I was induced because my baby was small for dates. Like you said there are lots of horror stories and I too was apprehensive so after getting a 2nd opinion from my GP about the necessity of it, I had one last night of uninterrupted sleep and went in to the hospital. My story turned out really well. I had my waters broken and was hooked up to the syntocin and it all went from there. I delivered naturally after 9 1/2 hrs and managed to do it only using the gas.

I suppose the advantage of it being the first baby is you have nothing to compare with so don't really know if it is any more intense than you would have experience naturally. Sure it hurt but for me it was manageable pain. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

One thing I would change is because I was hooked up to the ongoing monitoring I felt like I had to be bed bound. From all the reading I have done on this forum I have wondered if this increased the length of my labour. Next time I want to try and stay upright, walk and use showers or the bath for pain relief. Last time I didn't ask and it wasn't offered but it can't hurt to ask for intermittent monitoring instead of constant monitoring. I used a fit ball for part of the time and that was also really helpful until I got too tired and my legs got shaky. The great thing was after giving birth, a bit of a rest and a shower I walked to my room from the labour ward an hour later and couldn't believe how normal and good I felt after going through something so intense.

So yes it is possible to have a good result from an induction. Just take all the information you have read from this forum and empower yourself so that hopefully you have the birthing experience you want. Good Luck!