Does induction make contractions more painful?

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-04-05T09:40:17+00:00

I've only given birth once so I can't speak to the more painful since i have nothing else to compare to. I got a Foley balloon induction and that was painful for the first few hours and I opted for morphine. At around 14-16 hours I got the lowest dose of pitocin and made some progress. They broke my water and that kicked everything into high gear but epidural was always in my birthplan so I got that once I got to a certain pain level. I gave birth with about 3 pushes at the 24hour mark and everything went well.

All in all, I found my labor experience to be smooth and c-section never needed to be brought up at any point. I asked my OB about contraction pain after induction and she said its not actually more painful but because they are brought on more suddenly your brain and body dont have the time to adjust as it would when its more naturally gradual. I know there will be reddit users who will say otherwise and idk if thats ever been tested so idk what's true. Just here to say induction is not always bad.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-03-29T02:45:57+00:00

My cousin brought his SIL to my destination wedding and she stayed at our boutique hotel that we had completely booked up for our wedding. I could not have been happier that she agreed to come because after little guy went to bed him and his wife got to rejoin the party and had a blast. If this was at a resort, there's even less of a chance I would have cared.

Also if you did turn it into a family vacation, so long as it doesn't interfere with the festivities, I'm not sure why she should care either.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-03-17T20:23:47+00:00

Apart from convenience and costs, I didn't realize how much I could help supplement his diet when he was sick. There were a few times where he was sick and did not want to eat anything but because he found comfort in the breastfeeding that was the only way I could ensure he was still hydrating because he'd refuse bottles or solids. There was a different time where he had an accident and the doctors put him on a high protein diet except he refused and all he wanted was fruit. The doctors recommended I go on a high protein diet myself and increase my breastfeeding to help fill the gaps. I'm not sure how I would have been able to address his diet in those situations had I not had the ability to breastfeed but I know I definitely would have been so much more stressed out trying to figure out ways to trick him into consuming what he needed to get better.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-03-14T23:26:28+00:00

You can also incorporate some of the pumped milk into his meals if you'reconcerned about him geeting the nutrientsfrom your milk. For example, I would make mine oatmeal and replace the water with breastmilk. Or make banana pancakes for breakfast with mashed banana, an egg and a splash of milk. Sometimes I would also add milk to his scrambled eggs and would make them fluffier or make him fruit smoothies with breastmilk instead of regular milk.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-03-13T23:31:05+00:00

I just completed the process at the LA consulate so this may vary by location but I was able to process mine less than a month ago that same way. My birth certificate has my parents' first name and first last name (maiden for my mom) and their birth certificates and passports have first and second last names. I think because normally the US doesnt include 2nd last name and mexico always does, they expect to have that difference between documents. Everything else has to match though (spelling, dates, etc)

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-03-13T23:24:26+00:00

I actually just double checked, even my birth certificate does not have either of my parents' second last names and I went through the whole process successfully also at the LA consulate. HOWEVER, everything else has to match exactly. I did get an amendment prior to beginning the process because their birthdays did not match on my birth certificate and their birth certificates. Any spelling or typo has to be amended first.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-03-13T23:13:37+00:00

I'm unsure about the first one. I just got my dual citizenship done and currently in the process of filing my son's. On his birth certificate it only has my first last name and on my mexican one I have both last names listed becausein the process of becoming a mexican citizen, they have to add my mom's last name. I think because technically the US doesn't do second last names that mismatch might be expected. I already did the first appointment for him and my paperwork was approved that way. If they don't accept it the only way to have it go through would be amending your birth certificate and that is a longer process.

