Induction experiences with first baby

[VioIetMoon]

I'm booked in for induction next week at 38 weeks for my first baby.
I've been going out of my mind not knowing what is the right choice to be induced or opt for c section.
Just looking some opinions on others experiences with induction .
Positive or negative please share.
What was the outcome?
how many hours did it take?
did you tear? I have GD which is uncontrolled despite them upping and upping insulin and I know this can increase baby's weight. Was last weighed at 36w and its slightly above average. Do they scan you for estimated weight before induction or anything?
what was your babys weight? And how many weeks were you?
And what form of pain relief did you have?
I have gestational diabetes and frequent reduced movements. We had an episode of high pi with the flow to the cord a few weeks ago. I have also been diagnosed recently with mild thickening of my heart wall, this is what scares me about a natural birth as I haven't received any support from cardiology/ consultant regarding this and I do worry about the pushing stage putting strain on my heart as I've been dealing with symptoms for years. This is also an ivf pregnancy and I'm 38. To he honest I'd rather have the c section but as I feel that would be the best option for me but its the fact we were told we couldn't do ivf again for 18-24 months . By then I'll be over 40, diminishing our chances of another successful round as we have no frozen eggs, plus ive read reports that c sections can reduce ivf success. This was the only one we had.
I guess my worry with vaginal birth is a failed induction or needing an emergency section in the end. I think then I'd be kicking myself that I didn't go for a planned induction.
I've heard women saying induction is more painful and epidurals are more likely to end in c sections. At what stage did you get an epidural if you had one
Any advice at all would be appreciated as I've 2 days to figure it out 😆 hoping for kind responses.
Didn't really get much help with advice when I spoke to consultant / midwife. Feel pretty much on my own relying on google and forums for answers and opinions

I had one with my first at 37+5 due to her stopping growing. I had the pessary at 9pm. Waters broke about 8am but they didn't have a delivery room so didn't go on the drip until 5pm. Baby was born at 5.25am next day weighing 6lb4. I had gas and air and a shot of diamorphine. No epidural. I did have a 2nd degree tear but it healed fine and quickly. Pain wise, it wasn't the most pleasant Saturday night of my life but it wasn't unbearable. I was offered an epidural before they started the drip and a few more times during the night but didn't feel like I needed one. I don't know if my pain was worse than going into labour naturally because I had to have an induction with the second as well.

Induction at 40+2 due to IVF. No other complications. Second week of first lock down.

Went into hospital on my own. Pessary in at 10am. Baby's heartbeat went mental bur settled within 10 mins. Mild back ache and feeling 'uncomfortable' 6pm
Period type pains crampy 11pm had a bath and two paracetamol. 1am waters went spontaneously contracting 3 in 10 by 2am. Was allowed to ring my husband and ask him to come to hospital. 2.30am fully containing gas and air. 4am contractions thick and fast shot of pethadine. 5.30am really ramped up asked if I could have epidural. 5.45am was told no too late start to push. 6.30am he was born perfectly well. 6.50am doctor arriving telling me we are going to surgery right now. 4th degree tear massive PPH. Get rushed off to surgery. They give me a spinal do repair with was fully through and into uterus. In recovery have an sats crash and very unwell. Transferred to ICU where my husband wasn't allowed. He was sent home after seeing his wife give birth holding his baby for an hour and then seeing my nearly die. Dog shit. Two bloody transfusions in ICU and discharged the following day. Was fucking rough. The actual delivery was fine. The after affects and recovery awful. Just awful.

Second baby....ELCS. My choice but also consultant had said he was going to say it anyway so was easy. It was a bloody dream!! So peaceful and calm. Baby born straight to Skin to skin for 2 hours. Husbad there the whole time. Bleeding under control. Had a side room (not sure if that's related or lucky) recovery was excellent. I was in the park with 3 day old and 2.5 year old three days after birth. Driving in three weeks.

Personally I would go section but had I had not had a tear I would choose differently maybe? I'm so proud of the way I brother both my babies safely into the world. If you could have said to me 100% you won't tear again I would have gone vaginal delivery again. It was more the tear and the pain and mess and recovery that made me choose ELCS.

