When I was induced the gels worked well enough for my doctor to be able to break my waters. My cervix was pretty tightly closed before. I had one lot of gels the night before and a second lot in the morning, then my waters broken a couple of hours later.

Once my waters were broken I started contracting, but I needed the drip a few hours later as DD wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't dilating. After the drip the contractions were much worse and I think it would have been good to have an epidural then.