having your water broken question

christsgurl

Okay, so my last pregnancy they had to break my water, after I had got some pain relief so I think it was at 8cm, or maybe at 10cm I don't remember, I never asked but is there a reason sometimes when it doesnt break during labor right away that they need to break it? Can't it eventually break on its own
...becuz it didn't seem to do much but I had really intense contractions anyways so maybe I just didn't notice. Sorry if this seems like a dumb question.

AshleyDoll

I really think that a lot of doctors will break your water honestly to hurry up and get things going... I don't think there's really a medical need to have your water broken and your water probably would have broken by itself when you started pushing. For some, they are at that last little bit of dilation and having your water broken will add more pressure on your cervix and dilate it that last little bit. I've only had my water broken once and that was during my first pregnancy, I was 3cm dilated and my contractions were right on top of each other for DAYS but because baby was sunny side up, she kinda just stalled my labor. When they broke my water, that's when I finally went past a 3.

WashingtonQueen

Are you asking of breaking the water is necessary? No, it's not.

shiway

Sometimes the bags of water can keep the cervix from completely dilating. I've been at births at a great birth center who occasionally will suggest breaking the mamas water. One mama was at a 7 for many hrs and they decided to breather water. Baby was born less than 15 min later. For first time moms I don't think it's necessary most of the time. It will make contractions much more intense before there is no longer a cushion on your cervix but straight up baby head. Sometimes it doesn't speed things up at all. If done too early it can just cause problems. Hospitals will put you in a mu shorter clock once they break your water and it can lead to more interventions. Most mamas have their water break by the time they push or shortl after they start pushing. Only about 10% of mamas will have they water break before labor begins.

christsgurl

Yeah with my 1st baby my water broke & like I said my 2nd they broke it for me, who knows what's going to go down for the 3rd will find out soon enough I guess :-)

sschwege

If they want to do internal monitoring they have to break it.  

Generally it will break on its own, but on a rare occasions babies are born in their sacs.  With both of mine my MW broke it right before crowning, but it stayed intact the entire time I pushed.

PrimRoseMama

WashingtonQueen said:

Are you asking of breaking the water is necessary? No, it's not.

This.

With DS they broke it for me at 9 cm.

christsgurl

shiway said:

Sometimes the bags of water can keep the cervix from completely dilating. I've been at births at a great birth center who occasionally will suggest breaking the mamas water. One mama was at a 7 for many hrs and they decided to breather water. Baby was born less than 15 min later. For first time moms I don't think it's necessary most of the time. It will make contractions much more intense before there is no longer a cushion on your cervix but straight up baby head. Sometimes it doesn't speed things up at all. If done too early it can just cause problems. Hospitals will put you in a mu shorter clock once they break your water and it can lead to more interventions. Most mamas have their water break by the time they push or shortl after they start pushing. Only about 10% of mamas will have they water break before labor begins.

After they broke it I pushed for 4 hours & baby had to be worked on for a bit to get her to start breathing... :-( The nurse started looking worried, but thankfully she finally started breathing. I didn't find out till afterwards becuz the doc was stitching a tear so my husband was the one who saw it & told me.

KariB509

I don't think it's a dumb question. As far as I know, it's not nescessary to have your bag of waters broken. I think the biggest reason they do it is so that labor progresses more quickly.