Is it a good idea to have waters broken during labour?

Lonelymum.... maybe you should read Mears' post below though

No time to read all the way through and I am sure someone has already said this, but, having had my waters broken in one of my labours, I wanted to say, it makes the subsequent labour very PAINFUL! But perhaps that would happen anyway, as labour progressed.
Sorry to be traditionalist, but I think if they recommend breaking your waters, you should go along with it. It happens eventually anyway, and it does speed up labour so you get the thing over and done with quicker!

A bit late to this thread but I recently found out that most independent midwives never (or very rarely) brake waters.... yet in hospital they often offer it or WORSE do it without consent!
If Ind. MW don't need to do it... why do hospitals ?????

I had mine broken when I was in the early satges of induced labour with ds1. They had problems breaking the sac. There was ALOT of fluid. It was a quick labour but that was down to the drugs. It was a very emotional and scary moment and I wanted it to happen naturally second time around.
However at 8cm into my second labour and first 'natural' birth I could feel everything slowing down. The mw had been saying for 8 hours that the waters were ready to go. After all that anticipation I became v.scared of them breaking and that leading to a break in concentration which would have made me out of control. I felt myself holding onto them during a contraction. Another two hours and another check and yet again apparently they were ready to burst. And another hour went by and nothing. My mw were very much routing for a natural birth and they were hesitant about breaking my waters but I asked and they obeyed. They spent 5 mins trying to break the sac another tough one! When they ruptured it the mw said we definatley did the right thing there. I'm not sure what they meant by that but immediatley I went into natural pushing and baby was born in a few mins.
So I'm still unsure why my waters cause me so much aggrovation and why I'm so worried about them rupturing but its not all bad, sometimes it can be the best decision you can make.

message withdrawn

Thanks Mears
Think i'll request for them to be left next tiem.
Thankyou too Jane for starting this thread. It's been really interesting and an eye opener.
Good luck+++

hana - I pushed for 2 hours - same problem with meconium in water - I nearly escaped a ventouse - but then coz ds' cord was round his neck they wanted him out as soon as

Hana - it is not unusual to push for an hour or more, especially when you have an epidural because it often takes longer because of it's effect.

Angeliz - don't know why your waters were broken. It can be done if there are concerns about the heartrate. However, doctors always tend to do it because it is an intervention that they do not consider to be an intervention IYKWIM? There are midwives like that too. They break them because they are there...It is only in recent years we have stopped doing it too.

I think I'd like to read my records from dd's birth. Do I just ask for a copy at the hospital? I had my waters broken with her (not sure how far along I was, but was well into an epidural-induced haze....) when she did come out there were lots of people in the room because there had been meconium in the waters - I think 2 paeds, 2 midwives and I'm sure at least 1 or 2 other adults (besides DH!) I had to push for 1 hour is that normal too?

Thanks, mears. It is all v. interesting. I was really surprised when I saw meconium as I didn't 'feel' the baby was stressed (thought mec. meant she was terrified) - hence my outlandish conspiracy theories . No further 'bad signs', so by your explanation, perhaps it wasn't significant in hindsight...

TBH another birth like dd's wouyld be great!

I'm just really curious now!

Mears i find all this fascinating!!

I had a good check of my berth records.
They broke my waters at 7.40 and i was 10 cm's dilated and pushing, it was after that that they were worried about babies heartrate and tryed forceps (OOOOWWWW and no) then i managed to push her out on my own at 8.58.

SORRY in advance for yet another question but why do you think they would have broken my waters?? I had only been in for 2 hours. Having read up now i'd love this one to be born as natural as possible now, (if it means it's easier for mum and baby).

I'm not moaning btw, i had a great birth and FANTASTIC midwives, it's just i can't understand now why they broke my waters!!

Just want to add my experience - my waters broke naturally about 45 mins before dd was born. I was in the pool and felt them go with a big pop. After that point the contractions were immediately a lot more painful. All I remember thinking was thank god that hadn't happened sooner. In retrospect I'm not sure it did speed anything up - I was well on my way anyway (I actually felt them bulging out beforehand - no idea how long before - gas & air blur!) but am sure that if I'd had to deal with that intensity of contractions earlier on in my labour I'd have gone for an epidural. Whereas I did end up with lovely water birth.