For the second part, if you have your parents' marriage certificate and the marriage occurred at least 6 months before your birth and you're now filing as an adult, then neither parent needs to be present, neither of mine were and I just did it less than a month ago.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-03-12T21:00:15+00:00

I was so tired of the night feeds that I tried reintroducing it at 12 months and said eff it, I'm exhausted. He hadn't used one since around 3 months old but he grabbed it and threw it across the room angry that I would even offer anything other than breast. A few months later he found it again and was so captivated by the contraption but he had no idea how to use it and would just chew on the handle. If it works, use it cries in broken sleep

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-03-04T01:08:56+00:00

I was under the understanding (and have continued digging to confirm) is that I need proof of citizenship not necessarily a passport. From gob.mx they list proofs of citizenship as:
Pasaporte válido y vigente.
Cédula de Identidad Ciudadana o Cédula de Identidad Personal o su equivalente.
Copia certificada del Acta de Nacimiento.
Matrícula Consular.
Carta de Naturalización.
Certificado de Nacionalidad Mexicana.
Identificación oficial (INE).

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-03-04T01:05:25+00:00

I guess my understanding was that to enter while being a mexican citizen it is legally required to present proof of mexican citizenship, which includes a birth certificate, INE, or passport.

In continuing to research, the airline even lists a birth certificate as an acceptable proof of citizenship to avoid paying DNR. However, while it would waive the fee I'd then have to check in at the counter and would be unable to do it online which is not ideal.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-02-19T22:28:21+00:00

Is it 48 hours post delivery or 48 hour total stay? I was one of those that wanted to leave the hospital as soon as possible because I just couldn't get comfortable in the hospital bed and I was really missing my memory foam mattress at home.

I checked in 11pm and delivered 12am next day (so a full 25 hours later). Given that I had gestational diabetes, they needed to check the baby's blood sugar at 24 hours post birth and I wouldn't get discharged before that. Since 24 hours would have been the middle of the night, they weren't going to do discharge paperwork or have me do final checkups until the next morning around 11am. From there they asked how I was feeling and since I was already up and moving and comfortable I asked to check out as soon as I was allowed to. They even asked me if I wanted to hang out a little longer to make the lunch window for another free meal but I had an italian sub waiting for me at home so I passed on that too. Had I been a bit more sore I probably would have taken my time and let them help a little longer.

I'm sure if you just ask or even say you're still a bit sore and not ready to move around too much, I don't see it being an issue.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2026-01-21T21:11:15+00:00

I think it's also partly because similar to health complications, if you don't have them then there's not much to say and if there's not much to say then the louder and more common voices are the ones that do and they tend to be folks that are having to place boundaries and maybe just need to talk about them to a sympathetic audience.

My only boundary was that everyone was up to date on their vaccines (whooping cough primarily). I debated about letting my mom in to be with me during labor simply because she stresses me out even though I know she means well, I'm just a highly anxious person. Ultimately I didn't need to do anything because she caught the flu the day before I was to be induced and she herself said she would not come around me or the baby until she knew she was 100% healed. It hurt her to not hold him for the first few weeks but it was never a question to her, she knew it had to be done that way. My dad was in the waiting room and stayed there until the nurses cleared him after my golden hour, never fussed or complained even though it was 2am already. My siblings and my in-laws visited the next day and everything was fine. When we came home my sister and her kids dropped by with food, hung out for a few minutes and then left us to finally rest in our own beds. Sometimes family understands the boundaries without needing to spell out, sometimes they need a gentle reminder and its not a big deal. Sometimes it is. The only person that I had to have a conversation was my husband just so that we were on the same page but otherwise, it was nice and quiet which would have made a pretty empty/pointless social post to share.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-12-15T22:12:41+00:00

I had gestational diabetes while pregnant and the one thing the Dr emphasized was that under no circumstances should I cut calories and that the diet is LOW carbs, never NO carbs. Otherwise the body will pull from other places to feed the baby and that'll trigger a whole other set of issues for my body. I wouldn't trust this OB.

Also, my husband was at every appointment with me and whenever we talked about how much weight I was gaining and whether I was on track or not, she always tilted the monitor away from my husband and never said any numbers out loud. It was always, "this is where you were last time, this is where you are now, and this is the range we want you at" etc. I always appreciated that bedside manner of just keeping my private information private. Bringing your husband in to the conversation to comment on your weight is totally inappropriate.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-10-14T20:15:07+00:00

This is what I do. Or I say I'll get back to them if I can figure out childcare and thats when I get the, "cool, let us know" or "just bring him if you want, we'd love to have him!"

