new mom: question about induction

[Anonymous]

I am due to have an induction next week at 39 weeks 6 days. I have high bp and OB recommended we have induction. My question is for those who have previously been induced. I have read a lot on the topic, but want to hear personal stories. My worry is primarily that the labor will end in a c-section. I'd rather have a vaginal delivery. I have thinned out, but not yet dialated (if that makes a difference). What has been your experience? At what point (if you did) did you opt for an epidural? Do you think this affected your laboring process?

Thanks so much in advance.

New momma to be

[Anonymous]

Hi-

I was induced at 42 weeks with my 2nd pregnancy. I went in at 7:30 and was all hooked up to the IV and receiving pitocin by about 8:30. A couple of hours after that, my water broke. By about noon, I was having a lot of pain and got my epidural. My son was born after only about 5 minutes of pushing at 3:00pm. He was my 2nd so that may have something to do with how quickly he was born, but I also felt like he was a lot lower since he was late and "right there" when I actually started to push him out. A friend of mine was just induced on Friday and she had her baby vaginally, too. This was her first. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I had a great induction at 40 6/7. I went out for a nice dinner (steak and fries and a little red wine). I then went home and got my bags and went to the hospital with my parents and husband. We checked in and went to Labor and Delivery. The cervical ripener (cervidil) was placed for only 15 minutes or so (baby's heart rate went up a bit). The nurses checked on me a bit that night and by the morning I was soft and started pitocin around 7am! I had an epidural placed after an hour or so of pitocin (i wanted to feel like i labored a little ! ). I was fully dilated by 1pm and started pushing shortly afterwards. I delivered my DD at 3ish. It was a great experience. Three of my friends have been induced either for post dates or Blood pressure and all have had vaginal deliveries.

[Anonymous]

Hi-- I was induced with my second child in August. I had already been pretty significantly dilated and effaced for a few weeks so the OB suggested induction to get the show on the road. I actually didn't mind it at all and in fact I liked the predictability of it-- eg. I went to the hospital at 7:30 AM, they had a room all ready for me (as opposed to my first child when I had to pace around a busy waiting room with heavy contractions!), and I had a chance to get settled and comfortable before everything started happening. I had an epidural about an hour or 90 minutes after the pitocin started, and was relatively comfortable when I delivered vaginally about 2 hours later. I should mention that since I had already made pretty good progress on the effacement/dilation before we started, it didn't take much pitocin at all to get things going, but my contractions weren't any worse than when I went into labor naturally with my first, and it was a much shorter labor.

This is obviously not a textbook case of a natural childbirth, but it worked for us!

[Anonymous]

Ask your doctor what your Bishop's score is. It's a numerical score that's supposed to help you determine the likelihood that an induction will end in a c-section. It's presumably to help you make a decision. It may not be helpful for you if, regardless of your score you must be induced now. Under those circumstances, I may not even want to know, but I just thought I'd throw this out there.

[Anonymous]

Congrats mom to be! Enjoy the last quiet moments, but get excited for your little one!!!

I had a non-eventual induction. I'm a very active person (kept up my running through 7.5 months, didn't gain much weight, had a career which involved a lot of physical exercise, etc.) so I was already dilated 5 cm (apparently th
e active lifestyle helped that along). Unfortunately, my activity was a double edge sword because I had low amniotic fluid.

The doc. scheduled an induction only a week before my due date. It was nice to know the date because I could secretly tie up loose ends at work, arrange for a dog sitter, clean the house one last time (major nesting!), etc. However, neither hubby nor I could hardly sleep the night before because we were so excited and couldn't imagine how much our life would change.

I checked in at 7am and delivered a beautiful baby girl at 1234pm (in time for lunch!). No drugs either!!!!

