Water Breaking Question

[MacKinnon]

No, not yet... But this baby is SO low and SO active still, I keep thinking he is going to break his own water! With DD, my water didn't break until I was pushing (12 hours into labor). I don't recall worrying about it breaking, but this time around, I am sleeping on a waterproof pad because I keep thinking he is just going to break out of there!

I wonder if mamas whose water broke early in or before labor started could share about their experience? Did you have a particularly active baby? Any signs before it happened?

[janerose]

My water broke when labor started. So for me at 1am as I was laying back down after getting up for a potty break. I was able to hop out of bed quick enough that I actually managed to not get anything on the bed itself, but I've been wearing a pad to bed this time just in case. I saw a handout at my midwife's office talking about the water breaking & apparently the most common place for it to break is while you're laying in bed.

There weren't really any signs before it happend. I'd been having some very mild contractions before we fell asleep, but that was it. DD was actually a very quiet baby throughout the whole pregnancy too. I was 41 wks exactly. My water broke at 1 am, I immediatly started having contractions that were 1 min long & 3-6 min apart. They stayed like that through my whole labor, getting more intense of course, until about 2pm when I went into transition. I was in transition from 2-3p, pushed from 3-4p, and DD was born at 4:02p.

Holly

[wendyk]

I'm also super low & I keep thinking that there's no way my water could break around that head acting like a great big plug!

[blissfish]

With DS, my water broke 2.5 days before I went into labor, and YES, he was a SUPER active baby!

An OB probably would have freaked out, but my midwife had me take some extra precautions and monitored the baby's fluid levels and heart tones 2x daily and everything was fine, so she let me go into labor naturally. We had a hospital transfer, however, and when they learned how long my water had been broken, they FLIPPED OUT!

[angel0123]

Don't remember how active ds was b/f my water breaking... I got up one morning out of bed and sploosh... it was no mistaking my water had broke. It had leaked for several days before hand though. That felt like I was peeing myself... just a slow leak.

[bleumoose]

My water broke before labor with DS. He was active, but not super wildly active. There were no signs before it happened. I stood up then sat back down, and as I was sitting, pop-gusssshhhhhhh.

[storychick]

Both of mine previous labors started with water breaking.

With #1, I had gotten up to pee, and as I was laying back in bed I just felt funny and decided to head back to the bathroom. On my way there I practically started running (as much as a 38w preggo can lol) and as soon as my foot hit the tile in the bathroom I felt and heard a pop and got a splash. But it was just that splash. I tried to pee again and went back to bed and immediately had a contraction I knew was "it", it just felt different. But I didnt have much leaking after that, I think his head just sunk really low and sealed it off. I didnt need to wear a pad even after I got up and walked around.

With #2, I woke up to a hard contraction, and tried to sit up during it and thought at first I had peed myself. But again it was a splash and then barely a trickle, but I just knew that it was it. I went to the bathroom and had a bit more leaking, but nothing major.

Baby #1 was more active than my 2nd or 3rd, but I attribute the water breaking to sex a few hours before more than anything baby did. #2 was just the pressure of the contraction, I think... I must have been laboring in my sleep, because she was born just over 2 hours later.

This time I am expecting my water to break again. Every time I sit on the toilet there is so much pressure, I try to push! I wear a pad for incontinence at this point anyway so I figure even if I'm out I'll be okay. But probably it will be at night again. Or maybe this time my water won't break and I won't know I'm in labor for sure! I have had a lot of "born in the caul" dreams, though I did with my 2nd too.

[ibusymomto5]

My last 2 labors have started with my water breaking. Both times I was laying down resting and felt a pop after a fairly strong contraction. I don't recall either of those babies being more active than usual. I'm hoping my labor does not start that way again. It's messy for one thing, and then I feel like I'm on a time clock or something. Both times there was a lull after my water broke and before labor contractions kicked in, and that waiting time is a killer on me. I'd MUCH rather real labor contractions come on, gradually get stronger and stronger without me really realizing it if that makes sense and then my water break towards the end, so I'm not gushing every time I take a step all through labor... I like to be up and moving around a lot during labor. Also, my babies tend to stay high until I'm pushing them out, and I always worry a bit about cord prolapse with ruptured membranes. My favorite labor was one that my water broke with my first push. But.. it's not like we get to choose.

[ryleigh'smama]

Dd1 was super low and my water broke while I was bending down to get a can of soup out of the cupboard, contractions followed immediately at 2-3 minutes apart. My m/w just checked me this morning and said she wouldn't be surprised if it broke this time too, baby is again super low and bag is bulging hard. Dd was so low that I never felt a big gush though, just felt a "Pop" and a little trickle of fluid. When I got to the hospital they actually thought it wasn't that because the stupid nitrazine test was negative or "barely changed" and they were gonna send me home (I was having INTENSE back labor, the stupid idiots), but decided they should check me just in case (Ya think!) and I was 9 cm...Dh still cracks up at all the choice words that came out of my mouth for them acting like I was a stupid first time mom, when in actuality I was going through transition.

[MacKinnon]

I talked with my m/w today about water breaking before labor and she said that there they often see one of two factors (1) a really active baby or (2) an infection of some kind (yeast, BV, etc.) I have both! This baby is crazy active, still, and I have had a yeast infection off and on for weeks now (finally gave up treating it and am just taking acidophilous and hoping once I am not pregnant it will go away). She said she wouldn't be surprised if my water broke before labor began. I found out today too, that they don't have a firm 24 hour clock. She said that 18 hours after my water breaks she would prefer to have me at the hospital to moniter for signs of infection and possibly start antibiodics. But that there is no standard clock for intervention/induction/c-section. That made me feel pretty good Nice to know I am not going to be like a watched pot!