Waters broke but no contractions

[booklover164]

My waters broke 31 hours ago ( 9am yesterday) . I went to my maternity unit where they checked everything and told me to call back 24 hours later which I did. The hospital was very busy and I was told that the ward sister would call me back to get me in for induction. This was at 9 this morning and I still haven't heard anything. I also still haven't had any contractions, only back ache and some period like cramps. I've done pretty much all all the suggested tips for inducing labour ( except the sex obviously) What should I do? I really don't want to be induced and have read online that it can take up to 48 hours for them to start. Has anyone been through this before? Thanks everyone :)

I forgot to mention I'm 38+5

I would call them again and say you havent heard! If your waters have been gone more than 24 hours i know you are at risk of infection

I would either re ring the hospital or go in as in my trust you would require antibiotics after 18 hours to reduce the risk of infection

Yes, you need to ring them. I went into labour after 26ish hours and had to have antibiotics.

I'd call your midwife if I were you - mine broke early at 35+5 so I was admitted straight away, but my contractions didn't start til two days later.
My community midwife was great, she explained they can break well before labour starts, and basically refill a bit, leak, refill, leak, refill etc depending on whether the baby's head is engaged.
There is a risk of infection, so you do need to be kept an eye on.
Watch out for your mucus plug, that'll appear at some point.

In the mean time walk up and down the stairs, this set mine off when my water broke three weeks early!!

I had this experience with two of my children - please push for admission and/checks ASAP as there is a chance of infection, especially if you have tested positive for strep b. (Not sure if all trusts carry out checks for this later in pregnancy) Please please don't wait and put your baby at risk.

Don't fear induction - my two births with inductions were fantastic experiences.

As PPs have said, you should be at hospital. I had suspected broken waters and wasn’t allowed to leave hospital (I was at my 40 week check up at the time). After 24 hours the risk of infection increases, which is why I wasn’t allowed to leave and was in the end induced with a pessary.

As an aside, two midwives weren’t able to confirm if waters broke. They hadn’t. I had them broken mud labout...

Good luck OP.

I second kyan, two inductions here and two excellent labours.

You need to ring them. The same happened to me and they said they were on the clock (think we’d have had a section if not out within a certain timeframe. They were happy to give me the rest of the day at home but wanted me in at 8am the next day. They let let me go to 28 hours (with sweeps and manual breaking of left over waters) before starting the drip. I don’t remember having antibiotics but I was being monitoried regularly. They tried to give me as long as they were comfortable as I wanted to use the pool but they were not happy to leave me any longer than 28 hours and said that was only because my cervix was very think and was at 3cm so hoping contractions would pick up.

You need to ring them. If they don't answer then you need to go and park your bum in the unit until they take you seriously. As PPs said you risk infection due to the amount of time that has passed. Both people I know this happen to ended up having c-sections.

This happened to me. Dh cooked me a lovely meal and then I went into labour.
You should be ok and I'd call them again. Generally they usually only let you go 24 hours.

Don’t let the idea of induction put you off, I was induced. And whilst it was boring waiting for the persary to actually do anything (I had to be given two in the end) once I started contracting it all happening within 5 hours.
I would stick a box set on and call the hospital once more. There is a risk of infection once waters have broken.
If you haven’t packed bag already do that. And maybe put scrabble in!!

Please go in!! My ds caught an infection after my waters went. He had 'failure to thrive' before they realised and was hospitalised at 10 weeks.

Just to echo previous posters. This happened to me. You need to be in the hospital now as the infection risk is increased. So call them, keep calling and if that fails go in!

Try not to worry about being induced! I had an induction drip and it was fine. There were other issues in my labour but nothing to do with the drip. Good luck OP.

Thanks everyone. Called again and now on the labour suite waiting to be induced! Hoping for a positive birth story like so many of you have had. 🤞

Good luck!

Just wanted to say that once your waters have gone, it’s likely the induction will go better than if you were induced without any sign of labour. It shows that the baby’s on the way so hopefully you’ll respond well to induction.

booklover164 how exciting, hope all goes well

Good luck. Most people don’t want an induction but as long as you get a positive outcome that is the most important thing. If you need to have the drip keep your mind open to different pain relief options. I hope all goes well for you and you’ll have lovely newborn cuddles soon.