Debunking Induction Myths with My Own Induction Story

Hilary, circa 2009. I’m feeling huge, I’m pregnant with my third baby, after a bout of infertility for about 3.5 years between #2 and her. It’s finally a girl (two other brothers) and I’m just miserable. Does any of this story sound familiar to anyone? I’m even going to give you a little photo experience:

Hi, I’m Hilary — I’m The Pregnancy Nurse®. I’ve been a nurse since 1997, I have 20 years of labor and delivery nurse experience and I’ve had 3 kids of my own. I had an induction on my last baby. I consistently hear people online talking about how inductions are XYZ, and I believe that THEY experienced that. But I want to bust some myths about inductions with my OWN experience. I think you may find it surprising!

I actually shared it on my podcast, you might want to hear it directly from me:

Your Myth-Busting Guide to Induction

Before we get going — I had a good induction, likely because I used these questions (and you can use them too):

Some quick facts about this pregnancy:

• I was diagnosed with “glucose intolerance” at about week 10 of my pregnancy and was following the diabetic diet since then (I passed my 3-hour test but had a high fasting level — so that’s what they called me).
• My pelvis had separated. I felt “lightening crotch” and tailbone pain all the time. I was so miserable and doctors just said it was part of pregnancy.
• I did actually visit physical therapy for some side pain that they weren’t sure why it was happening (see my post pain under your bra line for more on that). I mentioned the crotch pain and she again shrugged and said there wasn’t much to do. She also didn’t have help with the side pain but did diagnose me with pregnancy-induced scoliosis as my spine had a bit of a curve that was enhanced during pregnancy
• Due to all of that I left work at about 31 weeks. Pushing with patients, and pushing beds was almost unbearable, which is a problem for a labor nurse.
• I was able to take state disability because I lived in CA — THANK GOODNESS. I am not sure what I would have done if we’d just had to go without income for those few months.
• Remember, this was 2009. As of this writing this baby is now 14, and just as wonderful as I dreamed from how miserable the infertility and the pregnancy were. 🙂 She truly is a gem and worth every ounce of this story.
• I was staunchly anti-induction at this point. I’d seen a lot fail and I just wasn’t a fan of it. In 2009 we were still inducing a lot of like 37 week babies electively — so I’d seen a lot of really poorly done inductions.
• I did not deliver at the hospital I worked at. I never did my husband always carried the insurance for me.

Alright, back to my story:

Ok, so I was past my due date and my provider asked me if I wanted an induction. I said no — because I know all the things as labor nurse for 8 years at this point. She says OK but I did ask her to strip my membranes and we schedule an NST and a visit for the next week.

NST is fine, things are going well.

I Have my next visit and she asked if I want an induction. I say no. Because I’m me. I’m stubborn and I think I know everything. She sits next to me, she takes my hand. She reminds me of all the reasons that going to 42 weeks is a bad idea for me:

• I do have the glucose intolerance which can make for larger babies
• My last baby was 9 pounds, and was a tough push-out
• I walk like I’ve been wounded in war — my pelvis is over this.
• I’d had 3 kidney stones during this pregnancy….
• I had a 4th degree tear with my first baby…. which lead to a horrible recovery.

I start to cry, and I concede it really isn’t smart to wait any longer. So we schedule an induction 12 days after my due date.

I go home determined to go into labor on my own.

I do the miles circuit before it’s even a thing. I’m on my yoga ball or walking every minute that I’m awake (all of this making me SO miserable with my pelvis that by this point is entirely divorced). I’m doing all. the. things. determined to go into labor on my own.

I’d contract every day about dinner time and we’d be like 3-5 minutes apart and then they’d just peter out. I can’t tell you how many times we called our sweet friend who was going to care for my other kids and gave her a false alarm. I was so annoyed at myself that I couldn’t get this together.

My oldest got real anxious about it. He wondered if I’d be there in the morning, he wondered if I’d pick him up with school. I felt all this guilt for stringing along his anxiety for an extra week or two. Poor kid.

If you notice, I took a lot of shame for not going into labor on my own. Which is SO dumb. It’s not “my” fault, it’s just happening. But I know I felt like I should be able to do this….. and I just couldn’t.

