If you were induced

[BabySnickerdoodles]

I had a majorly failed induction, so I hate them...but here's how the "system" went down for me...

I was hooked up to pitocin and labored throughout the night...so about 8 hours?

I was only to 2cm in the morning, so my OB decided to put a foley in (a little balloon that is supposed to "irritate" the cervix, and cause it to dialate to 4cm, then fall out).

While in that process, she accidentally broke my water, and since I was on my back all night, baby had turned OP (sunnyside up), so he came crashing down on my back, and thus started the horrid back labor, because they didn't diagnose his position, nor suggest any options for turning him.

I labored with the pit and foley, for about 10 more hours, and my OB refused to see me until the foley fell out. I was in so much distress, my nurse (horrible nurse) tried to get me to yank gently on the foley. Did it. Didn't budge. She thought I didn't do it right, so she grabbed, and yanked. It tore at my cervix and cause scar tissue that I had to work though in all of my labors (at 2-3cm point...permanent scar tissue).

The pit gave me continuous contractions, so my OP baby went into distress, and my OB came in, and said I needed a C/S. I had been laboring without drugs for 20 hours at this point, from the time they started the induction, and was only 2-3cm. They deflated and removed the folley before I got the epidural, was given a shot to stop contractions, and was rushed to the ER to get baby out ASAP.

Thankfully I was able to fight for a VBAC with my next baby, and have had 3 VBAC's, 1 with an epidural at the hospital, 2 at home.

My personal opinion is that as long as you have alot of good things going for you, an induction can go very well...but rarely do most mamas have these good things going for them, thus they end up with an unnecessary c/s.

1) Make sure baby is positioned well! Spinning babies is an awesome site... www.spinningbabies.org

2) Try to move around and walk while you are on the pit, and refuse an epidural until you can't stand it, so you can stay upright and mobile.

3) Wait until you are 4-6cm before getting an epidural...usually the epidural slows labor because your body relaxes, so if you are even 3cm, sometimes you stall, and they will crank the pitocin, causing baby to have a nightmare of constant contractions that you can't feel, but baby can.

4) Once labor is established, ask if they will *let* you stop the pitocin. Usually they say no, because they are afraid you will take longer than their ideal 6 hour labor...but sometimes they'll stop the pit, and you can experience a much better and healthier progression of labor.

5) If you can utelize the shower/bath, do it! Once yoru labor is established, it is so relaxing, and makes the contractions so much more bearable

6) Request for them to try the foley before breaking you water....once your water is broken, there is risk of infection, and a harder labor if baby happened to get in a bad position

Okay, I think that's all my advice, lol! I hope yours goes well!

[badmisterkitty]

Baby was positioned well and my cervix was ready and partially dialated, so we started with pitocin and my water was broken almost immediately thereafter.

I don't know how anyone walks around with a broken water. I was just sitting there on the bed and fluid would just keep gushing out.

Contractions weren't too bad, I got to 4 cm in a couple of hours, got my epidural and tried to rest. It was a boring day till the delivery part. I was thankful to finally be ready to deliver because I was starving and bored!

[snugglesnsunshine]

everyone's body is so different, plus factoring in how many pregnancies/deliveries, whether you are dilated already, etc.---it's hard to say what anyone else's will be like. But here's how mine went. my last baby (an induction due to my clotting disorder)---
I was induced at 5:30 am, dr. was supposed to come and break my water at 8:30am, baby was born at 7:35am--delivered by a nurse I got up and went to pee. soon as I set down, I said "uh-oh, the baby's coming out!"" (yes, the contractions were bad, but I'm always determined not to get an epidural) I told the nurse I didn't think I could even walk back to the bed but I was so determined not to have a baby on the porcelain pot that I waited till the end of a contraction and almost ran back to the bed. 2 easy pushes and she was born. much calmer than when a dr. delivered the baby. just a great experience for me.

Good luck! You'll do great! no matter what kind of birth you have. Aren't all births amazing?

