waters have broken but no contractions - should I stay or should I go.

[Mog]

At 38 weeks pregnant, I was surprised to have my waters go last night while watching Michael Jackson. There's been a steady trickle through the night but no contractions, although some period like pains. Phoned the hospital an hour ago and they want me in tonight with possible induction tommorrow if nothing happens. I would prefer to stay at home as long as possible and wait and see what happens naturally. Anyone else been through this or able to offer any advice?

Mog, im sure the hospital are right, my waters have broken prematurely with my last two children(one at 32 wks ,one at 28wks), i think hospitals like you to go in withen 24 hours of your waters going as there could be a risk of infection, hope every thing goes well and good luck!!!

My early contractions were exactly like period pains. Hopefully that's what the ones you're feeling are too.

Good luck!!

Hi Mog

With ds, my waters broke at 33 weeks in middle of night - big shock, as you say it was a trickle and not the gush I had been led to expect and being 1st child and so early it took me about 10 minutes to cotton on what had happened - I woke dp up and said "I can't stop weeing!"
I spoke to the hospital and they said to come in, they monitored me but no contractions - I was told that 80% of people will go into labour within 48 hours when the waters break, so stayed in hospital for 3 days but no contractions.

I was scanned and monitored twice a day to check baby ok and they decided to send me home to see if I could get to 34 weeks so baby would have better survival rate, also gave me steroid injection to help develop ds's lungs.

They are concerned about the baby getting an infection once the waters have broken - saying that they let me continue about a week, then I got concerned I did not feel the baby moving as much so they brought me back in and were going to induce me once a cot available in special care. That night though I got mild contractions so I was induced to keep the labour going and eventually gave birth that night, ds 5lb 9oz so good size for 6 weeks early.
Although ok for 1st 30 mins he then got taken to SCBU for 10 days, on a ventilator for 3 days as he did have problems, possibly pneumonia, never able to identify exactly what infection he had - and no way of telling if this was due to waters breaking or his prematurity making him more susceptible.

I got mixed opinions on babys movements during this time - some said you would feel less movement as they cannot move around so easily as less water, the other view was I would feel more movements as there wan't the fluid to cushion the moves. So not much help there.....

I would see what your consultant or midwife has to say if you can speak to them, at 38 weeks though you are much further advanced than I was so some of this may not be applicable. Am I right in thinking that 38 weeks is not really considered to be early because of the 4 week window you have around your due date?

As I recall, once the waters break, you don't 'lose' all the water as your body carries on producing it. Gotta get those maternity pads out now though...
Oh, also told me not to have a bath (but showers okay)in case of passing on an infection.

Not sure if this is much help, but it is what happened with me,
hope everything goes okay, let us know how you get on. jemw

Mog> this happened to me too. I was given about 36 hours I think before they said they would induce if nothing happened. I ended up going for a long walk and going on the swings to try and bring on contractions naturally. My Mum even told me to have a glass of sherry, as she used to be a midwife and swore this worked for her when she wanted to pop me out before the end of the financial year. Nada happened with me so I was eventually induced due to risk of infection. Apparently most women do start to naturally go into labour after waters break within a certain period of time.

GOOD LUCK!

Jemw, my DS2 arrived at 38 weeks and wasn't considered premature at all.

I was 37 & 1/2 weeks by the way

I wonder if Michael Jackson had this effect on anyone else?????

Advice sounds about right to me. They normally want to check you within 24 hours of waters breaking and will swab your cervix to check for infection. You may be allowed home but more likely you will have to stay.

My waters broke with both mine. In dd labour started 8 hours later, in ds I was still waiting as I was wheeled in the theatre for a cs (my choice) 16 hours later!

Good luck with imminent birth! At least you haven;t got too long to wait!

I would advise you to go to the hospital to get checked out. At our hospital women whose waters have broken come in and have a swab taken, primarily to check for group B strep or other infection. They are usually admitted then induced the next day. However, if all is well you could state that you do not wish induced but prefer to wait until labour starts spontaneously. Research has shown that labour usually starts itself by 72-90 hours. Then you could go back home to await events. The hospital cannot force you to be induced but it would be a good idea to check out the wellbeing of the baby. That way you can be reassured it is OK to wait. You could tell them that you will monitor your temperature at home to make sure that you do not show signs of developing infection. The community midwife could also pop in to check how things are. Have you phoned her for advice? Is the hospital far away?