Whatever happens - hope all goes well!

Linnet - meconium can be old or fresh. It is very common to see meconium in the waters when past 40 weeks. No-one knows really why it happens. Babies who are 'stressed' may pass meconium and it may be with old meconium that there has been an incident that the baby has reacted to, but the baby is perfectly fine now. Fresh meconium may be that a baby is stressed currently. However, there are babies who are stressed who do not pass meconium at all. The real problem is if a baby has passed fresh meconium and there are irregularities of the baby' heart rate. If the baby has a normal heart rate then the presence of meconium is not that significant. Also what is taken into consideration is the thickness of the meconium. It can be just a little staining or it can be thick with hardly any water. Thick meconium with a heartbeat that is irregular can be a sign of distress and the baby needs delivered. Where there is moderate/heavy meconium staining, a paediatrician is called to the delivery so that any meconium that the baby may have in it's airway can be suctioned out. In severe cases babies can develop meconium aspiration which is life threatening.

Kif - the scratch on the head could have been from the amnihook used to break the waters. That is not uncommon. I don't think that would have caused the meconium. It is more likely that it was already there. I often see babies have blood samples taken from their scalp during labour which involved a scratch to make the scalp bleed. I can't say that I have then noticed meconium. However, who knows how babies react. It may well have been a response - we don't truly know how it all works.

My contractions were like painful period pains right up until his head was crowning. The Doc waited till he popped back in then broke the waters. One HUGE contraction later he was born. I would probably have lost my sense of humour had all my contractions been as bad as that one. Good luck.

Could I ask mears a question?

Had waters broken to speed up labour. There was fresh meconium there. She also had a scratch on the top of her head.

I found that very odd... I wondered if the hook had scratched her, and if that had scared her into passing the meconium.

Felt it was rude to mention it at the time - may be adding 2+2 and getting 5... if someone can say that it is completely implausible it will save me believing it for ever more!

for the record - didn't make my contractions all that much stronger. Made an almighty mess, though.

I didn't want to have mine broken as I had heard from friends that it made contractions more painful for them, I also felt that there could be a risk to the baby (stress/infections) With my first they broke on the point of delivery, and my second was born "in the caul" (still in her waters) and her birth was fast and pain free.

It was lovely to see her still inside her little bubble, she looked so peaceful and perfect. The midwife did have to burst the bag eventually though!

Ps had two fast, "perfect" IMHO intervention pain relief free quick labours - 3 hrs and 1.5 hrs... and 2 perfect babies!

with both of my babies I consider myself lucky to have had two midwives who left it alone,
ds was born in his nag, it spontaneously ruptured as he was "caught " on his way out ( I gave birth on all fours over a bed both times)
With dd mw suspected my hindwaters had gone, but when dds head crowned she was still in the bag and only when her shoulder poked through did they rupture.
One perfectly wonderful thing about late or spontaneous rupture and call me gross... but the lovely warm sensation that runs down your legs, it almost rejuvenates!
But park your bags on t'other side of the room!

Mears could I just ask a question about Meconium in the waters. When I was having dd2 my waters broke naturally about an hour before she was delivered. The midwife said that there was meconium but that it was old meconium. dd2 was fine and they were prepared to do some suction but didn't need to.
I just wondered why that happened? Is there any reason for it or is it just one of these things that can happen? And can they tell how old the meconium is just by looking at it? I know I should have asked them at the time but I was just so bowled over by actually managing to deliver dd2 by myself that I didn't ask.

Forgot to mention, my father was born with a caul. Does this suggest a genetic disposition to non-breaking waters?

I had my waters broken by the midwife for the first 3 babies & remember the labour feeling "out of control" from that point on, like everything had shifted. Does that make sense? For the last one I refused to let the mw break them. She kept twittering on about "baby's first breath" but I was adamant & they didn't break until his head delivered. His was the quickest 2nd stage (6 minutes, compared to 1hr 40, 20 mins & 48 mins). Don't know the medical implications but if I ever had another baby (unlikely ) I would refuse to have them broken again.

Good advice Mears - that was exactly what my Doula had told me in my childbirth lessons. You are a blessing for all us MNetters!
mit x