If your waters have broken, you will usually be advised to stay in hospital where you and your baby will be closely monitored for signs of infection. This may be for a few days or maybe longer.
If your water breaks, whether you're experiencing contractions or not, go to the hospital. This will help reduce the risk of infection. Note the color, odor and amount of fluid when your water broke.
If your water breaks, but you have no contractions, your doctor may discuss labor induction with you. Intervention to help bring on contractions can reduce the risk of infection, because this risk increases with time between the water breaking and contractions starting.
In most cases, your healthcare provider will want to deliver your baby within 48 hours of your water breaking, although the timing can vary depending on your medical history and how many weeks you are in pregnancy.
Typically, after your water breaks at term, labor soon follows — if it hasn't already begun. Sometimes, however, labor doesn't start. If you experience prelabor rupture of membranes, your doctor might stimulate uterine contractions before labor begins on its own (labor induction).
Your baby will continue to move once your water breaks. However, without that extra fluid and cushioning, there is diminished buoyancy. This will result in the baby not being able to reposition if the baby is malpositioned (in a less ideal positionfor birth).
The easiest way to determine if it is amniotic fluid, urine, or discharge is to put on clean, dry underwear and a pad or panty liner. Then lie down for about a half hour. If the fluid is amniotic fluid, it will pool or gather in the vagina while you lie down.
It is possible! I have been with many women in labour through the night and helped them fall asleep. They have continued on to have positive, healthy births and feel super proud of their efforts, albeit ready for a good sleep afterwards!
If your waters have broken, you will usually be advised to stay in hospital for a few days, although in some situations this may be for longer. You and your baby will be closely monitored for signs of infection.
If your water breaks before 34 weeks, it is more serious. If there are no signs of infection, the provider may try to hold off your labor by putting you on bed rest. Steroid medicines may be given to help the baby's lungs grow quickly. The baby will do better if its lungs have more time to grow before being born.
An ultrasound may also be helpful if they want to check your amniotic volume fluid. Don't use tampons and avoid having sex if your water broke- the amniotic sac protects your baby in a sterile environment, and helps reduce the risk for infection.
Usually the bag of waters breaks just before you go into labor or during the early part of labor. It happens often when you are in bed sleeping. You may wake up and think you have wet the bed. Sometimes women feel or even hear a small “pop” when the bag breaks.
Spending most of your time in bed, especially lying on your back, or sitting up at a small angle, interferes with labor progress: Gravity works against you, and the baby might be more likely to settle into a posterior position. Pain might increase, especially back pain.
Lying on your back in labour
In addition to this, when you're on your back, you're not working with gravity – you're working against it. So your surges (contractions) are having to work so much harder (and therefore labour could take longer - and that's not something you want either, is it?).
Our general rule is to sleep as long as possible if you're starting to feel contractions at night. Most of the time you can lay down and rest during early labor. If you wake up in the middle of the night and notice contractions, get up and use the bathroom, drink some water, and GO BACK TO BED.
How can I tell if my water broke? Amniotic fluid may leak slowly or gush out, which will feel much different than peeing. It will be thin, clear, and odorless. 7 If the discharge is more jelly-like and clear or has bits of pink in it, it may be your mucus plug, which some women lose a few weeks before going into labor.
You may opt to stimulate labor using natural means. You can try nipple stimulation using your hands, or a breast pump. This helps produce oxytocin, which can help start contractions. 4 If you don't have a breast pump, you can usually get one from a hospital lactation consultant.
95 women in every 100 will give birth within 4-5 days of their waters breaking however the risk of infection in your womb increases significantly after 24 hours. This is the reason we recommend planning an induction after 36 hours.
Physically, the sac provides a cushion between the baby's head and the cervix. If the baby's head is well applied to the cervix, breaking the bag of waters allows the head to apply more direct pressure on the cervix to encourage dilation.
If your water (aka “amniotic sac,” “bag of waters” or “membranes”) hasn't broken on its own when you arrive at the hospital, and you're five or more centimeters dilated, your OB might recommend bursting the bag by hand—especially if your cervix seems to be making slow (or no) progress.
Does it hurt when my waters break? No, it shouldn't hurt when your waters break or when they are broken for you. The amniotic sac, which is the part that 'breaks' doesn't have pain receptors, which are the things that cause you to feel pain.