Really what are the chances of my waters breaking without warning?

[redandyellowandpinkandgreen]

My mum thinks I should get a plastic sheet for my mattress but I thought you would get some sort of warning first. What are the chances of your waters going in the night with no warning? And do I need a plastic sheet?

Were broken for me (dd1) and broke on last contraction (dd2).

But with ds (in between the girls) they went just as I got into bed (10 days early so not expected). I heard an audible "pop" and then thougt I had wet myself .... but nothing stopped it coming .......

I had him 10 hours later!

quite high in my case. :) 1 out 1 time! Only hind waters broke but the whole bathroom floor got wet.

Will definitely be getting sheets for my bed.

Mine went without warning at 27+5. Initial gush then leaked constantly for 3 weeks til I went into prem labour. If I was ever crazy enough to contemplate having another I'd be thinking about a plastic sheet or something similar from 25 weeks! But mine went when I popped out to buy a sarni - not much one can do about that

If and a big If your waters break spontaneously I would say that there is no warning, I was turning over in bed! get the sheet I didn't and it cost me !!

Mine went when rolled over (not some much of a roll as the turning of an ocean liner) in bed at 39+5 wks. It was 3 o'clock in the morning and I have never seen my DH move so fast before or since. DD born 8 hours later.

I will be getting a matress protector fairly soon (currently 23wks), they come in useful for the sweating, bleeding, milk leaking swamp monster I know I will be in the first few weeks post birth. No one warns you about that either!

Go for a none PVC one as you don't need any material that will make you fester. I think Sprit of Nature do quite a few breathable ones in various sizes, but I haven't researched this fully.

Mine went without warning at my friend's dinner table . It was at 41+2 so something had to give I suppose!

Framey- Oh, yes, very much in public, in a church, in the middle of a concert in which my husband was singing and playing the viola. The church was about 2/3 full, and I was sitting with my mother about three rows from the back of the audience. My husband started his solo viola thing, the baby heard and kicked, water went absolutely everywhere... I rushed for the door, catching sight of the face of the man sitting behind me as I rushed by. I have never seen such a look of utter horror and disgust.

The choir made my son mascot. :)

i got out of bed at 5am at 33+5 for a wee (as you do) and mine burst over the bedroom carpet!

Duchesse You made me laugh. It is fantastic.

Mine went gradually, but it started without a warning. It was quite uncomfortable for almost an entire day that any time I had to stand up, I had a gush. No wonder I had such a large belly. Which begs the question why do I have a big belly now

good luck OP - I got a mattress protector, waters didn't go til labour well and truly established - but the mattress protector has been invaluable for all the wee/puke/spilt water in our bed over the last nearly 3 years!

Mine never really 'went', with DS I was induced and my waters were artificially ruptured. With DD, she was born 'in the bag' so to speak, they went when she came out. I felt them - quite odd, could feels DD's head as well. They felt like a balloon filled with warm water!

I have a friend who's waters broke in the supermarket.

Mine went pop and gush both times, huge amount of water. First time was right at the start of labour, with very first contraction. Second time was right at the end just before delivery.

Yup, mine too. Massive contraction and then pop, all over my newly stripped & varnished floorboards....TONS of water everywhere. Get a sheet and bucket & mop

First pregnancy, waters broke at 3am in bed - woke up thinking I was weeing myself! Trickles of water running down my leg.

Second pregnancy, a 'pop' during labour. Midwife wanted to break my waters - I refused, and minutes later waters broke naturally followed quickly by the arrival of my baby! :)

Mine broke when I was shopping in John Lewis at 36.5 weeks. Thankfully just a persistant leak so I could waddle to the door in a fairly civilised manner. The staff were so nice and they sent us a gift voucher with their best wishes the following week. Dh always said JL was my spiritual home, think my dd could feel my happy vibes!

