I was induced due to medical issues, not enough fluid and babys heart was dropping too much. They broke my waters which was slightly unconfortable but im sensitive up there.. I was on a drip with the stuff (cant remember the name) I got an epidural slightly early as they were busy so they said if i dont get it now i might miss out. The contractions started fairly quickly for me once i had the drip in. But the epidural only worked on one side but they also had to rush me in for a cs and the messages didn't get across, so after putting in the stuff to numb me I could feel the pain of getting cut up so they gave me 3 more, The inducing part wasn't the issue, it was poor baby and me not getting numb.He was throwing up bile but ended up being ok (allergy boy now though)  But after not being able to walk or get out of bed for days I did my first nappy on about day 4 but was lucky to be still be able to hold him in bed.. OK so I went off topic.. But being induced isn't that bad, and even if you do have a painful birth that doesn't go to plan, it doesn't last for ever and then you have a beautiful baby ! Thats what i had to keep telling myself while in bad pain and worry that somethings wrong with baby !!

i had both and after having my last one naturally I will never ever choose to be induced again. The pain for me was stronger with the normal but it was fast and I had brakes in between. When I was induced with my first baby it lasted forever and didnt have a break I was in pain all the time for about 6 out of the 8 hours I was in labour. The reason is your body does not produce naturally the hormones and all that when you are induced. So all you get is what they give you in hospital.

Thanks everyone for letting me know your experience. It kind of gives me peace of mind that inducing shouldnt be that bad... lol... hopefully if i do have to get induce next week that it is quick and no complications at all

hey jo

as you know i was induced with bub 3 myself after signing in and filling out the paper work they will show you your bed/room depending on the hospital

but to let you know my inducement was rather fast due to my complecations it was just 1 hour and 20 minutes

they start by braking waters was rather uncomfortable they will only let you go with that for about an hour as it my cause infection if any longer than the time they tell you they also check in about every 10 minutes or so

if that doesnt work at all they will connect you to the drip thingy the hormone thing that produces contractions they will stay with you after that to monitor both you and bub and depending on if its an intant thing to wether or not they will keep uping the dosage mine was getting uped every 10-15 minutes until your contractions are about 3-4 minutes apart at this stage its best to be in your night gown or hospital gown

i never got to that stage i had the urge to stand up for some silly reason still with my track suit bottoms on never got them off stood up had contraction felt her head pop out to say hello but to late wasnt funny at the time but will tell her one day when she is old enough and have a big old laugh at the fact she wanted to say hello to my track suit bottoms before she said hello to me

hope this helps you jo and good luck hun thinking of you

My labour  was induced at 40wks 3 days, I was put into hospital on the Mon night and they gave me the 'prostoglan gel' to soften my cervix (not painful at all, can be uncomfortable when they put it in though) then the next morning they broke my waters, 10mins later they gave me the drip and almost instantly contractions started. My labour went for 2 hours 45mins... You generally dialate alot quicker when being induced

Regardless of whether your induced or not is unfortunatly going to be a bit painful for you, the pain is different to what you could imagine so please dont start loosing sleep over the unexpected lol, although we all do it :) Good luck with everything, fingers crossed  baby will be out before then xox

The only labour I've experienced was induced... My waters part-broke w/ no contractions so they had to...

Sintocin (synthetic oxytocin; the hormone that triggers labour) in a drip... But it was ineffective until they re-broke my waters... Then labour started full-on (2mins between contractions) immediately. I asked then if the drip could be turned down or removed... But I was pretty busy so I'm not sure when they did; just that it wasn't there at the end. After 2 hrs my contractions were wall-to wall (no gap). But I stuck w/ my breathing & didn't need drugs (I'd kinda gone into a trance-state with it) until they interrupted me b/c they wanted me to lay w/ my feet in stirrups to check my dilation... After that I couldn't quite 'get it back' so had some gas in the last 20 mins (so was a bit vagued out when they finally gave me leave to push).

Nowadays most maternity wards aren't so hell-bent on stirrups etc. Its good to have a birthing-partner you trust & has a bit of 'nous'... They'll fight for what you want when you're being a gasping beached whale... Hubby isn't always the best choice; get a stroppy girlfriend to come in too!

