Leaking water question...

[nimblemama]

Please someone enlighten me on this. I have known several people whose waters have leaked or even broken early (30 weeks on). My question is how can the waters leak (and sometimes heal back up) if the woman still has her mucous plug? I thought the plug prevented anything from going out or in. In these cases are the women already dilated with less of a plug or what? I have never seen any questions on this or read anything about it in my CBE studies. The same goes for any bleeding from the uterus a woman may have mid-pregnancy (besides any bleeding from the cervical area).

[nashvillemidwife]

The plus helps guard the cervix. It's not a fortress.

[jljeppson]

The mucous plug is just that, mucous. It's definitely permeable. I've had my waters leak more than once and it has always been due to a tear in the outer layer of the bag, which then was resealed when the baby changed position. It's just like plastic wrap. You can puncture a hole, then fold a section of the wrap over the hole and with enough weight and pressure behind it it will reseal. No way of telling what tore it, but it's not unusual for it to happen and the leak is never significant. Doesn't matter if the plug is there or not, because you can slowly lose bits of it for weeks ahead of time and never really realize it. Most women probably never have a definite "I lost my plug" moment because it often disappears gradually. Hope this helps.