What does it feel like when your waters break....?

[riamay2011]

so this is my 3rd and i have not had an experience of waters breaking so have no idea what it feels like. I have just been to the toilet and have a massive wet patch in my pants....bigger than what would be 'general pregnancy discharge' or a urine leakage...
I have had tender boobs today and now feel a bit zoned out spacey.
I can feel baby moving but it is very low down like its fists are in my hip its very uncomfortable and there is a lot of pressure down below.
what should i do? Help! I am 34 + 3 and my waters went without realising at 34 + 6 with DD 10 months ago...
Thanks
x

Smell that patch- there's no mistaking the smell of amniotic fluid! It could be the hindwaters going. Of course at your stage of gestation your very first port of call should be your midwife and possibly in to hospital for monitoring. Keep the pants handy in case there's enough fluid on them to be able to test it with their little sticks.

Good luck.

Oh and to answer your question, if your waters properly go (I mean the sac in front of the baby's head rather than further up the womb), it feels like a massive involuntary gush. I've also had the experience of ruptured hind waters though and the medical are frustratingly slow about responding to it- they seem to assume that it's wee unless proven otherwise. Are you GBS +? Even if you aren't I wouldn't recommend delaying calling your midwife with such an nearly baby.

If you at all unsure go and get checked!

For me I was lying down, I felt a sort of tug/pop and jumped out out of bed and it all poured out. I thought they were leaking earlier, had been checked and they weren't and for me there was no doubt they had gone. However if yours went previously without realising definitely better to double check.

mine were both very cartoony - a pop! then enough time for me to look at dh, say, 'oh shit!', leap off the bed and race to the bathtub, then niagara falls.

My hind waters went with a twang type elastic snapping feeling, then trickled for hours, soaking pad upon pad!

Lie down, for a while and if you have a trickle on standing its probable its your waters!

Good luck x

Hi riamay I have just been on the April thread and was wondering how you were.

My waters with DD were a pop and a tiny trickle which left my knickers wet and that was it.
My waters with DS2, was woken up with the feeling of something tickling me inside, realised it was something trickling, ran to the bathroom and whoosh a huge gush of liquid, which then continued to gush every time I got up from sitting to standing or moved position for the next 10 hours.

If in doubt - get checked out, 'tis my pregnancy motto.
Good luck.

I have no idea I was induced and when they went to break my waters they were gone I've no idea when it happened I really didn't notice but based on some of these stories now feel like ive missed out on something

I had a gurgle in my tummy...then a huge pop like someone had burst a balloon. Ran to the toilet to get a gush. Then my hind waters I think trickled until he was born pretty much.

MI was hacked at by the doctor and her crotchet hook. Once she had managed to break them I felt a very warm trickle until she removed her hand and awful hook. Then the river burst it banks. I went through 4 inco pads and soaked through the maternity pads they placed ahem on my vag through to the inco pads and right through to the bed. I got up to walk around but every time I had a contraction I had to stop as it would gush out. I was changing pads regulary and made my dp feel the weight of them. My waters where bloodstained with orange lumpy bits. Basically for me it felt like doing the hottest longest wee of my life.

Niagara falls for me too. And they continued to pour out of me for hours.
-the hospital told me to go in, but it took me 2hrs to get to a stage where I could leave the bathroom. DH brought me a maxi dress, and a bath towel which I rolled up under my dress. He covered the car seat. Walking was interesting!

I had the opposite - no pop or huge gush, just intermittent quite large 'leakages' - generally when I changed position, from sitting to standing, or rolling from one side to another. With the first gush I wondered if I had wet myself, but then it kept happening, and was just too much to be wee.

I had PROM, though - I wasn't in labour when my waters went and it was 10 days before my due date. There was definitely a lot, though, just not in a 'pop- gush' way. I was going through normal sanitary towels very quickly.

Nothing much! They didnt pop until DD's head was coming out!! I was expecting the big "gush"!

riamay - I'm the same as you. With DCs 1 & 2 my waters had gone when I delivered, but I hadn't noticed them go. With DC3 (born 6 days ago), the hind waters trickles out slowly - I was wearing a pad because I was having a show - and it did feel wet-ish, but it was only when the midwife checked that she said it was waters. My forewaters then popped and gushed like a water balloon as DS2 was crowning and was born in the next 2 pushes...

I'd pop a pad in and then go and get checked out. Good luck x

Similar to fruitybread. No pop or huge gush, just intermittent quite large leakages every half hour to an hour. Felt like I was wetting myself! Was 3 days overdue, no contractions or rather not what I considered to be contractions although hospital told me they were mild ones. Just felt like I had a bit of a period pain.

Ha ha - Timothy Claypole! I've not thought about him for a long time!

No pop for me, had just woken up and thought I'd waited to go to the loo too long! Big gush when I stood up, with pink waters. I was 35+5 so got admitted as there was no sign of labour and after your waters break there is a risk of infection, I continued to leak until I went into labour two days later. Bump got softer after the first amount was lost, I could feel DS more clearly thru my bump, but it went firm again as the waters topped up. Leaked with every step, got thru boxes and boxes of pads...
Not much fluid left by the time DS arrived! We both had antibiotics in case of infections, but were both fine.
Call your MW, sounds like you need to get checked out. Best of luck riamay!

a gush while asleep in bed that scared the bejusus out of me (though I had incontinence problems, as did DH who was very sympathetic, bless him!)

continued to gush for hours and hours, copious amounts of fluid.

The smell is unmistakable.

For me a large gush during labour, although I'd had so much gas and air it didn't occur to me that it was my waters I just thought it was a bladder control issue. Suprisingly it didn't click to the midwife either that it might be my waters!

Was fast asleep and then suddenly woke up as it felt like someone had chucked a bowl of warm water over me! You'll know it's not wee - smelled metallic to me. Then a show and then it all stopped. Don't think I even wore a pad to hospital an hour later! Had to claim on the house insurance for a new mattress lol the midwife said the smell would never go! Bizarre but mattress is good!

If the sac bursts near the top then you get a continual trickle that feels like wetting yourself, rather than the stereotype big gush of fluid.

Mine started with a tiny trickle which I wasn't sure if it was waters or slight wetting myself which was possible at 33+4 with twins. On walking upstairs to get a pad as I stood on the landing the gush came and I went from uneasy to full panic. Given your history I'd suggest going in for monitoring.

I felt a funny sort of pop then a small gush of fluid. I was in bed watching Roary the Racing Car with DS1 (AROM), swore and waddled went to the toilet. Soaked maternity pads for the next 24 hours until I was induced. My sister & DP kept making me laugh which made it MUCH worse.