If you do end up needing some gas or something near the end (when its too late for  the shot)...Please remember this; when they tell you to push, you don't need to 'bust a gut' straightaway... increase the pressure gradually; that way you might avoid getting any stitches at all... Its not a race!

My labour was (mostly) natural & lasted 6hrs. Despite being induced. This was in the 'bad old days' of the late 70s. So I'm sure you'll do fine; just don't count on getting any knitting/reading done between contractions b/c induced labour gives no time for leisure.

Anytime you start to feel stressed about it (& who wouldn't; we don't give birth every day); practice your breathing. Play a game w/ yourself to see how high you can count in your head with each in breath & out breath. I'm a smoker & got over 100 so I'm sure you can do even better. You'll do fine

I was induced. They broke my water after I checked in at the designated time (after filling out paperwork) They started Pictocin right away and upped it every 30 mins. By lunch time, I was in pretty good pain. Got an epidural, took a nap and our son was born shortly there after,

The whole thing lasted from 8:00 to 4:40. I had no complications,

 I was induced I was given the drip and then my waters were broken.   I must be honest that it all happened fast and the contractions didn't take long to start and they hurt like hell.   (I have a low pain tolerance and have never had a natural birth) after 14hrs I ended up having a c-section.  I have heard that majority of induced labours end up being c-sections, as the baby is not ready to be born yet.  You could wait and see what happens rather than being induced. After being 14 days over then be induced if baby hasn't arrived.

Good luck,...  Can't wait to hear all about it!  xx

If your cervix is ripe, then they plug you into a drip, and let the oxytocin  do it's thing. In my experience it makes labour more painful. I have had 2 inductions (6hrs 50mins and 8hrs and 10mins) and they were far more painful then natural labour and it made me more tired. In my photo's after having them, I look doped out, but that may be the epidurals too.

If your cervix is not ripe, as in the case of my elder son, they place gel caps inside on the cervix to ripen it. I went into pre labour, I was up and down all nite and I was exhausted before I even began labour.

Labour is generally shorter.

I've had two spontanous labours my first which was 15 hrs15 mins and my last 2 1/2 hrs, I would wait till the last minute, try some gentle exercise and hot showers to help bring labour on. If you feel labour comming on you can apparently help make it stronger by consuming stuff with raspberries in it. Strong raspberry cordial is suppose to work well.

Anyway goodluck and don't worry inductions are different for every women. Some women have said to me, that inductions are less painful for them then naturally labour, you won't know till your in it.

Goodluck, Raven

I'm sure you'll get plenty of feedback on this, so I wont go into too much detail myself.

Yes, induction usually is more painful than if it starts naturally. I think maybe this is because you are plunged (if it works, which it doesnt always) into full blown labour, and the endorphins/your body dont get a chance to slowly get used to what is happening, so it can really hit you.

Yes, it can go faster. But you may panic a bit as the pain hits you, and that does not help you labour effectively - and you may feel you cannot cope without strong painkillers/intervention, which often have the effect of slowing everything down.

If baby is happy, remember, you dont HAVE to be induced, even though they have booked you in. You can change your mind and opt for monitoring of the baby/placenta/fluid, and give baby a few more days to kick the process off naturally. Remember that if you havent started naturally, it may be that baby isnt "ready" yet, eg not in the optimal position. When baby is ready, things usually go fastest and easiest. You are not officially "late/overdue" until you have passed EDD+14.

I was "offered" induction at EDD+10 and refused it, and DD1 came naturally on EDD+12, in 9 hours, with just TENS & Entonox. I'm certainly glad I waited.

Hope things go well and baby makes his/her appearance really soon, and you have a really good labour.

There are a few ways they do it.

With my 2nd bub they rubed some gel stuff on my cervix to stimulate it, maybe they just did  'sweeping or stripping the membranes' with in 24 hrs I went into labour.

another way they do it i think is give u oxytocin thru a iv which starts contractions then the usually break your water.

xoxo