breaking amniotic sac

[mango*mama]

Maybe I've been reading too much about birth lately but I am curious about the issue of breaking the waters. I had this done in both of my two kids' births, once with a midwife, once with an OB, both in a hospital. The first one (with a CNM) was after a long amt of pushing w/o my urge to push (another matter altogether that I am not happy about, IYKWIM) and I was "stuck" at 9.5 cm; the second was when I had an urgent desire to push but the waters hadn't broken.

I don't know quite what my question is, I guess -- for the first one, I tried pushing for an extra hour because I had it in my head that I didn't want an intervention, and wanted to let things progress naturally; after that, though, I was getting tired so I agreed to have her break them.

Is it necessary? Is it a good idea when you are ready to push but the waters haven't broken yet?

If someone could give me some general thoughts on this, I'd appreciate the opportunity to put my mind at ease and / or develop a deeper understanding of this issue in case of future births.

Thank you.

[KLPeanut]

My personal opinion (I am a new midwife) is that if baby and mother are doing fine then leave well enough alone. It seems that practitioners break the sac if they want to hurry things along. I've seen good results with this and not so good (labor didn't progress anyway). I know one midwife who wanted to break the water so that she could see if there was any meconium. She had a bad experience with a meconium baby. Another midwife wasn't freaked out about meconium. She just suctioned and baby was fine.

If the head isn't well applied because of a bulging bag of waters and it is impedeing progress, maybe breaking the bag of waters is a good thing. Again it depends on your definition of progress.

Any again my own personal opinion. If you don't have the urge, don't push - let the baby come down by itself. Doesn't tire the mom out. There seems to be this belief that if a mom is 10cm she should push. I would rather the baby come down more before active pushing.

Hope this helps

[homemademomma]

i have been to many births where the bag hasnt broken until right before (or even after) the head is born. no problem.
i rarely break the bag. overall i have not found it to be very helpful. i will consider breaking the bag if we are looking at a transfer for "failure to progress" because that is the first thing our doc will do when we get there.

wrt the urge to push- in those situations (you are complete but no urge to push) i think letting your body "labor the baby down" can be really helpful. eventually you will probably feel the urge to push. if not, the baby will be born anyway!!

and even if you do decide you want directed pushing ( you are tired, ready to get it over with or whatever), it is much more effective when the babe is low and closer to being born, so laboring down for a while is still helpful. although i dont think there is much harm in breaking the water in that situation (as long as mom is ok with it), imo (: )

[Nannysbaby]

I saw something on TV ( a show with "high risk" mommas) that I wondered about...

the doctor made tiny holes in the amniotic sac to let the fluid out slowly because she said the head was not moving down. She did not want to do the usual AROM in full so as to avoid a gush that might actually hinder the baby's progress.

Anyone heard of this practice? Just curious.

[homemademomma]

Originally Posted by Nannysbaby

I saw something on TV ( a show with "high risk" mommas) that I wondered about...

the doctor made tiny holes in the amniotic sac to let the fluid out slowly because she said the head was not moving down. She did not want to do the usual AROM in full so as to avoid a gush that might actually hinder the baby's progress.

Anyone heard of this practice? Just curious.

nak- its called needling the bag and is done instead of the usual procedure to decrease the chance of cord prolapse if the baby is still high. arom is quite risky if the head is high.

[mango*mama]

I appreciate your thoughts on this.

Re the pushing -- It was definitely a different ballgame pushing with #2 due to the strong desire to push.

[SublimeBirthGirl]

My water broke with my 2nd when she was crowning. There is no reason not to push with an intact bag of waters. I don't understand why you were pushing not even fully dilated with no urge. That doesn't make any sense to me.

[JunipersMom]

I think that some practitioners may break the water before pushing cause they dont want to get wet I've been soaked a few times from a pushing momma whose water breaks.

[mango*mama]

Originally Posted by SublimeBirthGirl

My water broke with my 2nd when she was crowning. There is no reason not to push with an intact bag of waters.

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing this and about people not wanting to get wet

I don't understand why you were pushing not even fully dilated with no urge. That doesn't make any sense to me.

I was 9.5 cm dilated. Why did my midwife recommend that I start pushing? Not really sure.