I was induced with my first and I’ll be induced again with this baby (due in the spring), for medical reasons. (I’m on some medication that requires that I be monitored constantly throughout labor, so they want to be able to control it.) I was induced a week before my due date, and being that it was my first, they told me that it could take a couple of days before the baby was born. A couple hours after being admitted, they inserted Cervadil to help soften my cervix, gave me an Ambien and sent me to bed, saying we’d see how things were in the morning and start the pitocin then. Well, within an hour, I was in full-on labor, contractions a minute and a half apart. It was crazy insane to go from no contractions to barely-able-to-get-a-breath contractions. Oh, and because I have a weird reaction to pain meds, they couldn’t give me any, so pretty much my whole labor is a blur of trying to get on top of the contractions. My son was born 6 hours after I was admitted.

And I know that this isn’t the norm for women who are induced, and I don’t know if I would’ve had a quick labor even things had happened naturally, so I don’t really have any comparison. Like you, though, I was really nervous about going through the whole process and then needing a c-section anyway, though I was glad that I didn’t need one.

Hi Ali! I have experience with both. I was induced for my first after going 4 days past my due date. I hated it and will never do it again if it can be helped. I hate Pitocin. My first delivery tore me apart and I could barely walk for weeks afterward too, but I was told by doctors that the pitocin is what makes tearing even worse.

The second baby I was all for stripping my membranes. If you are ready it will work, if you aren’t it won’t. Your doc can do this multiple times also (but be warned, it does hurt). Such an easy delivery, labor, and oh-so-quick. Plus, the healing on #2 is nothing like #1. You will walk without pain and think it’s a miracle!

However, in your situation, I would probably consider being induced again too. It’s not like you’re choosing to do it at 38 weeks because you’re uncomfortable. That is a different story all together. If I lived far away from my mother and she had her ticket bought and was coming to town to help post-baby, that would be incentive enough for me. You have about 3 good reasons to feel the need to get the baby here. But maybe you’ll be lucky and she will come on her own before then. If not, does your doctor do the balloon induction without drugs? I hear that is a much more natural way to have it done.

Good luck with the decision. Whatever you do, make the guilt go away. And happy baby day when she comes!

I was induced 3 days after my due date. It was my choice and my doctor agreed I showed enough progress to go ahead with it. I was nervous about it but it was the best experience. I was at a 2 when I went in so they broke my water and started pitocon. I had an epidural 2.5 hrs into it and was ready to push 12 hrs in. All in all I had a pain free normal 14hr labor with no complications and no tearing. I did feel like I missed out on going into labor naturally, but that was over after a friend dealt with horrible contractions for 24 hrs at home b4 they would admit her and give her an epidural. I loved my experience. I think if you have a favorable cervix and are showing signs of progressing you are more likely to have a better experience. Good luck!

Check out this post from a mom who has had a c-section and vaginal delivery talk about the differences in recovery. From her experience the recovery from a vaginal delivery was MUCH shorter, although the first 2 weeks were harder.

I’m hoping for a vaginal the second go-around. It took me the full 8 weeks to recover from the C-section. It was long and hard. Now with a toddler, it would impossible without around the clock help.

I was induced at 41weeks 6 days- there was really no choice in the matter given how far overdue I was. I wound up with a C-section after 36 hours of labor and enough pitocin to float a boat.

I wish you luck and wisdom in your decision. That said, having been induced and having had a C-section, I plan to do everything I can do avoid having either again in the future. Surgery is surgery- the worst can, and does, unfortunately happen.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan-dad-heartbreak-wife-dies-giving-birth-twins-article-1.988398?localLinksEnabled=false

I don’t think I realized that you could be induced for non-medical reasons. Maybe it’s because you’re in the U.S.?
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I do understand that you have a number of convenience issues, but I would do as a commenter (above) suggested and try to postpone your husband’s oral surgery. This just doesn’t sound like a great idea to me, for your own sake as well as for your baby’s. An Estimated Due Date is only that – an estimate – and it certainly isn’t a Best Before Date. Babies nearly always come at the right time for their own development, but women seem to have lost faith in their own bodies, despite all evidence that we should be feeling precisely the opposite way. If you do feel strongly about it, eat some pineapple, Indian food, drink raspberry leaf tea, go for reflexology and have a series of three cervical sweeps over three days.
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There’s a few assumptions you’ve made which I’ve never heard before. First, recovery isn’t necessarily harder if your baby grows a little more over the week or two past your EDD. My babies were both late (8 and 7 days respectively), not induced, and my recoveries were nothing like what you described. In fact, my understanding is that the evidence demonstrates that natural births most often have the shortest recovery times because, during labour, your body is responding not to synthetic drugs, but to the body’s natural childrbirth hormones. Obviously, I don’t know anything about your first labour, so I may be completely off base here, but I suspect the recovery time may have been related to the type of birth you had and not the size of your child. Second, if your first baby was late, your second baby is likely to be late because that’s your body’s pattern. I’ve never seen any evidence that “second babies come earlier”. Second babies tend to come *faster*, not earlier.
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I think if you were really committed to an induction you wouldn’t have posted this and asked for feedback, so here’s mine: try to postpone your husband’s oral surgery, opt for a natural birth and walk/move around as much as you can while labouring so make the most of gravity and help the labour to progress naturally. We are built to give birth vertically and our pelvises cannot fully open if we are lying down on our backs – that’s partly why so many inductions (and other vertical births) end in interventions and surgical births. This is the best way to speed up your recovery time. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s statistically true.
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I don’t know what to say about your house move – it’s certainly not ideal, but you’re not likely to be involved in the actual move when you’re postpartum with a newborn so I’m not sure it should be factored into the decision anyway.
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I hope you take this in the spirit in which it’s given, which is only to wish you a positive birth experience, a healthy baby and a peaceful recovery.

This is my first baby and, I was induced 2 weeks early. I went to the clinic for the weekly check up and my blood pressure had skyrocket I was in Hypertension stage. So they rushed me to the hospital and told me the baby had to come out, I was so scared that something was gonna happen to him. But 25 1/2 hrs later (my doctor was 30 mins late and I will forever hold a grudge >.<) a healthy baby boy was born… mammy was stuck in the hospital for 4 more days because of the blood pressure.