[TwinKristi]

Everyone is so different it's hard to say. Even my inductions have been different so you really never know.
With my 3rd I was scheduled for one at 6am so I came in at 4pm for Cytotec. I spontaneously delivered at 2:30am after literally 15 mins of contractions. Never needed pit and never knew I was in labor until transition.
With my 4th I had pit from the start since I was 2-3cm. It started at 9am, delivered at 2:30pm. Things picked up at noon and by 2pm I wanted an epidural but I was ready to go.
With my 5th I was barely 1cm, tried Pit since it was my 5th baby and my last 3 were so quick! It took forever!!!! That was at noon on Fri and I didn't delivered until 11:45am on Sat. So almost 24hrs! I got an epidural after about 20hrs. :-(
With my last baby I was also barely 1cm so they did the Cervidil at midnight, took it out at 8am to start Pit, broke my water pretty quickly and I labored HARD until 4pm with no change at all. Got an epidural and instantly went to 6cm and dilated pretty quickly but we waited until I actually felt pushy to start pushing which was at 6:30pm. So it was a total of 18.5hrs! Crazy!

[busyteacher]

Originally Posted by badmisterkitty I don't know how anyone walks around with a broken water. I was just sitting there on the bed and fluid would just keep gushing out.

I held a towel between my legs while walking to and from the bathroom. Eventually it wuit leaking and I could walk without it.

[CherryPie]

OP, that is how it worked for me. I had 2 inductions (one medical and one b/c I was over 40 weeks and DH was on R&R from Iraq and had to leave soon for several months) and two spontaneous labors.

[hohaas]

I was induced with DD1 & DD2. I went in the morn to start the Pit and it was usually around noon when they broke my water. Then things really started to pick up. Before that Pit was a breeze, at least for me.

[nicolemariep]

With DS1 I was induced at 39.5weeks with PIH. I was 2+cm. They started the pit at 9am on a Wednesday. They told me I could get an epi when I got to 4. After laboring for 25 hours with no pain meds and NO progress, I finally got an epi at 10am on Thursday. I went from a 2 to a 4.5 by 2pm and I was complete by 5 pm. They had me rest an hour before I started pushing (because he was so high up). I pushed for 3 hours and he was born at 9pm on Thursday. 36 hours of labor. Not so fun, but he tolerated it very well, and my OB never, ever pushed to section me.

DS2 was induced 1 day shy of 38 weeks due to major pre-e. My cervix was still very high and closed, so they had me come in at 6pm for cervidil. Since it took them 7 tries to get my iv in (7!!!!), and they had lost the Dr.'s orders from my chart, they didn't end up starting the cervidil until a little after 9pm. Due to the fact that I was not favorable for an induction and how long my first labor was, they figured that I would deliver sometime during the following business day. Since I was in for a long night and long day ahead I asked for an ambien to sleep, which I took at about 10pm. I started having contractions almost right away. At 11:00pm I was only 1cm but my blood pressure was so high that they gave me the choice of either getting an epi or starting a mag sulfate drip. I chose the epi. I was dying in pain while he was trying to place the darn thing, and when they checked me when he was done we realized that it was because I'd gone from 1cm to 6cm in an hour. They had to start the mag sulfate anyway because my pressure was spiking to 190/140. I was very out of it thanks to the mag and the ambien. I was complete at 3am and I pushed through 3 or 4 contractions and he was born at 3:30am

My advice: Do not take ambien right before active labor. not good

[sandyj21]

I have been induced for one reason or another with 6 out of 7 pregnancies. Each of them ended up with a healthy vaginal delivery. My most recent one I asked them to induce by breaking my waters. That way I may be able to avoid the pit all together. In the hospital I went to as soon as you are on pit you are stuck in bed. If you want to get up to labor and if you are dialated at all I would ask if they would induce by breaking you water and then the pit is still an option if labor doesnt start on it own. (for most women it doesstart on it own within 24 hours.)

[JeDeeLenae]

I was induced and my body wasn't ready. That made for a horrible experience. Not to mention I had scar tissue almost covering my cervix, so it was a horrible painful experience.

The other induction was artificial rupture of membranes. And went super quick, but I was dilated to 4 already.