When your waters break.....

[wilkie50]

Bit of a ponder really (waters haven't broken). Two MNers on my thread had their waters break but didn't go into labour straight away. I was under the impression once your waters had gone you were off and away...

This has been the case with my three friends who's waters broke.

Is this not the case??

sounds like c.s was the only way to go , especially undiagnosed breech and a low heart rate and your BP issues

so sorry it was a horrible blur

there are organisations you can talk to about traumatic and upsetting births..

birth trauma association

or
if you google sheila kitzinger;s birth crisis..can;t get another window to open for that link! sorry !

Thanks lulu. Didn't want to highjack the thread or spread any bad vibes! Or put people off their labour!

I am glad that I experienced contractions and waters breaking, but I do still feel upset at times when I think of the birth. I blot most of it out tbh. Recently I had a pg scare and my AF was 4 days late. The only thing I worried about was going to the hospital or the doctors! I wanted to wrap myself away and deal with pg on my own. Daft really. I guess at least 2nd time round I will be more cautious and more assertive.

I am not pg btw!

My water broke first, but labor followed closely after and I gave birth 11 hours later. I think there is a risk of infection if the waters break to long before labor.

My waters broke and I had nothing at all for a day. They still wanted me in hospital though, and resulted in slow progress, failed induction and c-section.

NICE guidelines state you have 96hrs between waters breaking and having to have intervention if labour hasn't started.

"If your waters break before labour starts
Sometimes a woman?s waters break before labour starts. This happens in about one in
twenty pregnancies and is known as prelabour rupture of the membranes (or PROM). When
this happens, about nine out of ten women will go into labour naturally within twenty-four
hours. The longer the time between PROM and the birth of the baby the higher the risk of
infection to you or your baby.
If you are more than 37 weeks pregnant and your waters have broken but you have not gone
into labour you should be offered the choice of either:
Induction of labour
OR
A ?wait and see approach? to see if labour will start naturally
As a wait and see approach carries a slight risk of infection, you will need to:
check your temperature twice a day
check for changes in the colour or odour of your amniotic fluid (?waters?)
check for any other signs of fever (e.g. shivers, flushing)
If you have not gone into labour after, at most, four days induction is strongly recommended.
If your waters break before you go into labour, your chances of having a caesarean section
will not be increased by choosing either induction or ?wait and see?."

My MW said to me that if my waters go you should contact the labour ward straightaway as they don't like you to go over 24 hours once your waters have gone due to risk of infection

they say that wilkie....but clinical guidlines - NICE- say 96 hours is ok..and as daisy has said lower down this thread, you can go beyond 96 hours with monitoring...

mine went around 4am with first and delivered just before 4pm and second time they exploded all over mw during an examination and hit the wall on the otherside of the room poor mw was soaked! Delivered 15 mins later. {wasnt due to be examined and possibly have waters broken for another hour but insisted on it as really needed to push!)

DD1 - I thought I had wet myself never realising it could be my waters (was 37+5) went into hospital to be checked out was told cervix was completely closed to come back in 48 hours for induction if nothing happened. I remember lying there with water trickling out of me and MW getting annoyed when I asked her for something to mop it up with (she was foreign and her grasp of English wasn't too hot), on the way home started getting pains and thought OMG these are way too sore, had 3 in 10 minutes so DP took me back in and was told I was only 1cm and to go home but I was in too much pain by this time. To cut a long story short (!) DD1 arrived 4 hours later so 1o hours from waters breaking, 4 hours of official labour.

DD2 - MW had to break waters as I was 10cms her head was still high and I was in agony, she broke the waters DD2 was out in a few pushes.

lulu - thanks.

My waters went about 9am but labour didn't start until 6pm the same day

I've read through this thread and am now very confused re. the length of time you can go after waters broken before you are induced. I want to warn you and any others who have not yet been in the situation: please be very insistent if you think your waters have broken. In a nutshell, mine started trickling 2 days before my due date. Went for a check-up at hospital, they sent me home, said I had thrush, waters not broken. This was a Friday. On Monday had 40 week check-up at GP. When she heard that waters had been leaking (I was wearing sanitary pads all weekend) she sent me straight back to hospital. They examined me again and said, no, wait for labour to start, no sign of anything. On Wednesday, when I was getting concerned cos I'd heard of risk of infection, I took myself back to hospital for the 3rd time. They were on the verge of sending me home again, when (luckily) a consultant came and checked for sign of waters by using little sticks (like preg test stick) and said, oh yes, you have lost some. Booked me in for induction next day, Thursday.