Get a sheet. Mine went without warning. I'd been up all night with some discomfort, got up to go to the toilet and they broke and yes gushed on the bathroom floor. My NCT lady had said they don't gush like they do on T.V. but mine did. There was lots of water/fluid. What I didn't know was that the fluid would keep flowing afterwards, so had to sit with towels wrapped around me for 24 hours until they induced me.

Mine didn't seem to break. I certainly wasn't aware of it, but a ball of water rolled out prior to DD being born. very odd

No waters breaking and 4 children later... Still intrigued.

duchesse what a fab story! Thank you. lol.

As I was due a couple of days before Christmas, I thought, on 10th December, that I wouls go and get the Christmas food shopping in at Sainsburys and post the Christmas cards at the Post Office on the way. I decided to have a shower, paint my nails and dry my hair forst though. Half way through drying my hair (at 12 noon to be precise) I dropped the hairbrush and bent down to pick it up. There was an audible "pop" and it was like someone had just chucked a bucket of water accross the floor!

Thank goodness I wasn't out shopping. Even with the promise of free shopping (prob a myth anyway), it would have been way too embarrasing. DS1 was born 12 hours later.

Second time around was a 2 hour birth from start to finish, water pool, no pain relief. Completely different. And waters didn't break till 5 mins before DS2 appeared!

My mum advised me to put a folded up bath towel under the sheet just in case I took after her - which I did. Due to suffering from horrendous acid reflux during the entire pregnancy, I was asleep sat upright in bed when I suddenly woke up with this weird sensation that my waters had broken, even though the bed was still dry. I scooched down the bed to get my bum on the towel & whoosh! After that the waters just kept gushing until DD was born 4.5 hours later.

That's something that, as a first time mum, I had no idea about. I had a quick shower & got into my 'going into hospital' outfit thinking that a maternity pad would protect my trousers on the way... Having changed my trousers twice I gave up & just put a big coat on so the taxi driver wouldn't know By the time I got to the pushing stage my enormous all out front bump was reduced a wrinkly little belt of flab! I gave birth to a gorgeous 8.5lb girl who must have been having a whale of a time swimming around in all that water. It certainly wasn't the 'trickle' that we were told about in ante-natal classes!

[The OP is sitting in a corner with her hands over her ears considering spending the next 8 weeks only in the bathroom or kitchen where there is a tiled floor.]

redandyellowandpinkandgreen ha ha!

3 out of my 4 labours have started with waters breaking first, no other signs.

DS1 - waters went whilst laying on sofa. Heard/felt huge pop, legged it to toilet and stayed sitting on it for next hour. There was gallons of water, I knew I'd been carrying a lot (you could actually hear it 'swishing' around inside me for the previous 2 weeks ) but nothing prepared me for that. DS born 12 hours later.

DD1 - Waters broke with huge gush during labour, DD born about 30mins later.

DD2 - Woke in bed, said to DH I felt strange so we sat and chatted for about 10mins. Felt ok so decided to lie down and go back to sleep but as I shuffled down into bed I again felt and heard a pop and my waters went. Luckily not a huge gush this time but DD was born at home just under 2hrs later.

DS2 - 11 days early, had been sat in deckchair in garden with DD2, got up to go indoors and felt him drop down rapidly in my belly. Cue the by now instantly recognisable pop and rushed into the bathroom. Didn't instantly start having contractions, these started about 1.5hrs later, and DS was born after 1.5hrs of labour

Never had a show until after waters have gone though.

So if only 15% of labours start with waters breaking I wonder what the probability of it happening 3 times is?

Jess, I think that some people must be just more prone to waters going first. All 4 of mine have, three of them with spectacular amounts of fluid, very film-style. The third one was born at 42 weeks and although the sac popped (I was used to spotting it by then), there was no water left and she appeared 6 hours later after a 4 hour labour. Fourth one the waters went and then absolutely nothing happened until a crash CS 4 days later. She was too mixed up in her cord for her head to even make contact with my cervix, which makes it even more incomprehensible that the waters should have gone in that way.