My experience with induction on the drip wasn’t good although it was considered a success by medical staff. It was my second and I found it much worse than normal natural labour. I didn’t have pain relief for either of my births ( not by choice) and I would say that contractions induced by synthetic hormones are in a whole different stratosphere to natural ones. I personally would never agree to a drip induction again. I would go for an elective c section. The only people I know with positive induction experiences are the ones that have only had the pessary or their waters breaking and didn’t need anything else.
This is a good article www.aims.org.uk/journal/item/ten-things

I had GD as well, I was diet controlled but was getting high readings more often towards the end.

I was induced at 38+2. Baby flipped (DP and I suspect trying to get away from induction balloon lol) and was a footling presentation so off I trotted to an "emergency" CS 1.5 days after getting booked in. It was the calmest emergency I've ever been in.

Baby was measuring 99th centile in utero and was born 90th centile at 3.95 kg so I'm really glad my coochie was spared that trauma.

He's now 14 months old and 75th centile. Big boy compared to many other babies we come across, but healthy and extremely active.

Both of my inductions were due to being overdue.
Both were born 4 days after the first pessary.
First birth was okay, managed without epidural until 6cms.
Second birth not great, had I had her first, I would have had an ELCS for my second.

Had ruptured membrane with no progression with DD1 so was induced. It took days, awful tear and exhaustion. ELCS DD2, no contest, that was infinitely better.

I wanted to share a positive story. I was induced at 39+6 due to GD. They wanted to induce at 39 weeks but I asked for a little bit longer, so my body was as ready as possible. You could ask to postpone for a week depending on your sugars?

They did a scan the Friday before my induction and the doctor estimated him to be 7lbs11oz. He was 7lbs 10oz when he was born.

Prior to induction, my cervix was low and soft but closed. After one round of prostaglandin gel, it had opened slightly and after the second round I went into full blown labour. There had been a plan to break my waters and put me on the drip if needed, but none of that happened, I went the rest of the way quite quickly. Had an epidural at 9cm and delivery was lovely and quick. The whole process took about 24 hours (including the 7 or so after the first gel where nothing was really happening and I just watched Netflix on my ipad with my husband and chatted to some other ladies. Labour was intense and overwheming but I feel overall giving birth was such a positive experience. I had heard so many scary stories and was terrified of a "failed" induction, but there are great outcomes too.

My TENS machine was a lifesaver before the epidural. Gas and air didn’t help me, but I know it’s great for others.

I did have a second degree tear but it healed quickly and easily, no long term issues. I expected to be in agony when the epidural wore off but that never happened, just discomfort if I sat “wrong”. I had a minor PPH after passing the placenta as well but it stopped itself and I felt calm the whole time, was cuddling my baby and on cloud 9.

Also, not sure if you've considered harvesting colostrum over the next couple of days but it's worth a go if you're up for it! It can help prep your body for labour a bit and the stash can help stabilise your baby's blood sugar if they need it.

Wow - bit of an essay sorry!

Good news story from me OP. Both my babies were born after induction with no issues either time.

The first one took a bit longer but was still fairly quick. Pessary at about 10am, nothing happened all day, no contractions at all. Nothing until second pessary later in the evening. Contractions started about 8/9pm, DH sent home as I was apparently not dilating at all. Managed to persuade them to examine me at about midnight as I was in absolute agony and they had only let me have paracetamol. Turns out I was 9cm dilated. Baby arrived at 2am, my DH only got back to the hospital 10 mins before.

Good luck

I should have said, I did have a 2nd degree tear but healed up quickly with no issues

I got induced at 6 days overdue with my first, it was extremely prolonged, I got the epidural at 6cm, before they broke my waters as they told me things could move very quickly after that and i was coping but just and afraid of how much worse things might get, my partner also really pushed for me to get it. I was pushing for hours and eventually ended with forceps delivery as he got stuck and his heart rate wasn't recovering enough in-between contractions (sunny side up), I had 3c tear and needed immediate emergency surgery so didn't get any time with my son, was put under, had 3 blood transfusions.. as a result of that and being severly anaemic afterwards my milk never came in.. I got a leaflet beforehand saying 1 in 4 inductions ends in emergency c section, I think if I had the choice again I'd go c section but it's easy to say that afterwards. I'm going section with my next birth.