Mog... you can trickle loads...
There are some hospitals that will let you wait 48 hours before induction. Usually when waters break, contractions start within 48 hours anyway... at the end of the day it's how you feel about things. You could ring up your MW and ask...
Personnally - but I am NOT you - I'd wait until tomorrow afternoon so almost 48 hours after the trickling water...unless of course, I started contractions or gushing waters... You would be amazed how much water there are in those bags and you may just have had your "hind waters" broken... not the whole lot.
BTW - I am not giving you medical advice just my experience.

Good stuff Mears - we cross-posted

Mogs...
My waters started to trickle at 3.30am and I didn't get any contractions until about 9am. Sounds like you're on your way!!!

GOOD LUCK & ALL THE BEST!

To be more precise, I have remembered that my waters broke on a Friday evening, a big gush. I went into hospital to be examined. they said to go home and wait as labour would probably come on spontaneously, and if it didn't to come in on Sunday morning to be induced, which is what happened. I had a temperature at the end of labour, so myself and my son were kept in for monitoring for five days, and he was given antibiotics, but they found there was nothing wrong with him.

Thanks so much for all your replies and good wishes. My mother has managed to get a last minute flight and will be with us from Scotland tommorrow lunchtime. I'd really like to hang on at home until then so that I don't have to leave dd with neighbours overnight. Hence my wish not to go into hospital tonight. Still no contractions but occassional dull like period pains. Feel very well apart from this, but obviously don't want to put baby at risk. The hospital are expecting a call at 5.30 so will reassess then.

Wishing you lots of luck.

Just back from hospital. They let me out as I so wanted to sleep in my own bed tonight but I'm being induced at 8.00 tommorrow. Anyone got positive stories about being induced?

Mog

I was induced with ds, who was my first, since I have nothing to compare it to it was fine. Induced at 6pm on the Thursday night, and ds made his appearance at 7.40am on the Friday morning. I liked the fact that I was in the hospital already.

This time though I am nervous about going into labour on my own. Like you my Mum is in Scotland, so I think we have covered every poss senerio about getting her down here to look after ds. Your situation would suit me fine.

Best of luck and lots of hugs and kisses.

Dee

Yup, sure have.
I was induced at EDD+13 11.30pm. The baby started to engage 'properly' about 1.5hours later and then my sweet little dd was born 3.5hours after that... fantastic! (although it was probably helped by the MW giving me a sleeping pill and 2 paracetamol as they weren't expecting anything to happen until the morning!). My dh only just made it to the hospital for the last 20mins.

So 1st stage was 3.5hours, 2nd stage 30mins, 3rd stage 7mins.

p.s. this was my first baby

Mog> the positive side of being induced is that you know what timescale to evpect. They started inducing me at around 11 am and said that i would dilate around 1cm p.h IIRC. So they said my baby would be born at around 10 pm that night. It was very painful and fast moving (my first labour, so i have nothing to compare it to0. I had hoped to use a birthing stool and to move around a lot, but this was impossible. The good thing about it was that it was more predictable and manageable with the help and guidance of the doctors and midwives. I listened to their advice,not ideal i know, but it could be seen as a positive. I'd never been there before, they had.

I've heard some stories recently of women not going into labour properly until their loved ones are by their side (partners travelling home from oil rigs and similar mammoth journeys) so maybe you'll wait until your mum arrives before your body feels comfortable to go for it.

Good luck!

Mog - I was induced with my last 2 because of antibody problems. 1st time at 35 1/2 weeks then 37 weeks. I did not find that the drip was more painful than natural contractions and used gas and air for both. It is so exciting knowing that the baby is going to arrive, and that was what I remember most. I am one of those mad folk who enjoyed the whole labour experience, induced or not. Hope you do too. Best wishes for tomorrow - or tonight. You never know

Will post more later but we now have a wonderful ds and the birth went extremely smoothly. Being induced was absolutely fine as it was a very gradual drip and I had a wonderful midwife so that I got through the whole thing on TENS machine and a bit of gas and air. Will post more when not so tired!!!

Congratulations Mog, glad to hear that the birth wasn't too traumatic. Welcome to your DS and I look forward to hearing more about him.

Fabulous news mog - glad it all went well. Welcome to ds. Looking forward to your story when you have the energy

Congratulations!

Congratulations Mog