Inducement - longer or shorter labour

Ok so there are lots of discssions going ok. ( Thanks for them) But i am still very confused about if the labour will be longer or shorter if i am being induced.
For those who dont allready know im getting induced due to being so far away from hospital and having a very quick labour with my first. We live 4 hours away and my labour with my first was only just 4 hours.
From all the info i have recieved i have decided to get a sweep and the waters broken before anything else to see if it works then maybe move on to the gel and needle.
Anyway alot have said a full inducment will take longer and be more painful ( thats using the gel and needle) while others say it will be quicker.
can you lovely ladies tell me what actually happened to you. if your first was any diffrent to an induced second and what i can expect with both outcomes.being the sweep works or having to go on further..
thank you very much. xxxx

[shishka]

My water broke first, but did not have any contractions. When I got to the hospital I was only at 1cm. They started me on the gel first with not much progress. Then they gave me Pitocin. My overall labor took 24 hours. I am not sure if it was more painful, as this was my first baby. At the end i ended up getting C-Section, because baby's head did not come out.

Good luck.

[Tasia32]

From what I have been told second babies always comes quicker whether it is natural or not because the body has gone through the process of birth before and knows the deal and if I have been told wrong anyone feel free to correct me. I have only been induced once so far with the gel and iv(pitocin) and with that the night before they put the gel on my very unfavorable cervix and when I came in that morning I was 1cm dilated and I believe 80% effaced. They started the pitocin and I was in labor for 16 hours. Good Luck and I hope this helps a little.

[snagglepuss1]

Hi

i have been induced with all 3 of my babies, all 3 were overdue when i was induced, which was the main reason i was induced.
with my first baby i was 5 days overdue and my bp was raised. first pessary i had with her set me off into labour. my first baby took 19 1/2 hours, mainly because she was back to back, i refused an epidural and had pethidine which made me sick. never had pethidine again. she was eventually delivered by ventouse.
with my 2nd baby again only took one pessary to set labour off, he took 9 1/2 hours, his labour was much nicer, i used a birthing ball and just gas and air and went from 3 to 10cm in an hour.
my 3rd baby, needed 2 pessaries to start labour, he took 7 1/2 hours, again i used a birthing ball and gas and air and dilated very fast again.
my boys labours were much more pleasant than my first, both my boys were bigger babies too, my daughter weighed 7lb 6oz, my boys 9lb and 8lbs 15ozs. i am ttc baby number 4 and hope to do the same again in labour, birthing ball and gas and air.
i am one of 5 kids and my mum had been induced and had gone into labour on her own, she says neither are more painful, labour is labour it's all painful!
all i will say is (if you can) in labour keep mobile, it really is great for getting you dilated, for me i can't recommend highly enough a birthing ball for helping you dilate.
as for membrane sweeps with me, they never worked! and all the tried and tested remedies for getting labour to start, long walks, stair climbing, sex, hot curry, eating pineapple...none of that worked for me either!
hope this helps

[snagglepuss1]

also wanted to say, subsequent babies are usually quicker...but not always!
my mum is testimony to that, i took 45 minutes to be born, my younger brother was over 8 hours

[mamaof4410]

I have 3 babies and was induced all 3xs because of the ditsnce from my home to the hospital. and i was almost 40 wks with each cept for my first he was exactly 38 wks. But he was my longest labor at 7 hours, 2nd was 5 hrs and my youngest was 3 hours. I think it all depends on your body. and maybe genetics..my grandmother had to have her tubes tied because her ob told her if she got pregnant again shed be in the hospital from 8 months until she delivered because she only had 2 contractions with my uncle and they were 20 mins apart. so maybe that helped with my labor? i dont know but i think it depends on the person even though tests show induction can prolong labor..even though it didnt for me. good luck!

[alaysha]

My water broke the first time and I wasn't having any contractions and was 1 cm dilated and not very effaced. I refused the pictocin since I was under the impression that the water breaking will automatically send you into labor. I waited about 4 hours and nothing happened so I started the pictocin and had her 8 hours later. With my second I was 4 cm dilated and 90% effaced and delivered in 8 hours again.

[angela418]

I was induced with my first baby and I'm pregnant w/ #2 (I'll give you an update in 3 months on how that goes - lol).  I got induced b/c he was past 40 weeks and the doctor wanted to induce me in case he was too big and/or didn't have enough fluid in there.  The only thing that happened "naturally" before hand was that I had been 1cm dialated for a few weeks and I lost my mucus plug a week before I was induced.  My doctor had also done a membrane sweep several days before.
It took 12 hours from the time I got to the hospital to deliver my son.  They started pitocin shortly after I got to the hospital and I got an epidural a few hours into it once the contractions really started.  
I suppose inducing works faster on some than others depending on the situation and how close you are to your due date.  Most people I know that were induced had to have an emergency c-section b/c the baby wouldn't drop far enough, and in my opinion they were induced too early.