I had my daughter 30 years ago by induction at 38 weeks and it was absolutely ok . Cannot remember the finer details ie timings but think I had 1st pessary 8am ,period pained by the afternoon,waters broke about 9pm and she was delivered at 2am . Had an epidural and a slight tear .
That baby 26 years later also had induction at 38 wees for RFM ,she had a perfect labour after 2nd pessary ,she eventually had epidural about midnight, bounced on her ball ,listened to her music,zoned out and my granddaughter born about 11am . It was the most amazing,chilled birth and her own community midwife came in about 9am to deliver the baby. Good luck OP X

I don't want to scare you, just say I wish k went with elective

I had an induction with 2nd baby as had v fast labour with my first and I had a few minor complications with 2nd pregnancy so they offered it to me. I was full term but before my due date. I'd been terrified of having one with my first baby but was actually relieved to have one with 2nd. There's so many horror stories online about inductions but I honestly had a really good experience and I'm so glad I had the induction. I felt calm throughout, the worst bit was the examination, getting my waters popped, and the cannula! I basically asked for the gas and air straight away once I went up to the labour room and when nothing was happening after my waters were popped and they were going to put me on the hormone drip I had pethidine. Gave birth standing up, no tearing. I'd gone into hospital at 9pm gave birth around 5am so pretty fast.
Stay calm, don't be afraid, you can do this! Your going to be fine xx

I would say the induction was less painful than my first birth because I was calmer and managed to actually get some pain relief! Please don't let the horror stories put you off, listen to your body and your gut instinct, if you'd rather go straight for a c section that's perfectly fine too! See what the hcp recommend and what your gut tells u xx

I was offered induction at 37 weeks due to large baby but decided to hold on as I was desperate for things to start naturally. I was rescanned at 39 weeks and again showing big baby, was offered (advised to have) induction. Again I decided to hold on a bit longer. Unfortunately at 40+3 it was flagged up that I had pregnancy induced hypertension (picked up when I went in due to reduced foetal movement). Given labetalol and consultant agreed to monitor me and booked me for induction in 2 days time. Unfortunately things didn't start themselves as I was hoping and I went in for induction. I was gutted not to be able to use the water but apparently it would've been too much of a risk with my BP and also baby was needing to be constantly monitored. However I dealt with that and realised that sometimes we have to deviate from our birth plans. I had prostaglandin pessary at about 6pm and then another one at midnight. By 6am I was 4cm dilated and ready to move through to labour ward. Had a wonderful midwife and a wonderful final year student midwife. By 11am ish I was 10cm dilated and ready to start pushing. Pushed for an hour with not much progress. Bedside scan and baby found to be back to back. Taken to theatre for rotational forceps but doctors weren't confident that it would work so I was prepped for c section (spinal block) in case that was required. It wasn't and with one push, they managed to turn baby with forceps and with one more final push they managed to pull her out at 1.30pm. All was well and she was 8lbs 15oz - a good size but not the 10+ pounder that the scans were suggesting. I would much rather have had a naturally occurring birth but it was fine. Hard going of course but manageable and the reward at the end makes me feel like I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. I did hypnobirthing which was great but there were definitely moments where I said to DH "WTF was I thinking with this hypnobirthing shi*?!?!" 😂 I coped with just gas and air but the spinal was definitely a welcome relief as with her being back to back, the pressure on my back passage was intense! 😮 I think doing it again, I would personally choose induction over c section purely due to recovery time. I wonder if you do end up needing c section, perhaps you could try for your second baby sooner than 18-24 months, but just know that you'll be having another c section for that delivery too?
Good luck whatever you decide and all the best for baby's arrival ❤️

I was induced at 39 weeks due to a heart problem developed in pregnancy. I had a balloon catheter in as I was already dilated 2cm. The worst part was being stuck on the induction ward in (unbeknownst to me) in early labour for several days as there was a waiting list to have my waters broken.

I thought I was having Braxton hicks but they were really contractions.

By the time I got my waters broken I was already 5cm and baby was out in around 4 hours surprising the midwife. My baby came so quickly I had induced back labour on paracetamol and gas and air. I had an episiotomy but didn't tear. No other interventions.

I felt upset when I realised I was going to have a very medicalised birth and was quite sceptical of the hypnobirthing course I'd done but actually the breathing got me through the birth with very minimal pain relief.

I had a terrible pregnancy but for me induction was fine and I found giving birth an incredible experience overall.