And then it came, the day before my induction. Labor still isn’t in sight. I cried the entire day. I didn’t want an induction. Sure, it did seem best — but I was so disappointed at myself, and in mother nature.

What was wrong with me? I had a few sweet friends call to check on me and I didn’t accept phone calls. I just sat on the couch and cried. And cried, and cried…. And then, I contracted again that night, and again they petered out. Just another middle finger from mother nature.

But the morning of the induction came. I had daycare all lined up. We dropped them off with hugs and kisses to a dear friend that was going to take them to school, pick them up — keep things normal, and then hand them off to the evening shift friend who’d let them sleep at their house.

I had NOT been induced on my previous two, so I’d always done the panicked calls at night trying to cobble childcare together. I marveled in how easy the induction childcare was for someone who didn’t have family close by.

I went in. My nurse was fine, the whole process was fine. I always forget how much the IV hurts. We sat there watching TV with pitocin running in my veins.

I should say my cervix was 5 cm by the time I went in. I’d been 4+ in the office, so that wasn’t a surprise. My cervix was definitely ready for this, but my mind — less so.

They came in several times to ask to break my water. I always said no. I knew that breaking water would put me on a path towards a failed induction/c-section. Although seriousy — at a FIVE Hilary? I’m mad at myself just typing this. I wish I’d let them break my water earlier.

Honestly, the contractions weren’t horrible. They were annoying — but VERY similar to what I’d experience at home with my others. I was just CRAZY bored. Like, ridiculously bored. There wasn’t telemetry monitors at this point so I was pretty much in the bed, which was fine because my pelvis was OVER me. I did move in the bed side to side, etc. Always adjusting the monitors for the nurse.

I finally just got an epidural, mostly because I was tired and annoyed at how my life was going.

I got a new nurse who gave me a pep talk. She believed in me, and I always think that it is really refreshing to get a new nurse in the room. New eyes, new viewpoint. New heart.

Finally, about dinner time I let them break my water. I think I was maybe only 6 or so at this point — so I really hadn’t progressed much.

But, about an hour after that I had my baby. I felt her drop into my pelvis. I literally thought she was going to go out of my hip bone. It was one of those moments when I was like — Drew (husband) — call the nurse back in, it’s time.

AND HE LITERALLY TOLD ME, THE PREGNANCY NURSE — “are you sure?”

And I think I just glared at him with the glare of a thousand split pelvises and he was like — “yeah, I’ll get her.” The nurse, being smart — came right away.

The resident came fumbling in (honestly, I can’t imagine being the resident for me at this point). They were NOT wanting to deliver my baby but I was like — either you get gloves on, or give me some because this baby isn’t staying put.

I was in a good amount of pain at this point. Probably just all the pressure of that baby just landing in my very tired pelvis. The attending came in and did her thing.

And she was born.

Despite how stubborn I was, medicine had saved the day. I was SO glad to be done with it.

Fun Fact: My epidural would also continue to make my right leg entirely numb for like 12 hours…. it was ridiculous. I couldn’t get up on my own until the next AM. I really thought they’d hit a nerve or something, but it’s fine now.

I’d also pop ibuprofen like candy for the next 3 weeks and I’d ruin my stomach lining. Man, when they say those cramps get worse on every baby they aren’t kidding. Just take it with food, my friends.

My friend brought my chocolate cake in right after she was born. I’d never tasted anything so satisfyingly after being on the diabetic diet for 7 months. Horray!

My pelvis didn’t magically heal. For years. I finally figured out a support belt helped a lot…. and honestly, it’s something I’m still working on 14 years later (learn more about that here).

The whole thing took from maybe 8 am til’ 7 pm. It wasn’t long because my cervix was so freaking ready. If I’d le them break my water when I got there I maybe could’ve had a baby before lunchtime!

But, now, let’s bust some induction myths with my own story:

Inductions Hurt More

I really didn’t think my induction contractions hurt more. That may have been from all the pain I’d had for days before. It was cramping… similar to the other’s. I know this is just my story, but if you tell yourself they’ll be worse, they likely will be.

