Induction Stories Please

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Hi All,

I have passed the 41 week mark pregnant with first baby. The midwives have tried a few sweeps on me so far but haven’t been able to do it because my cervix isn’t at all dilated.
I’ve been walking, curb walking, swimming, on my birthing ball every day, drinking all the raspberry tea under the sun, it doesn’t seem to make a difference.
I’m now looking at being induced but feel nervous about this. The only stories I know have been very long drawn out labours that in all but one instance have led to emergency c sections.

are there any positive induction stories out there from women who started at 0cm dilated? The positive stories I can find tend to be from women who turned out to already be a little bit dilated anyway.

thanks!

Hi, I just wanted to share a positive one as I know when I was looking, all I found was negative stories. I was induced in November at 41 weeks, not dilated at all. Had 3 pessaries between 3am and 5pm as I'd only gone 1cm after the first 2 with barely and cramps. By 10pm I was moved to the labour ward due to having regular strong contractions and by 0025 Dd was delivered after 9 mins of pushing. All I can suggest is after the initial half hour of staying lay down after the pessary is to get up for a walk as that's the only thing I did different after the 3rd and it really got going after that. I was really dreading being induced after all of the stories I'd read but it turned out to be a really lovely birth. Best of luck to you!

I had the pessary induction at 41+6, i was already 1cm, I wished I’d waited a couple more days (for natural spontaneous labour) as think he was almost ready to come out, however my actual labour was very quick and he was born the afternoon after having the pessary put it the previous evening (laboured at home during the night) I think because I was overdue the actual induction worked well and was fine. However I have friends who were induced early (at 39 weeks) and ended with a lot of interventions and four day labours. Not to scare you but just my experience. I think you will be fine considering you are already overdue. What do you work your dates out to be?

Hi Op, I had inductions with both of mine- I was really happy I got to repeat an induction for pregnancy 2 the first one went so well it was my preferred choice!

The best thing is you get to go through the labour in the hospital from start to finish. No guessing when to come in or being turned away, pack and come in at leisure. Nice reassuring monitor on your belly saying baby is okay. Also it is slow- but it meant it felt very controlled for me which I loved. It was just over two days from the pessary to baby for my first. I watched some good tv, ate food, slept, had a shower, listened to music etc. The first day was no worse than the cramps I'd get from my period. When the pains got worse later on the second day I had an epidural and slept for hours until it was time to give birth. It was really pretty good. No C sections with either baby, natural births. Second induction was a drip so was faster- about a day start to finish. But still all good. I truly think it is a great way to give birth- it appealed to the control freak in me very well :)

Sorry to add to the above was 0 dilation both times- first baby was a 41 week plus eviction like yours would be, second baby my waters had broken at 39 weeks without labour starting at all.

Thanks all. I wasn’t expecting any responses at this hour (yay for insomnia).

My due date was estimated at 25th then the dating scan brought it forward to 21st.

I think my fears mostly stem around pain (I am a big wuss). I don’t know how it’s ran at other hospitals but at my local you start off on a different ward where I believe all they can give you is codeine until your waters break or are ready to be broken, at which point they’ll take you to labour ward. My worry from others stories is that some spent almost 24 hours on this initial ward in lots of pain despite only being 1 or 2cm dilated and the codeine did nothing for them. It seems like the attitude was very much ‘this is all we have here so put up and shut up’.

my induction is booked for 41+5 but the anxiety is enough for me to put it off even more!

I have to agree with you on the pain relief front I'm afraid, I'd had the paracetamol, codeine and a bath and had to really put my foot down that I needed something stronger. The induction was started on the antenatal ward and they'd agreed to get me over to labour ward for some pethidine and they were sure I would be sent back once they'd given it to me as it can slow the progress. The delivery midwife took one look at me and told me I could have the gas and air and pethidine as she could see things really were progressing (I don't think the antenatal midwives were expecting things to progress so quick and I was doing my best to be quiet as was on a ward with 5 others). This was the only down side but make your voice heard and let them know -you are the one delivering at the end of the day and only you know how you feel.

3 inductions, and the second two were very fast (both at 36 weeks). My first was 10lb+ and back to back, so that was longer.

DD was born within an hour of me being put on the drip. In fact the midwife refused to examine me at first because she said there was no way anything would be happening yet. I got quite shirty and said “This is my 3rd child, I know how it feels when a baby is coming!” so she agreed to take a look to placate me. She pulled the sheet back just as DD’s head popped out, and she was born after one more push. I almost felt like I’d never been in labour!