Forgot to mention I had an episiotomy just prior to forceps which healed really well

Had our first induced at 41+1 - my choice, I booked an induction for earliest possible date as I had a lot of anxiety in pregnancy.
I went into hospital at 2cm, had a sweep, following day they broke my waters at 1030 and was given 4 hours to get to active labour at 4cm. My body was a little slow to respond, and after 6 hours they said I’d need the hormone drip (I didn’t want it). Fortunately labour then started naturally for me and I got to 10cm 4 hours later, baby boy arrived 45 mins after that.
I had pethidine and entonox - would have liked the epidural but apparently didn’t have time. Ended up with an episiotomy as I didn’t want to tear - I asked the midwife to do the cut, as I was struggling with his head.
I’m pleased I had the induction and didn’t wait for my waters naturally - baby boy was 8lb 11oz as it was!
Fingers crossed for you, and hope your experience is as close to what you want it to be.

I had an induction with my first as he was almost two weeks late. I held on as long as possible but they wouldn’t let me go any longer. They did a balloon induction which broke my waters but didn’t really move labour along so I had a drip to get things going. Prior to the drip I had an epidural as I had read the drip could cause intense contractions/ pain and I was scared. I slept a lot after the epidural and DC was born about 15 minutes after I woke up. I had one stitch. I didn’t feel any pain.

I was induced early with my second due to complications and went for an epidural again, but no balloon this time as they broke my waters manually. It wasn’t as good an experience because there were serious concerns for me and the baby but I didn’t tear and was in very little pain.

Good luck OP!

I've had two inductions at 37 weeks for pre-eclampsia. My first was better than my second. However my second was malpositioned, and I do not feel the induction had any part to play with it.

What was the outcome?
Vaginal birth
How many hours did it take?
In total? From first gel to baby it was a bit less than 33 hours. In labour? 11.5 hours, all on the drip.
Did you tear?
Yes. Second degree tear. Very common.
Do they scan you for estimated weight before induction or anything?
Nope. If there's a question about baby's position they might.
What was your babys weight?
7lb5. No GD.
How many weeks were you?
37+1
And what form of pain relief did you have?
Gas+air throughout (except pushing) and diamorphine injection at 5cm/6 hours in.

Tbh it was all fine. While it might not have been the way I wanted to go into labour, I got to follow much of my birth plan, particularly in regards to pain relief. I do not regret having either induction, and would choose induction over an elective C-section every time.

ETA: Just saw the epidural question.
At what stage did you get an epidural if you had one?
While I didn't have one with my first, I did with my second. The answer is when I couldn't go on any more. Ironically, it was at the same dilation in both births (5cm) I needed stronger pain relief, but at very different lengths of labour (6 hours vs. 11 hours in). Many people say to get the epidural prior to the drip, but I wanted to try without. I didn't need it with my first, but did with my second.

OP, to prepare for induction, work on softening your cervix.

Eat dates, lots of
Raspberry leaf capsules
Sex (semen)
pop up a evening primrose. And what ever else you can do. The softer your cervix, the higher chance of having a positive experience.

Good luck. Xx

Diabetic here - induction at 39 weeks-perfect pregnancy to this point they were just worried she was getting big. Went in at 7am had pessary about 9 heart rate not happy but settled down. Over next 7/8 hours but of back ache, mild contractions so back on monitor to find every contraction causing baby's heart rate to drop. Emergency cs. Baby weighed 7lb 6oz.

#1 induced at 40 weeks. 10lb 2oz. Won’t lie, he was difficult to shift!

#2 induced at 36 weeks. 9lbs.

#3 induced at 36 weeks. 7lbs 1oz

I had an epidural with them all. 2&3 shot out!

I was induced at 38 weeks due to preeclampsia and GD . she’s my first born almost 3 weeks ago now , mine went very well and very fast. They gave me the first gel at 11am and the 2nd 5-6 hours later my waters went on there own . I was 2cm dilated around 11pm and I gave birth at 1am it all happened very fast in the end I didn’t have time for an epidural but I’m actually glad now the gas and air did the trick honestly the worst part of the whole thing was my contractions after my water broke until I gave birth. The only thing I would change is maybe have gas and air first and save the petidine for later on in labour I had it early and then couldn’t have it again . I had a 2nd degree tear which I haven't really noticed to be honest. I was pretty out of it on the gas and air so I'm missing bits of time I have to keep asking my DH questions about the birth and leading up to it . But I didn't push for long and I don't actually remember any pain during the birth.

OP, an epidural doesn't increase the likelihood of needing a c section, but it can increase the likelihood of an assisted vaginal birth so a forceps or ventouse birth. If they are unsuccessful with the forceps or ventouse then they will revert to a c section.