I think I am leaking amniotic fluid today.... a lot

[mkat83]

Okay, give me some advice!  I am 35weeks 5 days.

Last night I woke up as if I had to go to the bathroom, but a small gush of liquid came out of me.  I wear cloth pads 24/7 because of discharge, but this went above my pad and got my panties wet, so changed panties and got a new pad.  I thought it was me just not being able to hold my pee (which has not happened before).  This same scenario happened once more during the night. I was up every hour, almost like clockwork to go pee.  Didn't have the gushes every time, though. I didn't feel anything else, though.

This morning after my shower and getting dressed, I at on the couch for a bit looking up incontinence on the internet.  I thought it was odd that it would have come on just like that and not have been something that started gradually if it was incontinence.  When I got up from the couch, I felt another bit of a gush.  Went to the bathroom and my pad had a wet spot. It looked slightly pink... but this pad had a pink backing, so I think it was just the material since all the rest has been perfectly clear.  A little more dripped out while on the toilet, but I couldn't feel anything except the liquid sensation.  Like, I didn't feel any urine coming through my urethra.  I couldn't detect any smell.

This sounds crazy, but I got a mirror and tried to observe if it was coming from my vagina or urethra, and I still wasn't sure.  I felt really dumb for not knowing, but I called my midwife.  I was surprised she answered since it was something like 7:30am, but she said she was at a birth.  So, she's going to call me when she's available to test it and see if it is AF or not.... but for now I don't know when she'll be available.  

I decided to come to work and I brought extra pads, regular and cloth, and a dish towell just to be sure I didn't get any wet spots on my dress while driving.  WHen I got to work and got out of the car, I had a substantial gush, soaked my pad, soaked my panties completely.  Thank god for the dish towell.  I thought about getting right back in the car to go back home, but decided to get inside and go to the bathroom to check the situation.  I changed the pad and put on a new regular pad and a big cloth one over it.  I didn't think to bring extra undies, so I'm dealing with that and trying not to get wet spots on my dress.  (So glad I wore a dress today)

Came into my office and sat down to think.  My last day at work (forever) is to be this Friday, so I'd already started packing up my personal things, but I decided to quickly gather up the rest in case I wasn't able to come back and get it if I went home.  When I stand up from my desk I feel gushes every time.  I am able to keep my dress up and still have myself covered, thankfully.  My boss asked me to look at something in his office, which I dreaded.  I just didn't sit down, and I was clenching the towell between my legs and feeling more gushes.

Its now 11:30am and I thought maybe I could make it until lunch time (12:30) and then go home.  But I think my co-workers want to take me to lunch, and I have no idea how I would manage that.  I hope the midwife calls soon.  I will leave work and meet her wherever she needs to meet me.

OKAY, so, with all that, and with the gushes at work, I am pretty sure this cannot be urine.  If so, then my bladder suddenly just lost all control over night.

Since I haven't been able to have a lengthy conversation with the midwife yet, can anyone give me some advice as to my prognosis?  I've been taking my temp (as the MW suggested) and it has remained normal.  I'm also trying to drink as much water as I can.  I don't want to have to go to the hospital.  I really want to have this baby at home.

So, when I meet with the MW and she likely confirms this is AF, what should I expect next????

[CrunchyChristianMama]

I think you can be pretty certain it's your water.  And given the quantity of liquid it doesn't sound like just a high leak that could potentially re-seal.  I would guess you will be meeting your little one sooner than anticipated.

Don't put ANYTHING in your vagina.  No dilation checks or anything.  As long as you don't, your chance of infection is pretty low.

What will happen next depend on how much intervention your midwife likes.  If she's a no intervention type, then she will probably just have you wait around for labor to start while continuing to drink lots of water and checking your temp.  After 24-48 hours though, if nothing has started at all, she might recommend some herbs to try to get things started.  Potentially even castor oil. 

If it were me I would tie things up at work as soon as possible.  Take a nice long walk.  Then nap.  Then walk or bounce on a birthing ball.  Then nap.  Do things that will try to get labor going, but also don't wear yourself out!  Labor may not really kick in for a while or be long and you don't want to be exhausted to start out.

Best of luck!

[mkat83]

So since I'm 35w 5d I should not have much to worry about in terms in how far along I am?

[akind1]

only in that it may risk you out of a home birth - some midwives will not attend a birth that early in gestation, and you might have to transfer - more to that the baby might need to go to NICU in the event breathing help is needed.