Sorry this is long, but I think its very important people should know.

Birth was very nearly catastrophic. Crash caesarian after 8 hours labour, I had gen anaesthetic because no time for epidural. I have no idea if this had any connection with the loss of waters, but what really incensed and infuriated me was that in the hazy aftermath when I was trying to come round and wanted to see my baby, several midwives/doctors/consultants came up to me with my notes and said "You came in here 6 days ago saying your waters had broken - so we are going to have to give the baby antibiotics in case of infection". She had to have intravenous (sp?) antibiotics 12 hourly for a week, and spent a night in special care. She did develop skin sepsis (horrible little blackhead-like spots all over her body) but LUCKILY not strep b.

So why did the hospital send me home twice if they were going to have to administer antibiotics as a precaution?

When I was pg with my 2nd child and having a meeting at hospital to request elective caesarian, I talked about this with the dr looking after me. He said "they wouldn't do that now, you would be induced the next day - after all, you had reached full term." However, my first child was born in 2001, not back in the dark ages, when surely risks associated with infection/waters breaking were perfectly well known.

And EVEN WORSE, this all took place at a hospital which is right at the forefront of obstetric medicine.

Still makes me fume now, the risks they took with me and my baby, and the attitude they had that I didn't really know what I was talking about. I knew my waters were leaking (witnessed by the fact that I took myself to hospital 3 times in 5 days) but stupidly trusted that they knew what they were doing when they sent me home.

So please be very very careful and insistent if your waters leak or break and labour doesn't come on spontaneously shortly thereafter.

i am sorry to hear that you and your LO had such a horrendous experience..it is shocking and you are right to share your experience, as it is a valid point..infection is a real concern when the waters have ruptured.

the NICE guidelines do state 96 hours can elapse before induction can commence.

not every hospital , not every mother is comfortable waiting that length of time..

the option to be induced sooner , ie within 24 - 48 hours of waters going is usually there...

or to have monitoring and to ensure there is no infection & mum & baby are well and happy.

clearly, your waters had gone and you had 6 days, longer than recommended by NICE , before your baby arrived. i am sorry your birth experience was so horrible, and that your baby was sick... there are some links lower down to some birth trauma organisations.

Quick other question here, what about a show. Do you automatically go into labour after that??

no...not neccesarily

when you lose your show, labour can be minutes or days away !!

it is a sign the cervix is softening and beginning dilate and is a sign that labour is coming...just cannot say when

it can be bloody, or not, like a big lump of mucousy jelly or stringy ....and thciker than regualr discarge...snot like really !!! can lose it in one piece or over a number of days

some women don;t notice losing it, or lose it far on in labour!

have oyu had one ???

My waters broke 9 am on Tues, and started contratcions 5 pm on Weds. I was told I would be induced after 48 hours due to risk of infection. During labour I had to be hooked up to drip continuously with ab due to risk of infection, also constant monitoring so confined to bed for whole labour...

My waters broke and I had to go into hospital straight away because of a previous section. I had "tightenings" every 6 minutes for 54 hours then they induced me (drip) and gave me an antibiotic injection at the same time. Depends on hospitals policy how long they will let you go before inducing you if things don't move by themselves. Mine was a big gush - no mistaking!

Thanks for your message Lulumama. You seem to be a very thoughtful and supportive Mnetter - always there with advice re. births etc for everyone, which is great. I didn't go into loads of detail re. the actual birth because it was the waters leaking and 5 days waiting for induction thing that I really wanted to flag up for the OP. I am as over the trauma as I can be and the very fit and healthy DD is going to be 6 next Thursday and I've had another baby since then. Some other threads on here today/yesterday - I'm sure you know the ones I mean - have really made me count my blessings and in some ways I am aware that it was only because I was in hospital that I had a live baby in the end. So my gratitude for that and the sense of betrayal over my ante-natal care are all mixed up iyswim. I could have sued, I suppose, but she lived and in the end that is a fantastic result.

you are welcome twoisenough

in an ideal world, we would all get glorious births, with no intervention, just the way we want them....but you are absolutely right to point out that there are risks and you are right to flag them up

thank you for your appreciation.& kindly words...

Hi - with first one waters broke and then needed induction as no contractions, with second, waters broke just before crowning/birth (after a 3 hr labour - too fast!!), with 3rd I woke up in a puddle and then contractions started about an hour later. No pattern. Good luckx

No Lulu, havent' had a show yet, and when you think about it, what a mad question to ask, but I am informed about most things to do with birth but the obvious