Breaking your water - pros/cons?

ChavayJakov

Honestly, none of my earlier-in-life pregnancies ended with my water breaking like on the television shows.  While my OB then never discussed with me his breaking of my water, I'm sure he was the one that did so in the hospital.  I really have no idea why it is a necessary thing (or really, the pros and cons of *not* doing it at all) other than it is supposed to jump start (?) labor (or hurry it along?).  

I'm in the middle of writing my formal birth plan to submit next week and am stuck on whether I want this done for me if it doesn't happen spontaneously.

Have any of you had conversations about this with your midwives/OBs? 

tokenhoser

My water broke on its own when I hit 10 cm. In assessment when I was changing into the robe, actually.

It's not something I would put in the birth plan; I would have evaluated it as it came up. It can be used as an induction technique, but then you run the risk on not going into labour and getting a c-section. It can be used to move along a stalled labour. It doesn't have to happen at all - a baby can be born inside an intact bag of waters. If your water hasn't broken, there's more cushion for the baby to get through contractions. So there are pros and cons either way, and it's hard to come up with one "this is what I want" statement.

Kristinmo

Totally depends on the situation.  It does make contractions much worse but it can also help a stalled labor.

cros8380

I agree with PP's list of pros and cons. One thing I do want to add, is that if there is no need for it to break (like helping a stalled labor), I don't believe it NEEDS to be broken. There are some babies who are born "in the Caul", which means to born with the bag of waters in tact. It's pretty neat if you google images for it! This website talks about all the cultural myths and beliefs believed about babies born in the caul (or in the veil). https://www.ourbigearth.com/2009/10/16/bumps-the-myster-of-being-born-in-the-caul/

robyn2201

Kristinmo:

Totally depends on the situation.  It does make contractions much worse but it can also help a stalled labor.

I hope this is true! My water broke with DD before going into labor so maybe next time will be easier? It is an interesting thought. I had read that women whose water breaks before labor are more likely to have it happen again though.

Anyways, I would never choose to have my water broken by the dr unless it was really very nescessary. Like I had stalled for a very long time. And when I mean a long time, it would be a lot longer than the hospital considers stalled labor. In our Bradley classes, it was mentioned that breaking the waters only on average decreases the length of labor by 30 minutes.

Here is some information that I book marked awhile back about AROM and Augmentation. This is from the blog Birth Sense:

 https://birthsen.tmdhosting930.com/?p=1270

Speeding up a labor that is already in progress is called augmentation.  Labor may be naturally augmented by walking and nipple stimulation, but these methods are seldom utilized within a hospital setting.  Instead, the obstetrician or midwife is more likely to use amniotomy (breaking the bag of water) or Pitocin through an IV to make contractions closer, longer, and stronger.  Yet in a 2007 statement, Cochranefound no evidence of benefit or even evidence that amniotomy actually shortens labor significantly, and instead might actually increase fetal distress.  In a more recent statement, Cochranefinds that early amniotomy and augmentation may decrease c-sections in women with ?prolonged? first stage of labor.  Yet who defines ?prolonged labor??  C-sections aren?t a result of long labor, c-sections are a result of the provider deciding that the labor isn?t going to happen vaginally, or it is not safe to happen vaginally.  If the provider does not understand the normal, physiological process of early labor, s/he may decide that a c-section is indicated because of ?failure to progress?.  This diagnosis should actually be termed ?failure to be patient?.

 

sandy02

I wouldnt, after my water broke it was immediately 10x worse.  I was at 10cm though and my water broke and I couldnt stop pushing and Lance was born about 4-5 minutes later.

angelina477

If you have your water broken too early it puts you on a hospital time table and they start "worrying about infections" which they can treat with an antibiotic. That would include an iv. I think its 12 hours before they will want you to give birth after your water breaks, and that is not always realistic. 

moxie9

I was adamant that I did not want my water broken, and my midwife agreed because she likes to keep interventions to a minimum. But, after 44 hours of labor which included several walks, homeopathic remedies, different positions, and multiple instances of manually holding the cervix in place to get it to stay forward, my midwife suggested breaking my water as an option. I consented, and 90 minutes later, I had a baby in my arms.

I think there are appropriate instances to break the waters, but that this intervention does get overused and abused and isn't always necessary. Personally, I would not have consented early on in my labor, and I was worried about the clock that it put me on to deliver/avoid infection.

star173

I had it done with DS. I wasn't planning on it, but when the doc said it would likely get things moving faster (I was already 8cm), I agreed. It felt SOOOOOOO good when she did it, too. And, he was out 30 minutes later.

With this one, I will see how things go. It's certainly an "intervention" that I'm not opposed to as long as it's done with your consent and when you've been in labor a while.

chicsub

It was one of the biggest no nos on my VBAC birth plan based on my c/s birth.  I was stalling after about 19 hours and 8 cm and they broke it.  Contractions never really increased b/c DS's head wasn't pressing on my cervix.  I ended up with a c/s and one thing I read was that sometimes your water won't break until the baby is in the proper position and doing it earlier can make them drop in a bad position.  I believe this is what happened in my case, which is why it was something I didn't want done with my VBAC.

For my VBAC I had an eerily similar labor to my first one without the intervention of breaking my bag of water.  At 9 1/2 cm the midwives suggested it was bulging for over a day (same with DS, btw).  Luckily I had my doula there to suggest just rolling to my right side and gush!   

I know it works out great for many women, just like regular inductions do, but it wasn't something I was willing to risk again unless it was between that and a c/s.

stahlop

After 18 hours of labor and barely being at a 6, I begged my MW to break my water.  I don't think she thought it would help, but she broke it anyway.  3 hours later I was ready to push.

I think it depends on your situation.  I wouldn't have considered it but I was progressing so slowly and I was at the end of my rope.  Breaking my water was the push I needed.

GoldenPeaches

My MW broke my water when I had stalled at 10cm for a few hours and my baby was born 14 minutes later. For me, the bag of water made it difficult to direct my pushing in the right spot as it was hanging in the birth canal over the baby's head. 

It's not something I'd planned on having done or not, but in retrospect it was definitely the right call for her to break it. 

Birdies08

My water did not break on its own. The hospital where I delivered required it be broken for a water birth, to make sure there was no meconium. That sounded reasonable to me, and my MW broke it around 8 cm. I was already in transition, so I didn't really notice anything getting more intense. 

If they hadn't had a good reason to break it, I would have preferred to let my bag of waters rupture (or not) on its own, but I was fine with how it went. Like PP said, it depends on the circumstances. 

sschwege

This is not a black or white/ right or wrong thing, as pp said it just depends on the circumstances.  When I was 10cm, my MW asked me if I wanted my bag of water broken before I started pushing.  I asked her the advantage to this and she said, "We won't get sprayed in the face!"  Then she said that seriously there was no advantage and she was fine with holding up towels while I pushed.  I opted not to have my bag broken.  My MIL said it looked like a balloon expanding and my MW's eyes kept getting bigger and bigger, but it never broke.  Finally, right as DD's head was crowning, my MW asked again if she could break it and this time I agreed.  I was in no shape at that point to ask her why she wanted  to and figured it didn't really matter at that point.  I did however ask her at my postpartum appointment and she said that there are different schools of thought on whether to break it right before the baby is born or to wait until after.  She said some people say it makes no difference, others argue that by breaking it right before allows more pressure to better get the fluid out of their lungs.  Babies born in their sacks are very rare, so I think the reality is nobody knows.