Reason for why waters dont break until head is coming out!

[Dozeyland]

I read that only 30% of women experience their waters breaking as a first sign of labour...

and this is what you see in the movies! haha

With DD, my waters were the last thing to go, and they were "bulging" and wouldnt pop. MW didnt pop them as I opted for natural delivery, but this time (nearly 28wks) If they dont go earlier then I will ask them to be popped maybe? They didnt pop until DD's head was literally coming out.

I know everybody is different but what determines if your waters go sooner rather than later, or later rather than sooner?

I have a feeling it's probably genetic. My father was born in a caul, and in 4 VBs my waters didn't go.

For my first 3 deliveries the MW insisted on breaking the waters and from there on in it was horribly painful. For the 4th I refused (and kept refusing). The delivery was much more controlled, much less painful.

My waters went just as she was delivered- but my mum's went 3 days before and she ended up with syntocinon augmentation.
I completely agree with the refusal to have them broken... seems like quite a harsh and unneccessary thing to do; and definitely would ramp up the intensity beyond what your body is naturally producing endorphins to deal with.

With my DD her hb never changed in her sac until the end. Must be quite nice to have a bit of cushioning.

My waters went first before any contractions. Was quite funny i couldnt stand up off the toilet. I dont know any one else whose waters went first. My contractions started 10 mins later and dd was born 11 hours after waters went first baby too!

i think mine went as i gave birth, but i don't know.
they definitely weren't popped.
i think they came out with the head

xshevix - mine went first too, with both my girls, and contractions started about half an hour later. With DD1 I was completely shocked, as my Mum's waters had gone at the point of giving birth to me and my sister, so I had convinced myself I'd be the same.

I suggest you leave breaking the waters as long as possible. Labour is far less painful when your waters haven't broken.

With ds my waters broke before labour started. With dd my waters broke during the final contraction.

I had my waters break 71 hours and 55 minutes before DD arrived. The MW and doula thought it was probably because the placenta had started to breakdown, which we didn't find out until the consultant had to manually extract the bits of placenta after a forceps delivery.

Mine went first, INCREDIBLY painful labour, unbearable right from the start, needed an epidural in the end, apparently the sooner a contraction meets resistance the less it hurts, which is one of the reasons why back to back is so painful and why labour gets more painful once the waters break

I also (non scientifically) imagine that the waters provide a nice element of cushioning and comfort for the baby too, like their own little version of a water birth

Mine went nearly 3 days before ds was born. Proper contractions didn't start until 24 hours after they first went. I ended up on a syntocin drip to induce as I had only got to 2cm after 2.5 days. I don't think it's unusual for waters to go and then labour to take a while to get going.

ARM is only supposed to speed up labour by 1 hour or so anyway, so I don't see the point in having them broken if labour is progressing - they'll break when they break, whether that's at the beginning, middle or the end.

Mine went first - maybe it is genetic, as my mum had the same thing with both her pregnancies, also a friend had her waters go first and her sister and mum had the same experience with all of their pregnancies too.

I had a very fast labour (4.5 hours from first contraction to fully dilated - then crash section) with no gaps between contractions after about the first hour, but didn't find the contractions too bad (altho got nothing to compare it to!!!)

I had first DC in around 2/3hrs. Pushing for only 20mins.
The MW said that the intensity wouldn't have been as painful if they were to have popped just as
She was coming out. I managed without any pain relief. But
I never felt that "gush" what people say. I didn't really feel much different
When they went!

My mum had all 3 early and waters went first, so in that case its not genetic for me.

I don't want then breaking, its just with them "bulging" in my M notes. It would have
Made my stitches less probable, and also my PPH

In my family, it seems, our waters break first. My mum and aunt both experienced this with 5 labours between them and with DD my waters went before I went into labour, too. Am kind of expecting the same this time around with DC2--I didn't start feeling contractions until a few hours into my hospital stay (they put me in a nice room with a kitchenette and a bathroom before I moved to the delivery suite!) and there's a part of me that thinks I will be in denial about being in labour until my waters have gone! That being said I kept telling DH that I didn't think I was in labour, even after the mw told me I was in established labour and I was contracting regularly, because my pains were all in my back and not as the books described (thanks to DD being back to back)

I had a show, immediately followed by forewaters! You're not alone xshevix!

As for pain, it wasn't too terrible but my labour REALLY ramped up when the hindwaters went 21 hours later. That was a bastard and it didn't improve from there

With dd1 waters went first, she was born 17 hours later. With dd2 I was in labour for 15 hours, waters were broken 1 hour before she was born.