If your waters broke before contractions started, did this happen again for subsequent births?

[MrsWeasleyWannaBe]

My midwife told me yesterday that having had this happen once, it is more likely to happen again. I'm hoping this wont happen because lst time they weren't clear and this meant an induction which lead to lots of intervention and I didn't have a very good time of it.
One other question, if you've experienced labour both with and without your waters intact, did it make a difference to how much pain you were in?
Many thanks for any experiences, trying to best prepare myself for a vbac!

Watching with interest mrsWeasley as I was just about to post the same question!

It did happen again for my second but I didn't need to be induced that time.

First time round my waters broke but there was no sign of contractions. I had to keep going back in to be monitored every 18hrs or so until they eventually induced me (drip) about 48hrs later.

The second time waters broke, no contractions at first but they did start of their own accord about 12 hours later so no need for intervention.

My first labour started with waters breaking, my next two the waters broke just before the birth.

Oh, and both times my waters broke in the middle of the night (between 2-4am).

Waters broke 2 hours before contractions started in my first labour.

Waters broke 2 hours after contractions started and 3 minutes before baby arrived in second labour.

So polar opposites for me.

short version - yes

long version -

for dd3 the waters went at about 4am no contractions for ages, established labout by about 5pm ish and she was born at about 7.30pm

for ds (dc#4) waters went at about 5pm, nothing for ages, he was born at 2.50am I think

as for the other births - dd1 the mw broke my waters, was meconium had to transfer to hospital. Having them broken for me meant I went from nothing to full on 2 min apart contractions virtually straight away - that wasn't nice [huge understatment!]

for dd2 the waters went about 10 mins before she arrived, in pool at home

most painful birth was dd1, even with lots of gas and air

best birth - dd2, lovely relaxed home waterbirth :)

dd3 & ds were ok - both dry labours, both fairly fast, both at home in water with no drugs, so can't have been that painful! I think the fact the contractions started slowly and built up made it less painful than dd1 as she was nothing to full on labour so fast iyswim

good luck :)

1st labour waters broken and contractions started later, 2nd labour waters were broken by midwife (with much swearing on her part when she dropped the hooky thing) 20 mins before delivery, 3rd labour waters broke as I pushed him out.

1st time, it was all very text book, waters broke slowly trickling over a few hours. Within a couple of hours contractions started, then 14 hours later a natural birth.

2nd time, just started with contractions, then 4 hours later we rushed into labour ward because suddenly they got bad. 2 hours later, a very fast painful birth, and waters broke minutes before and shot up the wall and all over the MW.

3rd time, waters broke in the night again, then contractions were slow coming, and once again a straightforward natural birth.

The middle one was the most painful simply because I wasn't in time to get an epidural. Don't fall into the trap of expecting anything like the first one, each of mine progressed differently. All were early - thank F**k.

Dc1 midwife broke my waters, dc2 went just before his head came out, dc3 and 4 went before contractions started

1st time waters broke (3 weeks early) and contractions started a few hours later. 2nd time mw broke them after failed sweep (6 days late) and contractions started almost immediately

My waters broke at 35 weeks with my first, contractions started an hour later. I've since had 3 more, with no.2 my waters broke at 8cm as I walked through the doors of the labour suite, no.3 my waters were broken by the midwife mid labour and with my 4th my waters broke while I was pushing about 30 seconds before baby arrived.

The 2 labours where my waters broke right before the birth were alot easier, that fluid barrier definately makes things less ouchy.

Ist labour, waters broke a couple of hours before contractions started.

2nd labour, waters broke well into established labour (can't remember exactly when).

3rd labour, waters broken by midwife at 4cm to 'hurry things up a bit'

Croisant Thats interesting, when my waters broke 1st, it was in the night, both around 02.00 - PING

I had completely different births when it came to the waters (rest was pretty much the same 24 hrs and pretty standard).

DS - waters went in bed and woke me up at 2:45 then no contractions until about 7:00.

DD - contractions from 2100 for about 23 hrs and waters went when I had an urge to push about 50 mins before she was born. Was on all fours and covered the midwife!

So very different second time for me. Was very off putting though as kept thinking god it's gonna be ages as my waters haven't gone. actually preferred first as regards to the waters.

Good luck

Thank you all for replying!
Croisant - Interesting point re time of day/night - my waters broke at 3am!
I know it's hopeles to try to predict what might happen this time, but it's great to hear that peole have had positive birth experiences with their waters going before labour started - I think some of the problems I had first time round were made worse by, or were as a result of, the (necessary IMO) induction, but then I'd heard people say the pain is worse when your waters go and I'd wondered if that contributed too - maybe it did but not the main cause of the problem I reckon now.
I'm only 32 weeks still so some way to go but I think it might take a while to get in a positive frame of mind about it all - and this is helping - thank you!
RickG - great minds! - hope this is helpful for you too.

My waters also went in the early hours, it was about 1.30am!

Yes, with dd I was induced but the gel wasn;t effective, the first sign of anything happening was the pop of my waters, after which contractions started from nowhere. With ds I wasn't induced, but again my waters popped and i went straight into labour, with him being born 3.5 hours later. I'm expecting it to happen this time, because it's the only experience I have, but am aware that it's far from an exact science. I do think that once waters are gone the contractions are more effective, hence ds's quick birth.

I've only done it once, so nothing to compare it to, but...my waters broke at 3.12 am and contractions started straight away, rang labour ward, straight in, 7cm by 5.30am and was told when waters go before contractions start its much quicker. DS born at 3.12pm, exactly 12 hours later!
No-one said whether it would be the same/different for number two....maybe I should find out and see if I can have two children in the same class at school!

I have only done it once so not sure how relevant this is - but I had about a 54 hour wait for contractions after my waters broke.

When they eventually started I was so happy that even though they cranked up quite quickly I was able to cope better than I had dared hope -I was at 7cm by the time we got to hospital. (This was about 8 hours after they started - so not bad for a first timer? Maybe there is something in what fuckity says about them being more effective once waters gone?)