Water broke at 38 weeks and 4 days

[bardosya]

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with their water breaking before going into labour.

Currently 38 weeks 5 days and was admitted through MAU with the intention of inducing within 24 hours. I agreed to this as this is the safest option. However, we're coming up to the 24h mark and I am yet to be moved to the delivery suite.

Midwives have given excuse after excuse and I've lost count, I understand it's a bank holiday but I feel like as time goes on I am more likely to be forgotten and this is increasing the infection risk for myself and baby.

I have had a complicated birth in the past and I would really like this time to be a better experience, but so far I've been disappointed 🙃

Yes, this happened to me, but day after due date. After 24hours I was admitted to the labour ward for induction and put on IV antibiotics due to risk of infection for baby and I.

I really doubt they have forgotten you, the labour ward coordinator usually has a list of all women waiting for augmentation/induction and has to prioritise. Since you're coming up to the 24 hours you'll be towards the top of the list but it's just waiting for a room/a midwife becoming available to look after you. Buzz and ask a midwife what the process is in your hospital/how long it's likely to be. Ask them to keep doing your obs regularly (should be checking temp regularly).

Yes this happened to me, I think they will keep doing your obs to check for infection and obviously keep monitoring baby. In the end it was about 36 hours since my waters breaking to delivery but this was via a c section. I had antibiotics at this point. Baby had shown some signs of distress as well which meant we went round to delivery suite quickly. As pp have said they can only really accommodate you if they have staff and you’re in the best place being monitored.

Worth mentioning the infection risk increases after 24 hours but goes from 1% to 2% so it’s still small in the grand scheme of things.

Yes, i had this experience with my first pregnancy and my daughter did go on to develop an infection. Also the fobbing off on account of delivery suite being busy. I was 37+6w. Dd was very poorly (sepsis) but at nearly 3yrs old now, she has had no long term impacts.

Have you been swabbed for Group B Strep at any point in your pregnancy?

As pp said above, ask a midwife (before the shift changes at 8pm and the night cover starts!) what the plan is and i would be outright asking about infection risk and how it is being mitigated given it is nearly 24hrs now.

Good luck! Hopefully baby is in your arms soon!

Hi there it's a labour ward midwife. A large study involving 5000 women concluded that there were no increased risk of infection for women randomly allocated to the immediate induction and waiting for up to 96 hours providing women 1. didn't develop a fever. 2 women didn't get a vaginal examination during period of waiting. 3 there were no other risk factors making infection more likely. The UK general national recommendation is to induce after 24 hours, any particular reason they want to induce you within 24 hours? I am sorry about the wait, the whole country is short of midwives, Bank holiday weekend or not. You will be induced once the labour ward coordinator has enough midwives to safely care for all the women already in labour and to start an induction. In the meantime, insist on being seen by a doctor to make sure nothing has been missed. I hope it helps. Good luck

Thank you all for your responses. I was called up to the labour ward a couple of hours after posting this and delivered within 16 hours!

Had some amazing midwives helping me through the process of induction!

Congratulations!