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Childbirth

Waters have broken.... what now?!

35 replies

Spink · 19/02/2007 10:04

hello
I've just come back from the hospital - I woke up this morning at 4 to my waters breaking.. phoned the hospital at 7ish and they told us to come in to check if it was actually waters or just wee...
So. it was the waters (hurrah) but the hospital visit thing was a bit annoying as they went straight on to talk to us about induction if labour doesn't progress. We eventually agreed to book in for an induction on Wednesday, but my plan is if nothing has happened then still, I think I will still play for more time.
I had some little contractions earlier, not very painful, lasting 10-20 secs, ranging from 5 mins apart to 20 mins apart. Right now I just have periody type aches, so it looks like nothing much is happening?
Anyone got any advice or had this happen to them?

OP posts:

Report

fannyannie · 19/02/2007 10:06

The 'recommended' time period between waters breaking and induction is 72hrs I believe - I know with DS2 my waters broke Sunday morning (about 9.50am) and I was induced Wednesday... they actually had me booked in for Wednesday am - but it was 3.30pm by the time they got round to it............mind you this was a hospital that swore blind that I would NOT be induced if my waters went because of a previous Cs...

pucca · 19/02/2007 10:07

My waters broke at 4am (seems a popular time! lol) but my contractions started about 1 hr later, dd wasn't born until 28hrs after waters went, i think after 24 hrs of waters gone the baby is at risk of infection (dd was fine) so they give you iv antibiotics (iirc) and they prefer for the baby to come out sooner than later...

Good luck! how exciting for you

lulumama · 19/02/2007 10:11

oooooooooooohhhhhh!!

well, no sex now to help bring things on , but nipple stim can help get thing going, have a good bounce on the gym ball and think birthy thoughts!!

sounds like things are starting , so that is really great!

the NICE guidelines do say that you can have 96 hours from waters breaking until you should be induced, if labour has not started. So that would take you to early hours of Thursday . So if you are not comfortable being induced Wednesday, you could play for more time, by agreeing to regular monitoring, and checks for infection.

obviously, the bag of water has an important role to play in keeping baby safe from infection, but you can certainly go 96 hours

obviously, should you start to feel unwell, feverish, or just not right, then you must go straight to labour ward.

tips for natural induction

Biglips · 19/02/2007 10:11

good luck spink x

fannyannie · 19/02/2007 10:13

ooo that's intersting lulu - I when I had DS1 I was given 24hrs, DS2 was given 72hrs - didn't realise it they had increased the time frame again.......(and given that with both DS's my waters broke and nothing else happened I have a strong suspicion it'll happen this time round).

JillyBeansNW · 19/02/2007 10:17

My waters broke with my last two without me going into labour immediately. They let me go 5 days with the first one (I was only 36 weeks, and they made me stay in hospital) and then I went into labour myself. With DD in august I was in labour within about 4 hours.

How many weeks are you?

lulumama · 19/02/2007 10:17

yes..hospitals don;t tend to always follow NICE guidelines..some give you 24 hours, some 48, but 96 is allowed !

are you having a homebirth and did you find a doula, FA?

lulumama · 19/02/2007 10:18

fannyannie · 19/02/2007 10:20

lulu - no I've decided against the Homebirth - DH really wasn't keen on the idea - and given we're trying to rebuild our marriage I figured it was something I could 'give up' to keep things happy between us.

However I HAVE found a Doula - and he was absolutely fine about me having one - didn't really need convincing at all - I just told him why I wanted one (after explaining roughly what they are) and he said ok

lulumama · 19/02/2007 10:21

glad you are making progress with DH

Spink · 19/02/2007 10:23

Thank you everyone it is lovely to hear from you all ..
I am 38 weeks and 1 day! so baby should be fully cooked. Just as well it is getting started now, as DH is off to work in Italy for 3 weeks on Sunday, and would have missed the birth if the bub was on time.
I am bouncing on my ball as I type (a bit tricky) and will start nipple tweaking imminently...
and I'll let you know how it goes!

OP posts:

fannyannie · 19/02/2007 10:23

I'm still a little upset that I'm not getting my homebirth (well not a planned one anyhow - you never know with babies do you LOL). But Homebirth AND Doula were top of my list of things I wanted so I can't really complain that I've got 1/2 of my 'wish' list

JillyBeansNW · 19/02/2007 10:29

I set you the challenge of bouncing on ball, nipple tweeking and typing all at the same time .

My typing is always appalling when I am trying to bf at the same time

TheBlonde · 19/02/2007 10:34

Going for a long walk helped to start my labour off (waters went 9am ish, went to hosp for checkup which took hours, long walk, finally got labour going 5pm ish)

Good luck

JillyBeansNW · 19/02/2007 12:33

Spink · 19/02/2007 13:32

hello again! Had a sleep and contractions seem to be building up again... a bit more challenging than they were, but still pretty far apart, bout 20 mins or so.
I am starving so about to tuck into some lovely food my mum has made!

OP posts:

Booboobedoo · 19/02/2007 13:34

Hi Spink - I'm 38+1 too! Just wanted to wish you luck.

lulumama · 19/02/2007 13:36

that sounds really promising Spink, i had a doze 5 hours after my labour had started niggling, and once i had had a rest, it really got going! make sure you drink too ...! water, or juice, not gin!

Spink · 19/02/2007 16:59

Hmm. Baby is teasing. It all seems to have ground to a halt again. I am putting a film on, eating choccy biscuits and waiting for darkness to fall...

OP posts:

lulumama · 19/02/2007 21:09

JillyBeansNW · 19/02/2007 21:25

Spink - you do know that when it all kicks off at 1 in the morning Lulu and I expect you to post here before you head off, don't you?

lulumama · 19/02/2007 21:26

yeeees..i will be out after about 10.15 for most of the day, so after about 6 pm is fine for you to go !! snooooooooooooort

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JillyBeansNW · 20/02/2007 13:21

Any news?

lulumama · 21/02/2007 09:33

weeeeellllll ????

JillyBeansNW · 21/02/2007 11:01

I think that spinklet might have arrived lulu. You forgiven me for yesterday yet?

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