So, what makes your water break? Baby kicking? Hormones? Ctx?

[Amila]

This is a dumb question but I don't know the answer! My baby has been practicing some MAJOR karate moves in there, and they HURT. Its like she is trying to bust out lol. Can the baby actually break the water bag? With DD my water started trickling over the course of the day, with DS it didn't break until the midwife broke it while I was in transition.

Thoughts?

[AZgirl2207]

According to my MW, if you leave it alone (which rarely happens) the bag of waters will break in transition or while pushing. It is a combination of pressure and baby position. From a purely evolutionary point of view....I would think it's better to have the bag intact until the baby is born.

However, I have also read that OP presentation leads to water breaking in early labor or before labor begins. (which is exactly what happened with my first baby)

Now that I haven't actually ANSWERED your question, maybe we can get an expert to weigh in?

[WifeofAnt]

I've read a few things about this and I don't really know! Bumping for answers.

[fruitfulmomma]

It seems unlikely that baby is going to break the bag before s/he is ready to be born. They have to actually use a hook to tear it when doing AROM so I think it is quite sturdy.

My oldest's broke on it's own about 5 hours before birth, I had AROM with #2 and #3, don't remember with #4, and #5 broke as she was being pushed out - literally exploded all over my midwife and the bed.

[MaerynPearl]

Originally Posted by fruitfulmomma

#5 broke as she was being pushed out - literally exploded all over my midwife and the bed.

my #3 was same

#2 felt like i sat on a warm water balloon during transition (just before pushing)

#1 was AROM just before (or helping me into?) transition. id been in labor 19 1/2 hours at that point, he was born 30 mins later.

[kblackstone444]

I've wondered about this myself- with my first son, he was very active, and my water broke at 38 weeks, but labor didn't start until much later when they induced. This baby is even more active, sometimes I feel like I must seriously have bruises on the inside of my uterus, so I've wondered myself if, especially now that I can actually feel him getting stronger, he might become a danger to himself (or the water!) in the 2 1/2 months he's got to go before he gets born!

[babymango]

I remember reading that there needs to be some changes in hormones to "weaken" the bag before it can actually break. If those changes havent happened, the baby can kick as hard as he/she wants, the water won't break. Plus, the bag is right against the uterus wall which should provide some resistance (the bag will only stretch as far as the uterus wall will)