I was 41+6 weeks with mine and managed to avoid the midwife sweep two out of three times it was "offered" because I'd read if you weren't dilated at all, it wasnt useful. I think I went into the birth with the idea of natural induction- my body would know and doesn't need intervention.

So that went out the window, as my lazy boy was not for getting up and out. I was admitted to the labour ward and had two pessaries as the first didn't kick things off. Laboured for two days on the ward. Paracetamol and lot of pregnancy yoga breathing/bouncing on the ball. I think day two I was chasing the midwife for codeine because paracetamol wasn't doing it for me!

Contractions weren't as close together as they should have been so when I was taken to birthing room I was put on the drip which really increases the frequency and strength of contractions but at that point I had gas and air (and remifentanil when things got more painful!).

It's weird but while at the time I swore I'd never forget the pain etc of birthing, that memory just lessens over time. I didn't have a traumatic birth, and birthed vaginally so my physical recovery was ok.

I don't have a positive induction story as mine turned into an emergency section. I won't go into detail but I just want to say you do have the option to say no to induction and ask for a section instead if you want to. That's what I did second time around.

That’s really interesting as this has crossed my mind but I didn’t think it would be entertained.
it only crossed my mind as those I know who were started off at 0cm dilated ended up having c sections anyway but after 2-3 days of painful (and fruitless!) labouring.

@Tofu35 how did you feel on day 2 of being on the ward labouring? Maybe I just need to get a grip of the reality of child birth but I already feel so worn down by the lack of sleep and trying to keep up all this physical activity to encourage labour, I can’t imagine labouring for 2 days without any major progress, I think I’d be begging them for a csection by this point (and I really don’t want that either!).

I probably sound like such a prima donna but I’m going in to this already feeling so drained and worn out. It’s a bit sad really as the rest of my pregnancy has gone so well.

That was basically my story. I could say more but don't want to scare anyone. All I know is I was definitely up for a section over an induction with number 2. I told my obstetrician and she said that was fine. My second section was so much better than my first because it was elective and I wasn't exhausted after a long, fruitless artificial labour.

I've had 2 inductions both with unfavourable Bishop's scores and a totally closed cervix. One was born after 6 hours of active labour--I didn't have any pain after the induction was started. The other one was about 8 hours.

Vaginal, no instruments used, no tearing and no epi. Had an epidural with both of them once labour was established.

Good luck!

All 4 of ours were induced so I can't compare pain wise if it's worse but I only used gas and air. I liked that it felt more planned - no worries about waters suddenly going in the supermarket or not getting to the hospital on time!

DS3 and 4 were started with a completely closed cervix at 37wks. All 4 were straightforward as far as labour goes with no further interventions and progressed quickly.

We had to ring at 7am for a time and go down to delivery suite. They did an examination and listened on monitor then put 1st pessary in and encouraged us to go for a walk around. Checked after about 6hrs to see if could break waters then once that was done we were moved into a room to deliver. It felt very organised to be fair and controlled. Only downside was they monitored babies more and I wasn't allowed to use birth pool or go to a midwife led unit but that could have been more because I was high risk rather than induced.

I read loads of things on induction with DS1 and was really worried because there was a lot of negative experiences. Hopefully if you need an induction it will be a straightforward one! If not, you'll be in the best place for them to manage any difficulties. My best advice would be try relax and keep moving as much as possible.

I've had 2 induced labours: one at 42wks, and one at 38wks. For both i was 0cm dilated at the start. However, for the 42wk one, my body was clearly more ready for labour as the whole thing took around 10hrs from start to finish. I'm in the US where it sounds like the induction protocol is a little different from the UK, but i had the foley balloon in for 24 hours as an out-patient, which did absolutely nothing, but then after being admitted i was given 2 Misoprostil pills and that was all it took to get labour started. 10 hours after contractions started (after getting the second pill), i delivered vaginally. The 38wk one required a LOT more to get things going (Miso, Pitocin, Foley, waters broken manually) and took longer (24hrs start to finish), despite being my second labour. I still delivered vaginally though.

I say all that because i think there are other factors than simply dilation that contribute to how "ready" your body is. For the 38wk delivery, the midwife told me on admission that my cervix was very high and posterior and not at all effaced. My guess is that my cervix was lower and softer at the start of the 42wk induction, even though i was similarly 0cm dilated.

