Natural labour vs induced labour?

[EllieRosesMammy]

Hi all!

Just a general question really for anyone who has had both an induced labour and a natural one.

All 3 of my previous labours have been induced, waters broken for me and oxy drip to speed up contractions with all 3 - so I don't know any other way 😅

Obviously hoping to go naturally with this one, however I've heard that being induced is way more intense and painful than going into labour naturally. Will I even know I'm in labour at the start if I go naturally? 🤣 My contractions have always gone from nothing to very painful with little time between them, I've never had that build up of intensity🤦🏻‍♀️

Also I've been having really uncomfortable braxton hicks with this pregnancy (or what I assume is only braxton hicks) as I was on the monitor last week and they claimed I wasn't having real contractions yet the TOCO reading said 50+ but when I've been in actual labour before they're barely hitting 25 sometimes🤣 (don't think I trust that thing at all)

Xx

My first one I went into labour naturally, it was a fairly quick labour at 5 hours from start to finish, all very text book, breathed through the contractions, no pain relief, good experience. It did hurt obviously.

Second I was induced as over 40 years old and other risk factors, the contractions seems to ramp up quickly and were far more intense than my first labour, I struggled to breathe through and felt out of control and panicked, luckily again it was just 5 hours from when my waters were broken, but if I'd had time I would have had an epidural.

I went into natural labour on my 1st baby at 40+10w - I actually found this the worst of my labours despite it all going smoothly and lasting for 6hrs. My 2nd baby I went into labour naturally again at 40+9w; found this labour a lot more relaxed and went with the flow and it was a lot quicker at 1hr 30 mins. My 3rd baby I was induced on for being 40+13w - I was absolutely dreading being induced but it couldn't have gone any better. My cervix was unfavourable on examination so I had the pessary put in at 2.40pm, I didn't have so much of a pain for the rest of the day but out of nowhere my waters broke at 10.30pm and I gave birth 1hr 27mins later. My 4th baby I was induced at 39+3w due to gestational diabetes. I was labouring well and quick again after having a pessary put in, but ended up having to have an emergency c-section as my waters broke and baby turned transverse at the last second.

The TOCO reading for contractions is a relative reading, not absolute. It is extremely sensitive to placement etc, so you can't compare one TOCO measurement session to another. That's what my labour suite midwife told me anyway!