Did you leak (near/at term) ? Did it stop and you delivered ONLY several days later?

[pupuce]

Just wondering.... very often when you start leaking (after 37 weeks) your baby will be born within 48 to 72 hours later (or sooner) but sometimes some women have leaks that stop (so maybe it wasn't water but they are fairly sure it was) and they go on to be pregnant for another week or more. Did this happen to you ? I am interested to know.... thanks

BTW - I am not looking at induction here just trying to find out "how common" it is to leak, stop and then carry on being pregnant - agian not premature babies but full term.

I know someone whose waters broke and she didn't have the baby until at least a week later (she had an IMW, so got to avoid induction...).

Pupuce - I started to 'trickle' at 3am (39+2), contractions started 5 hours later, ds was born 7 hrs hours after that! So ..... I'm no help at all really!

I started leaking when I was 40+2 and had contractions that stopped after 6 hours. I visited the hospital and they confirmed the heartbeat was fine, everything seemed ok and sent me home.
I had low, dragging, cramp like pains for a week (oh the joys of childbirth!) and went back to hospital at 40+10 to be induced.
The midwife told me I was 3cms dilated and probably had been all week! The examination must have set something off because whilst the midwife was deciding what to do, my contractions started again and DS2 was born 3 hrs later.

Pupuce, with my last one (dd4 now 20 months) I started leaking at 39weeks, but wasn't sure that was what it ws - just a bit damp. No signs of labour at all (odd, for me as others all early) so midwife checked and said she thought my membranes had gone. Went to hospital where they performed a speculum test (where you cough) and saw no leak, so sent me home. Next day I woke up with blood in my wee and a temperature. went back to hospital where registrar examined me and said waters had obviously broken and infection was setting in. No sign of labour starting naturally, although baby fully engaged. Dd born (luckily) only 2 hours after induction, but had to spend 5 days in hospital with IV a/bs. I saw the tear in the membrane for myself afterwards. So my admittedly biased view is that if you leak it may not be very clever to just leave nature to carry on. HTH

Thanks guys....
Gilli - Mears sent me a study that demonstrated that there was no worst outcome for women (and baby) who waited 4 days (rather than be induced).... of course you need to be careful. Liquid must stay clear and you SHOULD go in if you have a fever. Also if you are before term.... you must go to hospital.

I was sure I was leaking one morning in bed but everytime I stood up to check it stopped. By the time my midwife used the stick thing to test it had stopped, she reckoned the head was plugging the hole. It did give them the kick up the bum to test for that strep B (is that what is is?) as I am allergic to penicillin. This takes 3 days to grow, I held on until the result came back and had a natural labour in the pool with no antibiotics. When waters did break they gushed.

Strep B results take 48 hours - but maybe it's longer over a WE

It was a friday, so I guess that's why it took 3 days.

Pupuce I take your point,but there is surely a risk of Strep B, as well as other infections caused by internals conducted after membranes had gone. In fact, the registrar told me that, were she to examine me to follow up my claim that they had gone, then I should expect an induction if that was the case, because of the risk of infection. That made my 3rd exam in the 72 hours since my leak. also, in my case there was no liquid to monitor for clarity after the initial 'pop', so I suppose the fever 72 hours later was the first warning sign.

sneaking into this thread re the risk of Strep B, Strep B was diagnosed during my first labour when I went into hospital thinking my waters were trickling, I had no sign of fever etc. A test was done at the time to see if waters were leaking, which it turns out they weren't, and a swab for infection was taken at the same time. Turns out I had Strep B and this was discovered in enough time for appropriate action to be taken during delivery (results came in whilst I was in labour). Once you have Strep B you carry it for life, it doesn't necessarily make you feel ill, if in doubt get it checked out.

sneaking back out again>

If SRM is suspected then a low vaginal swab should be taken to check for group B strep. Speculum examinations are best not done if it is pretty obvious waters have broken as it is best not to introduce infection because speculum examination may introduce infection itself. If swab comes back positive then labour is probably best induced with antibiotic cover. However, lots of unit still do it, including my own. Hopefully will change soon.
The woman should be able to go home and await labour if she wants as long as she has the means to monitor her temp. and can contact the hospital. Most of the studies in expectant management suggest giving an induction date for 3 days later if labour has not started itself.
I am looking forward to seeing what happens when our policy is finalised.
Will women want to wait at home or will they want to 'get started'.

With my first pregnancy I started leaking at around 37 weeks. Went to the hospital to ask about it, they examined me but couldn't locate a rupture in membrane but said as I had been leaking for more than 3 days if I didn't go into labour overnight they would have to induce me the following day. I started getting contractions during the night but by mid morning they had stopped. Rang hospital and they scheduled the induction that day. Induced in the afternoon and ds born at 4.20am. Not a good experience.

Second pregnancy started leaking 37.5 weeks. Midwife very unhelpful and told me that she wasn't paid enough to encourage home birth because of the risks associated with leaking. Went to hospital was monitored for a bit. Everything was fine but they said they would want to induce within 96 hours. Was terrified of having to go through induction again as had opted for home birth due to bad experience first time round. 72 hours later still no labour so decided to get some castor oil. Drank about half a bottle at 11am, had the biggest s**t of my life about 2 hours later and 2 hours after that my waters broke properly (I felt the pop) and dd born at home at 12.30am. So I supposed I induced my own labour.

Debster - I completely understand where you are coming from but castor oil like this can be very dangerous too... glad all worked out well.
Seems like a lot of women want to be induced (probably because of fear of infection and maybe not realising the consequences of an induction).
Also it is NOT good practice to have an internal if you are not in labour but you suspect your waters went.... as Mears says that can definitely lead to infection!

Mears - please correct me if I am wrong but being a carrier of Strep B does not guarantee you pass it on to the baby.

Being a carrier certainly does not mean that you will always pass it on to the baby. There factors that can make the risk higher such as being less than 35 weeks, developing a temperature and feeling unwell. However, the problem is you don't know if this will happen. This is why there is such an issue over screening for everybody. Being a carrier does not mean your baby will be affected in the absence of other risk factors.
However, there is still a risk that a baby can be infected and die when group B is detected. I am more comfortable with a swab being taken so that the woman know whether the organism is present or not and can decide whether she wants antibiotics in labour. The problem of course is that the swab may not show it when it is actually there. That is the reason that once it is detected you are always viewed as a carrier. Work is being carried out in this area to get more accurate testing with quicker reults. There is a private test available details of which are on the GBS website here

Pupuce and Mears - what you say makes a lot of sense, and I wish you'd been with me in the room the night they did the speculum test! To be fair, the midwife did do a swab which later showed negative for Strep B, but there is no doubt that an infection of some sort started later that night when I was at home. I presume this was simply because I had already had 2 internals by then. I had precautionary antibiotics in labour, but DD had 5 days worth for no reason. Only silver lining was we got shoved in a side room, and as I couldn't rush round as usual I had to bond with her, and I managed to establish breast feeding successfully: the first of 4 children I didn't have PND and feeding problems with. The enforced room rest really worked wonders for me, and it was an opportunity I simply wouldn't have got at home.

Yes I had my 41 week appointment and the consultant did an internal (which I believe was now a sweep without my consent after reading on Mumsnet about it). I had a trickle that afternoon and the hospital did a test to see if it was waters. It was inconclusive but I didn't go into labour. They didn't induce me as DD's heartbeat was so erratic so it was about 4 days later before she was born. HTH Pupuce.