how long do you get after your waters break?

[nickelbabe]

a lady in my dance class has just got a new grandchild and was saying that her DIL had to be induced because her waters broke and she wasn't in labour.
she said that the hospital reckoned she might have started on her own at about the same time anyway.
my dance teacher then said that she didn't tell the midwife that her waters had broken and it was 4 days till the birth. her comment was "i knew it was safe"

my question is therefore:

how long is it after the waters break that labour starts? does this include your first contraction or when they start getting bad? and was my teacher quite safe leaving it 4 days? and why would the hospital have been in a rush even though they thought she might have started anyway?

(it's all very confusing this)

TIA

I was left 4 days but only my hind waters had gone and they did a Bstrep teat everyday.

depends on hospital policy. I think evidence based research suggests that you can go up to 96 hours, but most hospitals allow 48 hours max.
Mine is 24 hours

My last pregnancy, waters started leaking on the Friday morning, i phoned hospital and was told to go in and get checked over. Was confirmed it was waters leaking, baby was monitored then i was sent home and told i had to go in next day to be induced, they had taken swab to check for Strep B too, but by the time results of test had come through id had DS by em cs has he changed position and was in distress. Result of swab was that i was showing positive for Group B Strep.
Im due number 2 in 3 weeks time and have been told need to go in for iv abs when labour starts.

My waters broke and then my contractions started naturally 16 hours later. If I hadn't started contracting I would have been induced after 48 hours due to the infection risk.

My waters broke on ds cc started immediately they said if I had not had him within 24 hours they would induce as it was a first and labor could take a while so they didn't want to leave it to late and have to an emergency csec.

I also had to stay in hospital and was not allowed home .

i got 24 hours before they started induction, ended in a cs.

no idea why they are so worried about infection since half the hospital shoved their hand up to have a rummage. another time i'd be with the dance teacher.

My waters started leaking on a monday - just slightly - i was given disposable thermometers and told to take my temperature every 4 hrs to check for infection, I went back in Tuesday night and they eventually induced me wednesday afternoon, so about 60hrs after waters started leaking. I'd had contractions on and off all that time and since the saturday before. DD was also given antibiotics after she was born - they didn't tell me at the time though, just when I was asking to leave!

With ds2 mine broke at 1.00am and he was born at 5.00 am the same day
They didn't break with ds1 so they had to do it for me.

It's up to the pregnant mum .

Many hospital policies will recommend induction after 24hrs. If mum declines this then she can opt for "expectorant management". Depending on which study you read, this may be fine for up to 96hrs, provided no internal examination is done, as that increases the risk of infection. Of course, hospitals have a habit of not telling you this either at all or not until after they've examined you .

Last time I looked at the NICE guidance both approaches were recognised, but induction after a set time was the preferred option. I haven't looked at the research literature recently to see how strng the evidence underpinning this is.

Mine broke at midnight on a weds night...i was told to go in for an induction on the friday am. Had the gel inserted but nowt happened and ended up with drip on the sun am. Midwife was v concerned about infection risk and i would have been given drip earlier if labour ward hadnt been snowed under.

I had my temp monitored regularly and also no internals due to risk. This was also why only one dose of gel allowed.

The NICE clinical guidance says 96 hrs max plus no or minimal internal examitions.

I was fully dilated and Ds had his feet out (wrong way up he was) within a minute of my waters breaking. Luckily I was in hospital.

With DD my waters broke about 6 hours into labour and I had another 12+ hours to go.

My waters broke in the middle of the night approximately 32 hours before my first contractions started. They were very painful and close together from the off. Had things not started naturally I was due to contact the hospital 36 hours afterwards to book in for an induction.

thank you everyone for your stories: it makes me feel relieved that it's normal for the hospital to worry and normal for a wait before it all kicks off.

i was worried that the fluid around the baby would dry out (or something. that sounds totally daft...)

My waters went 3am on a Tuesday morning (not in labour) and they booked me in for induction for the Friday, telling me to take my temperature twice a day to check for infection.

I went into labour on the Thursday morning but dd wasn't born until 5am Friday morning (by ventouse, eventually). The people delivering her were very cross that we'd been left that long as we both had high temperatures by that time. DD spent 3 hours in NICU and we both had to have antibiotics.

My waters broke at 2am on a thurs morning but I had no contractions. Phoned labour ward & they told me to come in. They sent my mum and Dp home! then started having contractions at around 7am, so called them back again, and he was born just after 4pm. Think they would have sent me home too, but I had high blood pressure so they wanted to keep an eye on me!

everyone and every labour is different.

my waters went at 37 weeks with ds1 and when we rang the hospital they say to come in but they would probably check me and send me home.
as it happens my contractions started 30 mins later and ds1 was born 2 hours after that.

With mine my waters break and baby makes an appearance roughly 2-3 hours later!

With my Dd and Ds2 (2nd and 3rd children) That was the extent of my labour, no contractions, waters break, pain increases, baby!!

4 weeks for me but it was intermitent leaking.

When I had DD the NICE guidlines advised allowing up to 96 hours.

They now advise offering induction after 24 hours IIRC.But it is an offer, you do not have to accept induction or any other intervention they might offer.

My contractions started approx 1am, had an almighty contraction in the bath and my waters broke approx 4am and had ds at 5.55am!

I went 48 hrs with DD before they induced me but I expect it was imminent as I only needed gel. DD was given abx which I am not thrilled about in retrospect - I wasn't offered the choice. GBS test was subsequently negative.

With DS my waters went about 40 minutes before I gave birth. I was lucky to make it to the hospital!

Every birth different. but no, it is never safe to leave it 4 days. With DS I had a negative GBS test shortly before and my consultant said if waters went early again he would be happy to be more relaxed this time, but it wasn't relevant in the end.

4 days sounds a lot tbh (but I'm not a dr/mw so don't know). My waters broke Friday night & I had- from the start- very intense contractions, 3-5 mins apart (remained like that throughout labour). I was admitted 24 hrs later when I was 4 cms dilated, but they had told me that if there wasn't adequate dilation I could go up to 48 hours () until I was admitted in the labour ward. TBH with that level of pain I would much have preferred to be admitted earlier & to be given pain relief earlier...

DD was induced 24 hours after my waters broke

DS waters didn't break until he crowned... nearly drowned the midwife who was having a "wee peek" at the time.