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I was induced at nearly 39 weeks for my first child around 1pm and delivered him at 12:26am. Had a super epidural and really didn't feel any discomfort until I really had to start pushing. Pushing took a while, but I was able to deliver him vaginally (even though my bone structure is quite small). Baby was healthy and alert upon delivery. My sister was induced as well and had a similar experience as mine. You'll be fine. Relax and try not to worry. Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

I was induced twice each time for PE/high BP and avoided c-section. Ask your ob/gyn about Magnesium Sulfate. If your BP goes too high and it is necessary then it is important. My first ob/gyn did a terrible job in not warning us how bad the Mag can be. Some ob/gyns prescribe it very liberally if you simply hit 140/90 unless you ask questions. We were able to avoid it for the second time. If we had not raised how bad our first experience was, our resident confided that they probably would have just written the order for it. Now if we had had the other symptoms of PE that we did in the first, the Mag would have been unavoidable. As bad as it is, its better than a stroke.

The epidural can lower your BP so you may want to go for it. I went w/o the epi until my BP went too high. The epi was preferable to Mag. I was lucky and it didn't kick in that much so pushing was fine.

[Anonymous]

I was induced at 39 weeks and 2 days due to gestational diabetes. Going into the hospital, I had already dialated 2cm. Was fully dialated about 2 hours after the pitocin was administered. Opted for the epidural about an hour after the start of induction. Was in active labor for 4 hours - the baby did not want to come out and my OB had to use a vacuum. But it all ended well and I avoided a C-section.

[Anonymous]

Op here. I can't thank you all enough for sharing your experiences. It has helped very much in both preparing me for what's to come next week and comforting my wandering mind. Thanks again!!!

[HrCreuzi]

I was induced at 41 5/6 weeks. I was about 90% effaced and 1cm dialated. I only had one shot of morphine early on. But my labor was also only 4 hours short (including pushing). I used a tub for about an hour and changed my position a couple of times. No c-section, no tearing. And one happy and healthy baby!

Good luck and congrats!

[Anonymous]

OP and other posters, I just want to thank you all for this thread - I'm due to be induced next week also if my baby doesn't decide to arrive earlier, and am starting to freak out (can you tell it's my first child?) This thread has been reassuring.

OP - I'll be thinking of you and hoping we both avoid c-sections!

[Anonymous]

I was induced at 40 weeks and in the end had an emergency c-section. Way too much excitement and drama, but all were healthy in the end. No epidural; had a spinal because there wasn't time.

One thing you should remember: an induction is not natural. It may be necessary, or even life-preserving, but once you take the pitocin, you are involved in a medicalized childbirth. That's not a bad thing, or a value judgement, but simply a fact. So, don't be a martyr about the epidural.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Pitocin contractions and natural contractions are really not in the same league. I know some women have been able to handle it, but there was no way I could hack it.

Read up on the side effects of pitocin. My daughter and I had hydration issues from the drug and it caused problems with her jaundice and my nursing. She spent a couple of days in the NICU and I was never able to get my supply up. They wouldn't let me nurse her in the first few days, when it is so critical for establishing BFing.

Some people are all for induction, but there is no way I would willingly do it again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was induced at 40 weeks and in the end had an emergency c-section. Way too much excitement and drama, but all were healthy in the end. No epidural; had a spinal because there wasn't time.

One thing you should remember: an induction is not natural. It may be necessary, or even life-preserving, but once you take the pitocin, you are involved in a medicalized childbirth. That's not a bad thing, or a value judgement, but simply a fact. So, don't be a martyr about the epidural.

Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear all is well with you and baby. I just wanted to clarify that I am not aiming towards a "natural" route. I have every intention on getting an epidural. I was just wondering others' experience with the progress of laboring and pushing once the epi was given. Primarily, I wanted to see if I should try to get to a certain point before getting the epi so as not to slow down progress. Again, laboring natural is definitely not my goal, my goal is to have a healthy baby by any means necessary.

Thanks again everyone for your continued feedback. I went to OB today and am still closed. I will be checking in hospital Mon eve and given cervidil to ripen.