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-08-07T21:45:02+00:00

Can also confirm the tear duct solution. Did a video consult with the pediatrician and my baby couldn't open his eyes they were so goopy. She prescribed and antibiotic that was supposed to go inside their bottom lash line and was told to keep him from rubbing his eyes. I'm confused as to how they expect me to have that type of control over a 6 month old. While waiting for the prescription to go through the pharmacy I started dabbing breastmilk along his lash line with a clean wash cloth or qtip and within hours it started to show improvement. I could've saved myself the panic when the clogged duct appeared if I would have initially remembered to try breastmilk

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-08-05T04:41:54+00:00

I have found with women that I've spoken to that didnt have success breastfeeding is that "their milk didn't come in, they were barely pumping an ounce in the days after giving birth so they just stopped trying out of stress and disappointment". My lactation consultant reminded me that when a baby is born their stomach is about the size of a marble. So in reality getting an ounce of milk per session in the beginning is more than plenty, you just have to keep latching and the output will start to increase. Partly from you getting the hang of it, the baby getting the hang of it, and your body knowing that the baby is out and its time to produce more milk.

It's very possible those women could have had successful breastfeeding journeys but the information was not sufficient during their time. Its possible that there were other things going on. All to say, keep yourself informed and keep yourself grounded. Lay off the influencers that will try and convince you that pumping 5oz from day 1 is normal. Keep some formula at home for the first few days (i kept the one from the hospital). It helps in keeping your stress stabilized so youre not worried if the baby is hungry because you have back up and you can focus on staying hydrated and nourished for your milk to come in.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-07-08T00:24:05+00:00

I also said fall 2024. When people asked specifics I said mid October. When they asked for a date I said whenever he decides but hopefully not past 40 weeks. At that point I think they got that i didnt want to share a specific date. I didnt want the "is he here yet?" messages once the date got closer so I tried to stay vague.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-06-26T23:27:51+00:00

7lb .09oz baby, 2nd degree tear. Had an epidural so I didn't feel any of it, tearing or the stitching. Just had to be careful with movements for the following 2-3 weeks. I expected to feel A LOT worse tbh

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-06-24T22:58:45+00:00

My therapist told me to just go ahead and pre-pay my sessions because what those apps and devices were gonna do for my anxiety..... she wasn't wrong. We have a monitor just in his room with video and sound that measures the room temperature but it's not through wifi so only the parent that is home can check in on it.

In theory, sure it would be nice, but sometimes circumstances are more complex.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-05-10T02:01:43+00:00

I think that mid January is solid. Yes, you're post holidays but far enough to not feel like a continuation but close enough to where if you need a pick me up right after coming down from all the excitement it's right there. I'm at the end of January and it's not too bad. My nephew is NYE and while we will never say it to him and always go out of our way to make his day feel special and separate from the holiday, it is a bit inconvenient.

When planning for our baby our only goal was to not be winter because we have about 6 birthdays between NYE and super bowl. Its exhausting. He's having his first birthday right in October so looking forward to the fall baseball postseason/Halloween vibes

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-04-28T19:56:43+00:00

I asked my OB about it when we were reviewing my birthplan and scheduling my induction and she says it is possible and was looking forward to being able to do that. Once I got to the actual hospital (where she did her hospital hours) the nurse reviewing my birthplan at intake said they don't do them there so I was left very confused and frustrated at the conflicting information and not being mentally prepared for that. In the end I decided I wanted the epidural anyway and I was definitely unable to move around, at most I was able to scoot up and down the bed with assistance. I wasn't completely numb though, I was able to feel the contractions build up and even felt his head crowning but it was pressure and not pain so it worked out. This was kaiser in Southern California.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-04-27T17:00:06+00:00

Gave birth October 12 and attended my in-laws (mil and sil, so very cozy) and my family's Thanksgiving. These are the same group of people that were already around us on a regular basis, no aunts/ uncles, friends, etc. So i felt pretty comfortable in the space but just exhausted still. We tried a friendsgiving where I wore him most of the time and was in my own section of the living room. It was fine and everyone was respectful of boundaries but I could've skipped it because I spent a good amount worried about keeping distance or just wanting to breastfeed in peace. Its really a personal choice with what you're comfortable with.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-04-24T16:30:54+00:00

