can I ask some silly questions...........(if you have children already)

[babygsmummy]

I had an antenatal class last week then my next four start next tuesday.But things that have been going round in my head are really getting to me.Please be aware they are really stupid questions.

first were where you when your waters broke?

Yes Im haveing nightmares of being somewhere like out shopping and this happens.

second what time of day did your waters go?

there was something on the telly the other week that said most people go onto labour in the night time,wondering if its true.

thirdly (really really silly) what does your water smell like and will it stain my carpets?

I told you it was silly we had new carpets fitted last week,I dont know why.

I dont want to ask people in real life they might laugh at me,I dont mind if you do,cause I know they are silly questions,but if you knew what else was going through my head.............you wouldnt be able to stop laughing.

sorry that grin looks spooky in this context. think i mean

I have 4 dc's my waters never broke before I was actually in full blown labour

Very disappointing as I wanted them to break dramatically in the middle of a posh shop so I could get a hamper

The first time they went while in labour.

The second time they went while I was in the bath - honestly! How mad is that? I was having contractions and had already had a shower when I suddenly decided I wanted to get into the bath.

I didn't even know they'd gone until I got out and my husband was putting my knickers on for me (God!) as the contractions had intensified, and he said he could smell that they'd gone.

Maybe there's something primal in us that "knows" and so generally people aren't out and about shopping when their waters go?

It might be interesting to know the percentages.

Midwife broke mine for me. I also have never met someone irl who had hers break in public

Omg such a fast response ladies......phew I think Il going out in public right up to my due date then.I swear I have loads of made thoughts,maybe Im more of a worrier than I think I am.

last week I was getting on the train and I thought that wow that gaps big when I was stepping on the train,my next thought was what if I drop the baby down there,I cant use this train station when the baby arrives,then I realised how stupid I was being,why am I over thinking everything????? Im such a freak.

Both times i have gone into labour at night.

The first time my waters didn't break. They were broken during labour at the hospital to speed things up.

Second time i got up around 3am to go to the bathroom and when i laid back down i felt a small pop followed by an almighty gush. Luckily i'd been sleeping on a towel so it soaked up quite a bit.

I don't remeber whether they smelt but i do know that my MIL had managed to clear the rest up and dry out our bed before we got back from hospital (with new baby) that evening.

Both mine broke at home and they were the first signs of labour.

It's not always this huge flood, as others have said. With my first, it was just a slow steady trickle. If it had happened in public it wouldn't have been embarrassing.

With my second, well yes, that was more the sort of thing Noah would build an ark for.

1. Waters were broken by midwife in hospital.

1. Can't recall. I had a 46 hr labour so really can't remember when it happened but probably after the 15/20 hr mark.

1. Didn't notice any smell. I was, however, vomiting bile by this time so wasn't paying much attention.

Ha! If your baby comes out that easily you are one lucky lady.

That said, my friend's ds was nearly born into the toilet.

3 o'clock on the morning, asleep, woke up feeling them going and going and going there was A LOT! No pains till about four hours later.

Forgot to say i was still working at Term + 3 days with my first baby (self employed) and our client was very concerned that my waters would break in his offices!

My waters probably went in the bath I was having at 3am having been woken up by contractions just before 1am... Not really sure though.

That said i know two people whose went in public - one in Pizza Express in Croydon and one at the park. Both laughed it off and wen on to have lovely births. It isn't normally pints and pints of liquid, and it won't all come at once so it's best to be prepared for repeat leaks - not the Hollywood Gush...!

DS1 & DS2 - both broke late in labour, around transition time

Might be worth buying some mattress protector pad things if you're worried - they're about a foot square and you could sit on them on the sofa, keep on in the car glove box etc...

And seemed like gallons both times. Shouts of shock from people at bottom end of bed first time. All over DH's trousers and shoes the second.

With DS1 I woke up at 3.24am to a gush - I had a bath towel under my sheet and that seemed to contain it all. It was not at all yucky, just clear, and I don't remember a smell. Contractions didn't start until about 6am and he was finally born at 9pm... That was a LONG day

Same here DC1 midwife broke them when in well established labour, DC2 they broke as head was coming out, loud POP and whoosh followed swiftly by baby. Dont worry about it all, by the time it happends you wont care what it smells like, and it DOES NOT HAPPEND LIKE YOU SEE IN THE MOVIES!!! Or on Telly, or read in chick lit books.

My midwife during my first pregnancy assured me that it was very rare for a labour to start with the waters breaking. This was in reply to my concerned response to her saying: "if your waters break and the baby's head has not engaged you must call an ambulance immediately."

I was as my sister's labour, plus that of two friends had started with their waters breaking, in bed, at about 3 or 4 in the morning.

Sure enough my waters broke at 3.55am, in bed, and as the head was not engaged I had to get an ambulance in. Right pillock I felt too.

And they also said that waters does not smell like urine. Well, ok, not exactly like urine, but more like urine than like lemonade, I can assure you. After all, the baby has been peeing in it.

My waters broke at the same time DS head came out!

My mum said her waters broke as she got into bed with my brother and with me the dr broke the waters.

My waters never broke - there were not left when I went into labour, as the baby swallowed it all. The MW's were convinced that they had broken without me noticing - really don't think it is something that you can miss.

Contractions started and show happened at the same time - was woken with an almighty contraction at 6am the day I had DS.

I was sat on the sofa watching most haunted and reached over to pick up my drink and felt a pop sensation. Just thought oh ok no pain.
Went to the toilet thinking nothing of it and felt a continuous gush down my legs. I was stood on the top landing think oh damn! Shouted for DH to come and look. I did not know what to do so just sat myself on the toilet again and asked Dh to make me a cup of tea
Getting to the front door I had towels all o er the floor to try catch the waters as we had just had new carpets put in.
I had no pian for a good ten min or so then period type pains. I checked the time 11:45pm and had him at 2:38am using good old gas and air. Was too far gone for epidural.

With Ds1, they broke while I was sat on the toilet, before I went into labour. They didnt'; smell.

BabyGsMummy you are not a freak for the train thing. A lot of pregnant and new mums think things like that, it's just your protective instinct keeping an eye out for potential hazards so that you stay alert to protecting your baby.

I'm reading 'What Mothers Do' at the moment, and she talks about new mums having these fears and imaginating bad stuff happening. She reckoned that as a mum you are super alert to these things, but overtime you learn and adjust as you get a better sense of how risky a situation is. Like one woman she mentions started off wanting to check her newborn about 30 times a night to check he was breathing, as time passed she checked him less, till it was just a few times (which is fairly reasonable), its just part of the learning process.

You aren't a freak. You're a new mum :) Your brain is just drawing your attention to things that could possibly be a hazard, and overtime it'll adjust as you work out what is really a worry and what isn't. Its normal.

With DD, the mw broke them at the hospital to try to get my labour moving better. With DS, it started with the waters breaking when I picked up DD (though they later told me it was only the front waters . I was in the kitchen, tiled floor. Slightly yellowish colour, not really a noticeable smell.

By the time you're due, you might not be feeling up to going shopping etc. Like me, you might just be spending a lot of time at home...

We were told ( not sure if it is true) that the fluid is ruination to leather. DH drove me in labour from Gloucester to London in his car with leather seats and I had to sit on a hige pile of towels on top of bin bags all the way there.
With both DCs I asked to have waters broken when labour was well advanced. Out of my NCT class of 8 only one had spontaneous rupture.