Elective induction?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone chosen an elective induction for a prior birth. How was your experience? Would you recommend it?

I'm due with my second in August and I'm torn on whether to chose an elective induction at 39 weeks. The biggest upside is it would make scheduling care for my toddler a lot easier. It would also allow us a little bit of control over planning things like quarantine and COVID testing in advance (assuming I don't go into labor earlier). The downsides are that I know the induction drugs can sometimes complicate the birthing process. In a perfect world I'd prefer to go into labor when my body is ready.

Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I did an elective induction back in May, for exactly the reasons you've mentioned. It went very well, and I am happy with the decision and would do it again.
I was induced with my first due to PROM, so I knew what to expect. No issues with induction either time. My one recommendation is, if you choose an epidural, have it placed BEFORE your OB/midwife breaks your water (assuming it doesn't break on its own). I found there to be a HUGE difference in contraction intensity before/after.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't do it. I would just naturally wait for the baby to come, why use drugs to help he/she out?

[Anonymous]

PP from 10:13 back to add that I am 40. At that age, I did not want to go past my due date. That was another factor in scheduling an induction.
If you are AMA, that might be another factor you want to consider and discuss with your OB/midwife.

[Anonymous]

The scheduling aspect is definitely convenient. I had an awful induction experience, but I’m not sure it would have been any better if I’d gone into labor naturally. My cervix was hardly dilated and was very high even after 6 hours of cervidil. Baby was also sunny side up. Who knows if she would have turned on her own if she wasn’t be forced out.

I checked in Thursday night and didn’t give both until Saturday morning, so that’s another reason I was hesitant about getting induced with number 2, because I didn’t want to be away from DD for too long.

My second came “naturally” after a really good membrane sweep the morning before, and my experience was so much better. I was already close to 5cm and baby was very low and face down, so he was already primed to go. We got to the hospital at 2am, and baby was out by 7:30am. He was also about a pound lighter than DC1 with a much smaller head, which definitely helped.

I did hate the anxiety of always questioning whether I was in labor though. I was measuring contractions for two weeks, and then when I actually was in labor, I didn’t need an app at all to tell me it was time to go.

[Anonymous]

I went back and forth and I’m decided on an induction (I’m 38 weeks now) mostly for planning purposes and to have a full maternity leave since I’m schedule to go back to class at a strict date. It’s a safe way to have a baby and I also wasn’t sure if I’d end up needing an induction anyway if she went past 41 weeks.But I think ideally without constraints I would just let her cook for as long as it was safe.

[Anonymous]

I had an elective induction at 39 weeks right at the start of the shutdowns due to covid and it was honestly the best thing I did for all the reasons you mentioned. Made an extremely stressful situation a little bit more manageable and my baby is 3 months old and thriving now. Labor was totally normal induced and took about 9 hours from first pitocin IV (second baby)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone chosen an elective induction for a prior birth. How was your experience? Would you recommend it?

I'm due with my second in August and I'm torn on whether to chose an elective induction at 39 weeks. The biggest upside is it would make scheduling care for my toddler a lot easier. It would also allow us a little bit of control over planning things like quarantine and COVID testing in advance (assuming I don't go into labor earlier). The downsides are that I know the induction drugs can sometimes complicate the birthing process. In a perfect world I'd prefer to go into labor when my body is ready.

Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.

I did it at 39 weeks with my second child and absolutely no Regrettes. Easy induction, epidural, easy birth. But do it again in a heartbeat.

First kid was a home birth that also went great.

[Anonymous]

You have to be prepared for it not to work. If so, that means a c-section. And that means major surgery and possibly more care needed for toddler. The recovery is a lot longer.

[Anonymous]

I elected for a c-section for those reasons (I had a previous c-section, so I was able to make that choice.) it took a lot of stress away. My water ended up breaking the night before I was scheduled, so I felt good that the baby was coming on his own anyway.

[Anonymous]

I did it at 39 weeks. My OB encouraged it because my first baby was quite big and very close to becoming a c-section, ultimately did make it out vaginally with some bad tearing. #2 was looking to be big too so she thought it best to induce before she got too big. I was happy to do it for the scheduling reason -- my mom came out from CA to take care of #1. All went fine and I'm glad I did it that way.

[Anonymous]

I also chose to electively induce at 39 weeks 6 days and it was the right decision. This was a few months pre-COVID so I not induce due to those factors. But it did make scheduling care for my older child easier and had peace of mind that my doctor would be available to deliver my baby during the busy holiday season when lots of people are on vacation. The induction was the right decision 100X over!

[Anonymous]

I'm planning to do it at 39 weeks, for the same reason many have mentioned - planning and figuring out what to do with our older kid. I was induced with my first, which I was very anxious and apprehensive about, and it worked out great. Having had that experience made this decision quite easy for us. The logistics of covid + older kid are really tricky, and this helps a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to be prepared for it not to work. If so, that means a c-section. And that means major surgery and possibly more care needed for toddler. The recovery is a lot longer.

Sure, but there's also a risk of c-section for non-induced labor. The latest studies actually show the risk is lower with induced labor at 39 weeks.