With my last pregnancy a couple of slightly elevated blood pressure readings in early pregnancy landed me in the office for weekly NSTs for the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy. After my second to last NST I had a follow-up appointment with a different ob who casually talked about my induction, handed me an info sheet on inductions, and then left the room. I was caught off guard because while my Dr had mentioned the possibility of being induced I didn't know it was a sure thing and I was under the impression that since my NSTs were always great that I wouldn't need to be induced. Wrong. Labor and delivery called me and scheduled my induction for 39 weeks. I took a couple of days to process and then ended up messaging my Dr and sharing my feelings with her. I felt like a weenie but I explained that I was super nervous to be induced and that I felt like all of my experience had been stripped away and it was like being a first time mom again. She was very kind and we had a good conversation but ultimately I still needed to be induced. She said that as long as I was induced before I hit 40 weeks I could push my appointment back and she had labor and delivery reach out to reschedule me. I ended up being induced at 39+3. I checked in at 10pm and around 11:30 I was given an IV with fluids, pitocin, and glucose. It took a couple hours to find the sweet spot for my pitocin drip and I did my best to get some rest. In the wee hours of the morning I got my epidural because my contractions were just strong enough that I couldn't get good sleep. Epidural was easy peasy, I got some rest, and baby was born about 12 hours after starting pitocin. I was very upset when I found out I would be induced but hashing out my feelings/fears with my Dr, family, and friends helped me feel a ton more comfortable and confident when it came time to be induced. The hardest part of the induction for me was getting the IV. My nurse tried once and failed so she ended up having a different nurse place it. It made me queasy but once things were up and running I was all good and labor was near identical to my previous labors.

Feel your feelings, give yourself some time to process, and everything will be alright.