With my first I got induced at 40+5 because I suddenly couldn't feel him move, the fluid was super low. It was really scary and I just wanted to get him out safely. They induced me with foley balloon, I was having some mild contractions on my own so they didn't do pitocin. It took 12 hours to get to 6 cm, and then another 12 hours till he was born. I spent over 2 hours pushing, and did need pitocin by the end (contractions were slowing down and spacing out, due to my misery and exhaustion).

I did not get the epidural. But I actually think I should have. Labor was violent and agonizing and I couldn't focus properly on breathing and pushing because I was in such debilitating pain. I will definitely be getting it this time around, being induced next week at 39+2. I say that just to encourage you to keep an open mind about the epidural!

Good luck!!

I didn’t want an epidural either but the pain from the induction got really unmanageable - contractions were pretty much constant and I didn’t have enough time to catch my breath and regroup. The worst was really when I’d have a contraction and the baby would start to move and wriggle downward - it pretty much became impossible to handle that pain on top of the back to back contractions and I was crying out for an epidural, which I don’t think I even felt. This time I’m actually looking forward to the epidural - no need to endure that again.

Overall my induction had a positive outcome - I started out 0cm dilated but my OB was very patient and 3 days later I had a vaginal birth to a healthy baby, and only had to push three times before he was finally out!