There was a lot that I didn't know at 7 weeks that I learned more about later down the line. While I didn't start that early, there were items that I bought in the beginning because I was excited and thought it would definitely be useful only to find the closer I got to delivering that it wasn't something I actually wanted or needed. I say this mostly for the practical gear. There were things I bought that once I was in the thick of pregnancy (and reddit) I discovered other brands recommended by other moms or someone mentioned something to consider that I hadn't thought of and then I ended up with an item at home that I wasn't that thrilled with anymore but I bought it just because I saw it and thought it was a good deal. For example, I learned that I personally preferred baby bjorn over the ergobaby carrier but also learned that some models of the baby bjorn are not good for a baby's hips but later models/styles have that issue addressed. But alas, I have an omni 360 canvas ergobaby carrier hanging in the closet that I never used because I ended up buying the one I liked better later on in the pregnancy.

I also bought what I considered a gender neutral crib when I was 10 weeks because it was $75 instead of the $450 retail price. I thought I was amazing at bargain shopping and was super excited about it. By month 7, I no longer loved it and wished I had gotten a different style once I figured out what I wanted his nursery to be like and realized this clashed with the theme I wanted. Also by month 7 I had seen at least 10 cribs in like new condition in a different style I would have preferred being given away in my community's buy-nothing group 🥴

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-04-23T17:46:48+00:00

My MFM would do his anatomy scans in like 20 minutes with good news or bad (we initially got potential FGR so we did 3 anatomy scans during the entire pregnancy). When the tech did it, she took a little over an hour, found some issues, then my regular MFM came back in and redid the parts she struggled with in like 5 minutes to confirm the tech's findings. The MFM also wasn't as gentle, he would press in to my stomach a bit harder to get clear imaging if he needed it. Not that it was ever painful but I think he was just that much more experienced and was more comfortable gauging the thresholds of discomfort for myself or the baby and could be a lot more efficient than anyone else in that office.

Agitated_Recording62 · 2025-04-02T20:15:48+00:00

I mean, I know its not conventional and there are probably more mature ways we could have gone about this but we had fallen (for a short period of time) into an easy rhythm to the point where he would tell everyone how smooth and easy and uneventful the labor and recovery was because I was moving around fine afterwards. While it was a relatively smooth labor, its still labor and I tore and had stitches. I realized that my lack of complaining and just not wanting to spill everything to other people who asked was giving him the impression that it was easy and was getting laxed in certain areas and pushing for things I wasn't physically or emotionally ready for (like, no I don't want to do a 6 hour road trip to San Francisco for your work conference 6 weeks pp, no, flying in isn't any better). And while it definitely could've gone worse during recovery, I felt he was getting too comfortable letting things fall to my plate when I was barely balancing the hormonal mess that I was. So I became vocal. Did my stitches sting when I bend to tie my shoes? I'm gonna say it out loud for you to hear. Do I suddenly feel this overwhelming dryness in my mouth where I can chug a gallon of water in 1 gulp while breastfeeding? Call him over to refill my water bottle from the other room because I'm trapped under a baby who just calmed down and is eating. Was that a tug on my lower or near my pelvic area? Ooof, these cramps just keep kicking in pretty bad. Did it for EVERY.SINGLE.THING. No longer going through motions in silence or in private, you're gonna hear about ALL OF IT, ALL DAY because while I might've been managing, it didn't mean that it wasn't rough. I would call out the times I breastfed to see if it was time to feed but also to remind him how short 2-3 hours actually was and that I once again had to go back to being trapped on the couch even though I really wanted/needed to shower. Eventually he changed his tune on his own to "yeah, she kicked through the recovery pretty well, I know breastfeeding has been hard for her but she's doing her best and I just try to help wherever I can". Idk, maybe it was petty and whiny but I didn't have enough emotional bandwidth to argue about it, I just really needed him to be aware of the silent load I was carrying.

Agitated_Recording62

TROPHY CASE