Are inductions actually that bad?

[Meeting]

I'm 40+1 and have a midwife appt today where I'll be offered a sweep. If that doesn't work I can book to have an induction.

I have seen a lot of negativity towards induction online but don't really understand why if I'm being honest. Should I book one in for after the weekend when I'm close to 41 weeks? I definitely don't want to get to 42.

Have you had one, if so, what was your experience like?

Both my pregnancies were induced due to gestational diabetes. Nothing to measure them against both very speedy, under 6 hours ,
one important thing if you do go with induction they can be very fast. I had a similar experience to @bert3400 with my second. The midwife refused to give me gas and air as she said it was too early, when she actually checked I was 10cn. I ended up having one puff of gas and air before he was born. That was not pleasant but would have been fine if she had just believed me. If someone is going in with you make sure they are assertive about pain relief still haven’t forgiven my other half😉

I didn’t reach the stage of induction before my baby needed an emergency csection due to preeclampsia. I was waiting to be induced though so I would have attempted it. For my second I went for an elective.

i have one friend who induction worked very well both times (she was 39 weeks both times, induced after showing signs of high bp). Then I have two friends whose inductions failed to fully dilate (8cm and 9cm) and they both ended up with csections. So I guess their bodies were not ready. Interestingly they were both 41 weeks by that point with no signs of labour before being induced. First babies. One of them just opted for an elective csection for her second baby. The other is pregnant again now and going to try for a vbac.

I’m sorry you went through that. This was my experience too. Multiple pessaries, waters broken at not even 1cm dilated, had to use gas and air while they did it and the most painful thing I’ve every been through - it took a doctor about 15 minutes to break my waters. Then I had hours of painful pointless contractions on pitocin and didn’t dilate any further at all and ended in an emergency section as me and baby were both struggling.

My first was a vaginal spontaneous delivery and im currently pregnant with number three. I have point blank refused induction from day one and if baby doesn’t come of their own accord before 41 weeks I’ll be having an elective.

However - I was induced at 37 weeks as baby’s growth had stalled and I know quite a few people who had very straightforward inductions - my best friend was induced with her first at 39 weeks and he was delivered 3 hours later, for some people closer to due date it’s just the push they need to get going. In my case he just was not ready to budge yet.

Apologies meant to quote @CeciliaMars

I think it depends on what kind of birth you want. I was told at 8 weeks that induction would be discussed with me, and it's something I 100% want to avoid unless medically necessary.

I'm researching the huge rise in induction rates at the moment, looking into why, the causes, the outcomes etc especially as I know I'll probably need to advocate for myself. I want to be left to go into labour spontaneously and labour at home for as long as possible before going in to hospital.

I’m had induction with my first. It was awful very traumatic. Ended with an emergency section. Has made me terrified of natural births. I’m pregnant now and have opted for a planned section this time.

I think it depends on whether you're naturally very nearly ready to go and just needs a little push or your body is absolutely not ready and you need fairly serious encouragement.

I was 41 weeks and age 42 with second baby and slightly dilated so they did a couple of sweeps but nothing happened really. They then inserted a foley balloon (basically a catheter that they fill with water). I'm not sure if they still do this as an induction technique and I think you do have to be slightly dilated before they can, it might be worth looking into as it's quite a gentle way of getting things started, no medication. That kicked things off but they then also broke my waters and things went pretty quickly after that (I sort of wish I'd stuck with the more manageable pace). It was generally a positive outcome though and no issues.

I’m afraid mine was pretty bad too
OP - and knowing what I know now I’d ask for an elective c-section instead.

About a third end in emergency c section, and another third are instrumental deliveries (although - the rate of this is high for first time mothers anyway).

I went down the whole ‘cascade of interventions’, and was in retrospect woefully underprepared because while I think I’m quite pragmatic, literally nothing I was expecting to happen did.

Days on a ward (awful), no sleep so exhausted throughout, left to labour on a shared ward for most of it, no birth pool or anything available, contractions went crazy after waters broken, ended up with an epidural strapped to a bed in a brightly lit room with wires attached and a forceps and episiotomy which took a long while to heal from.

Next time I’ll be booking an elective c-section for 42 weeks if the baby doesn’t arrive on time - don’t fancy rolling the dice on another induction, it took me about a year to stop waking up in the night thinking about it.

For me I would want to know how likely I was to actually end up having a vaginal birth and weigh it up. Eg if I looked at my hospitals stats and saw that 70% of first-time mums having an induction end up having an emergency c-section then I would strongly consider requesting an ELCS instead. But it’s all down to personal preference and circumstances.

I had an induction with my first. Gel inserted twice which broke my waters and did start the contractions. I then had to have a drip to keep the contractions going. All done and dusted in less than 12 hours which is very quick compared to my second, he came along without an induction but I was in labour for days!!

I'm currently pregnant for a second time and have found myself wanting an induction again! It's caught me by surprise because I suppose we're so used to hearing things like how painful it is etc. But actually with my first, the induction was fine. I had the gel inserted around 2am Saturday morning, spent the night in hospital, had a nice breakfast, quite an uneventful day until about 9pm when I had my first contractions. Was in active labour for maybe just over an hour.

I did take all the pain relief available to me and I also had an episiotomy and forceps delivery HOWEVER it was not to do with the induction per se ...rather the midwife took the eye off the ball for a couple of hours and that was when DD's heart rate dropped and when they realised they checked me and saw baby was literally crowning wanted to get her out asap.

The induction process for me otherwise went very smoothly and I'd do it again.

Mine was fine but it was my 3rd baby. It was a pessary which worked quickly and baby was out a few hours later. I was incredibly lucky but did not have time for pain relief other than gas and air.

I also had a sweep and as I’d already had one and it hurt like hell I insisted on gas and air for this too!!!

I was induced at 42 +5 with dc1.

I had had a sweep and there was no sign of any movement!

I had the pessary at 10pm and was told it would take a while and to expect some prostin pains. After a couple of hours I asked for some painkillers as I was quite uncomfortable. I had 2 paracetamol and a hot bath. The staff heard me groaning in the bath and decided they should examine me. Turned out I was 9cms dilated and I was whisked through to the labour suite where dc was born not long after after me having some gas and air.

I was fed up of being so overdue so was very glad to have been induced.

Good luck @Meeting