out of all 4 births i’ve had. I loved that I didnt have to panic rushing to hospital with sudden labour pains and since I was already in hospital when the contractions kicked in I was given the epidural as soon as I asked for it. I’m not sure why inductions have such a bad reputation, thankfully it was the best decision I made!

Iv been induced with my first two and natural with my last and tbh it all hurts yes if you have to go on the drip it can make the pain a lot more intense but I would rather be induced than a section you can still have all pain relief and I never had an epidural I did my second baby induced with nothing because it happened so fast. I hope this helps abit xx

Hey 👋 ive had induction and episiotomy forcep delivery, a spontaneous/natural delivery, a c-sec and an induction natural delivery with my 5 (c-sec was twins) my first induction was awful not gonna lie it was very painful and i ended up with epidural 2 hours in and she was born 15hrs 35 minutes later, after 2 hours of pushing and a rush to pull her out, but she was my first and i was only 18 and she was a big baby lol my second induction was absolutely lovely, they started the drip at about 8 oclock could feel some tightenings but not painful, they up the drip every half hour depending on how your contractions are going, mine had to be lowered as i had 7 contractions in 10 minutes and they didn’t want to stress the baby out, started to get painful at about 10 and i had some gas n air, right up until she was born i was laughing n joking with OH and the midwifes, she was born at 11:29, i was very nervous about being induced again after my first experience but i was much more prepared going in the second time so knew to stay calm, keep as active as possible without tiring myself, n just embrace it, take each contraction as they come, and do not look at the monitor! You can see the numbers rising with each contraction and its scary watching the numbers go up xx as for healing after c-sec with little ones, i had 4yo and a 3yo when i had my twins via c-sec the healing for me was much easier than my 3rd degree tear with my first, i was pretty much back to normal after about a week xx