Water Browke over 12 hours!!

[dex_millie]

Water Broke at 12:50am last night. I had contractions for a little while that keep getting further and further away now I have none. I am going to do a homebirth and don't want to have to go to the hospital. Has this happened to anyone before? How long after your water broke before you went into labor? Is there something I should do to get labor started? Really want to do a homebirth. This is my first birth.

[majikfaerie]

hi, I'm not in your tribe, but I saw the title...
I hope this helps, (I'm a monitrice/doula and midwifery student, with a LOT of experience in home birth and unassisted birth by the way)

Though now that your water has broken you need to take extra care not to expose yourself to infection (like avoid vaginal exams, baths are okay tho), you can actually wait happily for a while more before you need to worry.
I have read of women whose water broke 3 days before real labour started.

when you say your water broke, do you mean you had a big gush or youre just dripping a bit? is water still dripping? with first births, things can sometimes take a little while to get moving. I'd say, as long as you feel up to it, just go on about your day as you normally would, and try to get some rest.
sleep as much as you can and eat a good nourishing meal with carbs to prepare your body for the big event, and practice your kegels and get in some last-minute perineum massage!

with my dd, my mucus plug started to come out 5 days before the birth, and I started having contractions 65 hours before, which were very strong and 5 minutes apart for 24 hours before I started to make progress, and even after 50 hours of labour and 10cm dilation, slowly losing water all the time, the contractions seemed to stop and the labour seemed 'stalled'. but still we waited, and a few hours later my darling baby was born fine and healthy, without any medical assistance.

So you shouldnt be worrying yet.
do you have a midwife or other attendant? you can always contact your care provider, but keep in mind that if you have a licensed MW, in some states, whe is obliged to induce or transfer if the baby isnt born a certain number of hours after the water breaks.

feel free to pm me if you have more questions or just need some support, I should be online for a little while more

[dex_millie]

The first time it soaked my whole panty and my pants, I put on a next one and it soaked that too about 30 minutes after then i just left nothing on and when i stood up it started running slowly like a faucet about 20 minutes after, then I sat on a towel and felt a gush of water again. I am thinking at least 1 cup of water. Then it would drain, like pee amounts everynow and then. It has stop for a while now though. I have a CPM. Right now I just have a gerber diaper as a pad - I hope that is alright. The baby is moving. With all this water going do you know what is happening inside the uterus and to the baby? Thank you for your respond.

[majikfaerie]

welcome to Mothering! (I didnt notice before that you are a new member - well, you've found the right place!)

No worries, I'm happy to be able to help.
What time is it for you locally? and where are you (if you dont mind me asking?) it just helps to have an idea what time of day you're at.

I think putting a diaper as a pad is a fine idea. I often use towels, but whatever you're comfortable with.

Since the baby is moving, It seems that you have nothing to worry about. as long as you still feel movement and the water is reasonably clear, its fine.
You can contact your CNM any time you feel you need to, but at this stage, at least till you start having regular contractions, its not really necessary. What kind of support do you have at home? is the father with you, or your mother/sister/best friend/etc? or are you home alone?

I would suggest that if you are alone, contact your birth partner (if you have one) and let them know that you might need them to come and sit with you anytime, and if you feel that you need to have any particular person to be with you (even and especially if just for emotional support), call them and get them to come over or at least chat with you on the phone. Likewise, if there is anyone around you that you find disturbing in any way, now is the time to clear the air, or at least ask them to leave.

YOU NEED YOUR SPACE!

And dont worry, if your baby is moving, its fine, you may lose a lot more water yet!
and feel free to contact me if you need to!
good luck!

[swampwitch]

My OB went out of town over the weekend and I asked her how I would know if my water breaking should cause alarm. She used to be a MW and I trust her to let me labor at home for as long as possible. Her backup, I wasn't so sure, which is why I asked.

She shrugged and said that as long as the baby is still moving there's no need to be alarmed and there is no cord prolapse, the biggest concern a lot of practitioners have.

Do you know if your baby was already engaged, or at what station the baby was before the bag of waters broke? If the baby was in a good position already, there is no need to worry. Also know that your body continues to manufacture the fluids needed, so that is probably why you continue to leak.

You can try nipple stimulation with a pump or manually to try to get contractions going. Good luck and we'll be eager to hear how it goes for you!

[leurMaman]

It is important to listen to Majikfaery and reduce chances of infection by not having sex or letting things push bacteria back up the birth canal (like vaginal exams, etc.) If you tested positive for Group B strept, then you do need to notify your midwife. In fact, my personal opinion is that I would notify my midwife if 12 hours had already passed. Do try to figure out what their policy is on how long you can go before they need to act. Like swampwitch said, one concern is cord prolapse - but it sounds like this isn't a problem for you (that is where the cord slips down with the water and gets pinched by the pelvis and cervix - cutting off flow to the baby). Try drinking red raspberry leaf tea, nipple stimulation, etc. You can suck on your thumb to stimulate a pressure point located in the top of your mouth - or get a massage by your partner to stimulate other pressure points that can stimulate uterine contractions (such as around your ankles and inner thighs). If the leaking slows, you can try walking.

[Earthy~Mama]

You've already got a lot of great advice. I'm sending you easy labor vibes!

[dex_millie]

i'm still here, no baby

Thanks for the advice. I am still here 33 hours after my water broke. My midwife is going to wait it out until the weekend and then induce with castor oil - anybody have any experience with that, and what is your advice.

[Finding Serenity]

Never used it, but I wanted to send you easy labor vibes!

[majikfaerie]

well, while some swear by it, and it is quite a traditional 'home' remedy, but these days theres a lot of evidence to suggest that it doesnt help much except to give you diarrhoea.
If you want to try something like nipple stimulation, its a simple thing that you can do yourself. (just rub a nipple with finger and thumb).
however I'd still be inclined to wait and see.
someting important that I suggest you consider is to ask te MW what experience she as with castor oil, and what she will do if it doesnt work? like, if she's gonna use a stronger induction or recommend a transfer if the castor oil doesnt work, then I'd say just wait some more.
and keep in mind that its not unheard of for the water to break and then somehow 'seal' again, your body produces more water, and you can go even a week before labour starts and still be perfectly healthy.
if you're really worried, a skilled professional or an ultrasound can tell roughly how much fluid you still have.

[leurMaman]

I haven't used castor oil, but I hear tons of stories about it (some on this board). It can be quite successful at getting things going if you are close anyway, but it can make for a messy birth (um, a poopy birth). I would chose that over a pit induction anyday. Make a list of things to try - and go through them all faithfully for the next several hours/a couple of days (RRleaf tea, walking, nipple stimulation, thumb-sucking, accupressure/accupuncture, massage, spicy food (same idea as castor oil, less dramatic), etc.) When you have made your way down the list (and remember to keep repeating them), then consider the castor oil before you start thinking of pitocin induction. It isn't that big a deal (I know quite a few women who did the castor oil thing) - just want to warn you about the side effects.

[Avani]

I used castor oil as a last resort and it worked fine since my cervix was already dilated to almost 5cm and was fully effaced.I believe your body needs to be prepped already before any induction will truly work.