It does sound to me definitely like Amniotic Fluid though. I had AROM with my son, and that is exactly what I experienced. Gushes at every move. no fun that.

[lookingforaname]

Hmm. . . there is a REASON that you would risk out of a home birth, and that reason is that the baby could be not quite ripe yet!  :(  I would definitely try to have a longer conversation with your midwife and see what she suggests as a course of action.  I would NOT necessarily try to spur on labor unless my midwife gave the green light.

[XanaduMama]

I agree that it definitely sounds like ROM! If you're home by now (as you likely are), send your dp out to get you some Depends--really awesome for laboring (or working, lol!) after ROM...and for postpartum, I might add. I hope you've had the big talk with your MW and know how to proceed, but I agree with PPs: keep everything out of your vagina, start popping megadoses of vitamin C, drink gallons of water, and start preparing to meet your baby :)  I think castor oil is contraindicated after ROM, because of the risk that its, um, effects might pose given your ruptured waters, so hopefully she's cool with you just resting and waiting for things to get going. Wishing you mental strength--the wait could be the hardest part

[mkat83]

Just an update to this thread... yup, my water broke that day.  My MW was at a birth all day, and she was able to see me that evening.  We talked about all the options and DH and I decided to try black and blue cohosh to get contractions going and then go to the hospital.  Didn't want to chance baby needing to be transferred to NICU after birth.  Started the cohosh around 9:45pm, and ended up leaving for the hospital at 2:30am with ctx 5 mins apart.  The cohosh definitely worked like a charm!  XanaduMama, the MW had exactly your concerns about castor oil, so we didn't try that.  But the cohosh worked great, and without that undesirable side effect!

We went to the hospital recommended by all the midwives (a teaching hospital) and we were treated wonderfully.  We weren't quite honest about when my water broke, though.  We told them it only broke a few hours prior!  We were afraid they'd jump into a lot more interventions if they knew how long it had been.  The resident OB reviewed our birth plan line by line and they were able to meet all our wishes except intermittent monitoring.  More than one medical staff member even said to us that they were sorry things didn't go like we had wanted (meaning a HB), and I was really touched that they said that.  At no point did anyone treat us negatively because we were planning a homebirth.  I was so pleased because I had been really worried about that.  I knew I would get antibiotics given my scenario, so I didn't argue about that.

Got admitted around 3:30am, and baby was born at 6:27am, so labor was pretty fast.  I was able to push in multi positions even though one nurse thought I needed to be on my back with legs in stirrups.  The attending OB was great, asked me how I wanted to be, and even had the nurses get the squat bar.... I think the nurses didn't know what she meant at first, and they started to put it on backwards when they got it.  I ended up giving birth squatting.  Baby was crying and lungs were fine, thankfully.  I got to hold him immediately, and DH cut the cord once it was done pulsing.  There was a NICU team present in the room, so they did examine him quickly, but he was back to me in a few minutes, thankfully.  The same nurse who wanted me on my back started hanging something on the IV pole, and DH asked what it was.... pitocin.  Both DH and I quickly snapped that we didn't want that (for placenta delivery).  Nurse was snotty saying that the doc told her to do it.  I didn't like that no one asked me about the pitocin, but she took it down before I even got any.  Placenta ended up being delivered naturally.

I was sad we didn't get our homebirth, but it turned out REALLY well given the scenario.  I don't think I could have hoped for better given the situation.  We were discharged after the standard 2 days, and then ended up in the NICU the next day due to high billiruben, though.  We were in the NICU for 4 days, which sucked, but all in all, baby was healthy!

[starrlamia]

Great! Im glad everything went well and you had a supportive environment :) Congrats!

[L'lee]

Congrats! That sounds like just the kind of birth that you would want under the circumstances! (Except for the nurse that was pushy...) Glad your (hospital part of your) labor went so fast and the Doctor was so understanding!

My DS shocked us also by being born early, but not quite early enough that we got risked out of our birth center (he was 37 weeks and 2 days), but I've always wondered what would have happened if he'd been born even a few days to a week earlier, and I wonder about that this time a little, since sometimes subsequent babies are born earlier. DS also needed to be treated for jaundice, but we didn't actually have to end up taking him to the hospital other than for blood tests (which were torture because my milk hadn't come in yet and he was dehydrated!). I think jaundice is fairly common when they're a little early.

It was nice to hear an update! Glad everyone was healthy, and I hope you're having a great time with your baby, now! Just think, you could still be pregnant!