I decided to just stay curious about how they’d compare — and I’m here to say they were very similar.

Inductions Aren’t Good

In this case, I’m not sure she would have come out without an induction. I really think my uterus tried to go into labor every night but just couldn’t get over the “hump” and gave up. I’m grateful for them, I needed it — and that’s OK.

Breaking Water Isn’t Good

So many people say you shouldn’t ever have your water broken but I’m really on the side that once you’re in a good labor pattern and your cervix has progressed a bit, it can move things along. Clearly. 🙂

Inductions Lead to C-sections

The Arrive trial has shown that after 39 weeks an induction doesn’t have a greater chance of a C-section than waiting to see what happens (possibly even less).

I have to say that an induction was SO much easier. It would’ve been really nice for my kids to have had an end date of the chaos. Plus, taking kids to my friends with us all calm and on schedule was really nice. Really, really, nice.

BTW, wondering about that Arrive Trial? I actually have a deep dive about it in here.

I hear a lot of people say that NO ONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO CHOOSE AN INDUCTION. But we’re not just thinking about a baby in a situation. In my case we had other kids, a husband, other things to consider. We can’t make everything about a cervix because there is so much to consider in a family.

Doctors Force Inductions

Some people may say my doctor pushed that induction on me.

But she really just portrayed the evidence to me. I knew she cared about me and wanted the best for me. I knew she was smart and wasn’t pushing, but that she really did think this was the best plan of action.

But it was just an offer. I could have refused. You can always refuse.

What about afterwards?

I will say that I had almost debilitating anxiety after this baby was born. At the time we really only talked about postpartum depression which I didn’t have. But I would have several panic attacks daily. I would feel the world literally falling down. I cried a lot. Like, a lot. I should have gotten help but I kept thinking they couldn’t do anything because it wasn’t depression.

Was it due to the induction? I honestly don’t know. I did have something similar with my firstborn. But with that birth I also had that 4th degree tear, and also learned I don’t get breastmilk…. so a lot was going on.

I do sometimes wonder if oxytocin pumped into your veins like that does anything to the postpartum brain, but so far I haven’t seen any studies that correlate.

Remember most everyone in the US gets a lot of Pitocin after delivery (WAY more than I got in my induction). Just something I think about.

Also, I bled forever. I think I spotted for about 3 months. My doctor even did a uterine biopsy. Zero clues. I think my uterus was just done. It really didn’t want that baby in the first place, and it peaced out.

So, what do I have to tell you with this?

1. Stop being stubborn. If you keep thinking you know more than your provider keep asking questions. Honestly, this is still good advice for me today, nurses are stubborn people.
2. An induction isn’t the worst thing. If it’s offered and it feels right, do it!
3. Don’t believe all the things you hear.

I believe other women think inductions are more painful, but it wasn’t the case for me.

I believe other women get forced into inductions, but that wasn’t the case for me.

I believe other women should wait to get their water broken, but that wasn’t the case for me.

And frankly, WHO KNOWS what the case will be for you. All you can do is make the choice that seems the best at the time, and keep asking questions.

And thank GOODNESS for labor nurses. Mine was so kind. I kept being suspicious I’d end-up having a C-section and she kept telling me I was insane (which, I was at such advanced dilation). Bless the nurses who turned my monitor away so I couldn’t freak out at every variable.

And a note for pregnant labor nurses: You can’t carry all the birth trauma you’ve shouldered into your own birth/pregnancy. I wish someone had helped me leave it “at the door”. It is so hard to not fear everything you’ve seen happen in your career, but you have to remember that you’re you — not them. Bless you nurses. You really are the best. 🙂

And that’s that. I hear so many people spreading fear-mongering about inductions I have wanted to share my story for a while. Maybe it rings true for you, and maybe it doesn’t. Fine either way.

If you’d like to get prepared for your labor, either induction or not — come join me in here. It truly is the easy way to get prepared. I’d love to see you in there!

And, if you’re not quite sure you’re ready for that whole thing, check out my free prenatal class. It’s your first step toward getting in the driver’s seat of your birth.