Question about labor starting with water breaking

[azohri]

I've been wondering about this, and the thread on the epidural wearing off brought it up in my mind again - if my water were to break and contractions didn't start immediately, would it be a good idea to wait a bit and see what happened before calling and informing my HB midwife? I wouldn't want to do anything too risky, but I'm wondering if putting it off for just a bit so that I could push back the 24 hour clock ticking and let my body ramp up naturally would be a good idea. Is it really dangerous to go longer than 24 hours?

I think this weighs on my mind a bit because my mother's labor with me started with her water breaking (although she did have me naturally).

[Devaskyla]

It really isn't dangerous to go longer than 24 hours, so long as you allow *nothing* in your vagina. And if your midwife has a 24 hour limit, you definitely should wait until you get contractions to call & fudge when your water broke. My water broke first with both boys. With ds1, I went to the hospital, despite my initial plan not to & got put on a 24 hour clock. After hours of pit, I still wasn't contracting and was still at 1cm. I got cut open. By then it was probably prudent, after all the internal exams & the internal monitor, but I would have been better off staying home. With ds2, I had a UC. My water broke & we waited. And waited, & waited. I took vitamin C every so often & monitored my temperature. 88 hours after my water broke, I had my first contraction. 2 hours later labour actually started. He was born 20 hours after that.

[MissyLissa]

I would find out what your MW's protocol is for that situation. If she has a law hanging over her head that says she can't deliver your baby after the 24 hour mark I would absolutely not call her until contractions started and lie about when your water broke. My water broke with DS and contractions were very weak and spaced out. I waited about 4 hours before going to the hospital and just the decision of going made any attempt of labor starting naturally completely halt. So then I got a whole cascade of interventions starting with pitocin-not doing that again if I can avoid it!! My game plan for this baby, if the situation repeats itself, is to stay put until I am in good active labor and lie about when my water broke. Studies have shown that as long as nothing enters the vagina you aren't at any increased risk of infection until 3 or 4 days later. (I read that in [I]Pushed[I] by Jennifer Block if you want a source.)

[annekh23]

have you checked if that's the clock that your midwife actually does work on? as this as happened to us before, it was a question we asked fairly early on and they are comfortable waiting a while, with appropriate checks, though after 48 hours or so would try and kick start things with herbs.

[azohri]

I'm going to ask at my next appointment what their policy is. Sounds like it's pretty clear that I'll fudge the time a bit if I am in that specific situation (though I'm hoping my midwives are more flexible, I can see how state or insurance regs could get in the way potentially). So we'll see what they say.

I'm curious what it's like for the baby without amniotic fluid in there, I'll have to some more reading about it. For some reason it seems like a pretty important cushion, but I suppose the placenta is still functioning to support the baby with or without it.

Thanks for the responses!

[Devaskyla]

So long as you keep up your fluid intake, the baby still has amniotic fluid. Most of the time, anyway. In all the water breaking stories I've heard, I've only read about one that was an actual "dry" birth and I believe there were other issues in that case. Even after leaking continuously for over 3 days, there was still *lots* of water when ds2 was born. The fluid is constantly being replenished.

They do lose the head cushioning though & supposedly having your water broken makes labour harder on you, but since I've never had a labour with an intact amniotic sac, I couldn't tell you if it's harder or not.

[Birdie B.]

I'll chime in and say that I agree with the others. If I had known what would happen by telling them right away, I never would have done it. I was so confident that everything would go perfectly, I never considered the 24-hr window a problem :
Knowing what I do now, I would definitely have waited for labor to start on its own. My daughter was born 25 hours after the water broke, and she was fine.

[shelleyd]

Definitely ask your mw what her regulations/policy is. My water broke with dd2 and contractions didn't start right away. It was 11:00 at night. I did call my mw just to give her a heads up so that she could make sure she was rested up. Labor kicked in a few hours later and then she wasn't surprised to hear from me at 3am. Your mw may appreciate a heads up.

[Aubergine68]

My water broke first with my oldest and (I think) the mucus plug came out at the same time (? this was 10 years ago, forgive me for haziness)

My midwife ended up coming for a quick visit and baby check because the fluid didn't look the way I expected it to. I couldn't tell her for sure that there was no meconium in the fluid and I didn't want to guess on something so important. It was ok, but the visit was infinitely reassuring. I guess what I'm saying is that if you are thinking about fudging your`clock`, doing more reading and learning from your midwife NOW about exactly what to expect is a really good idea.

Our clock was 5 days before my midwife would have had to refer me to hospital, btw, but after 3 days I was pretty tired and we really didn't want dh to end up not having any time off left from work after the baby actually came. So we did a hospital induction, and delivered with pit but without anything else.

I have always believed that if I'd gone into the hospital right away after my water broke, I'd've ended up with a c-section. I think there was real value in laboring at home as long as I did -- and if dh's clock ( dh was my only possible post-partum support person) wasn't running out, we'd have stayed at home longer, for sure.

[Belle]

Originally Posted by MissyLissa

I would find out what your MW's protocol is for that situation. If she has a law hanging over her head that says she can't deliver your baby after the 24 hour mark I would absolutely not call her until contractions started and lie about when your water broke. My water broke with DS and contractions were very weak and spaced out. I waited about 4 hours before going to the hospital and just the decision of going made any attempt of labor starting naturally completely halt. So then I got a whole cascade of interventions starting with pitocin-not doing that again if I can avoid it!! My game plan for this baby, if the situation repeats itself, is to stay put until I am in good active labor and lie about when my water broke. Studies have shown that as long as nothing enters the vagina you aren't at any increased risk of infection until 3 or 4 days later. (I read that in [I]Pushed[I] by Jennifer Block if you want a source.)

:
My labor didn't start until 36 hours after my water broke, but my midwives had no legal requirement to have my baby out before any arbitrary time. I had an easy four hour labor because we just waited for labor to start.

[Belia]

My water broke at 4:30 am, and I didn't call my hosp-based mw until about noon even though I wasn't having any (real/productive) contractions. She said that she didn't need me in the hospital until 10:00 that night..... I ended up with pit at 5:00 the next morning b/c labor never did start on its own.

I knew rationally that there was no cause for concern, but the nervous, first time mom in me was really anxious. Plus, the family members who found out thought I was insane.

Two things- I was POSITIVE that there was no meconium in the water. Plus, I made sure that nothing went in there except the initial check when I got to the hospital.

I thought I would fudge my water-breaking time as well, but as a first-timer I got too scared to do it when push came to shove. I am REALLY glad I waited as long as I did, though.... I think 24 hours for labor to start was fair for someone working within the medical system.