I think the hardest thing about labour is that you have absolutely no idea how it will go! And there's a very wide range of possibilities! But you are doing everything you can to get your body as ready as it can be, so just keep doing that!

I was induced at 39+4 as I had GD was already dialled 1cm so skipped the gel so just had waters broken with gas and air then had epidural, felt absolutely nothing just some pressure towards the end as the contractions became very close together and had hormone drip, started at 10am was10cm at 8pm when checked, then left it 2 hours for baby to come down a bit more,
pushed for 1 hour but where I hadn't slept for 3 days maybe 3 hours I had no enegery to push when it came to it as I also couldn't eat on the drip so had an episiotomy which sounds awful but I swear I felt nothing at all as in the moment as baby heart rate was increasing I just wanted her out they did the cut and one push she was out, (even as well as I stopped pushing the epidural button about 2 hours before pushing as epidural can make it hard to feel how to push)
all in all it was positive even though everyone kept telling me dont get one honestly I think it was just the epidural that helped as people say being induced makes the contractions more painful but if u have an epidural u cant feel it so
im now 10 weeks pp and the episiotomy has healed fine is obviously abit painful few weeks pp but get a peri bottle for when you wee and it'll be fine!
people are more inclined to tell bad stories I know TikTok is full of bad induction stories I was petrified but was absolutely fine!

I've been induced twice, with my 1st I was 41 weeks and already a bit dilated so that was a pretty quick process. With my 2nd I was 38 weeks and not at all dilated, contractions started pretty much straight away so I thought I was progressing like my 1st but they just stayed the same for around 30 hours, when I finally Got to about 4cm and my midwife feeling sorry for me I think, they agreed to send me up to labour ward to break my waters. Literally as soon as they broke my waters you could feel the change in contractions and I was pushing on my 2nd contraction and he was out shortly after.
Good luck, hope it goes well for you!

Would recommend Sara Wickhams book / website for info on induction. Made me realise how over used they are, and how due date calculation has very little scientific basis. I am going to be refusing an induction unless medically necessary (baby isn’t happy or waters have broken but no labour after 24 hours). My baby will come when they are ready.

I've had 3, my first was an induction and the pain was significantly worse than my other two. I needed an epidural but the others I had no pain relief. My advice is wait, but if you go for the induction push for an epidural early on. It goes from 0-1000000 very quickly.

I absolutely agree with this. I think they're pushed too much these days. I only had mine because he was in distress and pooped in the womb.

I’d heard stories like this (“get the epidural straight away if you go on the drip”) and it put me into a real spin - I was more scared of the epidural than labour. In the end I did have the drip, and for 2 hours it didn’t do anything so then I was panicking about needing a section after all. Again, having heard doom and gloom online and from friends didn’t help my mindset here. But eventually it started up contractions, and it worked so slowly and steadily. I liked that the dosage is controlled and can be turned up and down to modulate your contractions. It really helped me to know that they’re aiming for 3 in 10 minutes - exactly the same as a spontaneous labour. I used a TENS machine and a bit of gas and air from 6cm through pushing. It’s still your body - your uterus muscles - doing the contracting, the drip doesn’t change that. I don’t know that it was any different from my first labour actually. Just wanted to provide a counter narrative OP. The drip doesn’t have to be a horror story! No one can tell you how your birth will go. Make the decision that feels right for you and your circumstances. Good luck!

they gave me a gel and then 5 hours later the gel again my waters broke on there own I went from 2cm to fully dialated in a matter of hours whole thing lasted 13 hours start to finish ended up having an extremely quick birth on gas and air only now I realise how quick it was the contractions after my waters broke were the worst part absolute agony . My poor baby was in shock as all went so fast didn't cry for maybe 8 hours after being born. I think mine went as well as it can ? I don't have time for an epidural in the end I was only on the labour and delivery ward for maybe 15/20 minutes and she was born.

I had the pessary, it worked super quickly - went from 2cm to 6cm in a couple of hours. It was super painful with constant contractions and I was screaming for the epidural for ages🤣 once I’d had that it was lovely - went for a nice nap, midwife woke me up at 10cm and I pushed for about 30 mins. Needed an episiotomy in the end which was the worst part! Was discharged 6 hours later.

People! OP asked for POSITIVE stories!! I don’t mean at all to dismiss your experiences but she doesn’t need to hear them here/now.

OP, try searching for induction on the Positive Birth Company website. That helped me get into a better mindset of feeling more confident and capable.

Given how many people have had less than positive experiences maybe it's good to also show OP that there are alternatives?