what's the purpose of DR. breaking your water???

lyndsey774

If my water does not break on it's own during labor and my baby is not in distress, what is the purpose of my DR breaking my water becides to just "get things moving" ?  Can the Dr. leave the bag of waters intact until the very end?  Would it help to cushion LO as they come out? I've read about all the risks to breaking the water.  So, why do DR's do it???????? 

Kristinmo

Generally, there is no reason to.  Some babies are even born in their bag of waters.  Most of the time, it would break on its own before then.

In some cases, it is a good way to get a labor that has stalled going again without using pitocin.  Intact water CAN (but does not always) keep the baby from descending and putting enough pressure on the cervix to dilate completely.

lkm2006

My dr broke my water at the very beginning of my induction (baby was very low). She said that it would help me dilate. I definitely don't think it did because i dilated very slowly until I reached 5 cm (it took me ten hours to get to 5)

AnnaGreta

I labored with my first child with my waters intact all the way until the end.  With my second it broke on it's own in early labor.  The difference between laboring with that cushion of water and having the baby's head directly on your cervix was like night and day.  

They wanted to break my water the first time to get things moving.  I declined. I'm glad I did.  It ended up breaking on its own.  

AnaKat405

I've always wondered about that.  It's said to be good luck if a baby is born in the caul.  Though, that's likely because it doesn't happen very often?

erb82

I had my water broken when I was around 8 cm.  I was having difficulty with the pain, and my doctor, who was very supportive of my desire to go pain-med free, suggested that she break my water and see if that sped up the labor.  It worked, and about 20 minutes later I was fully dialated ready to push.  I wouldn't voluntarily have my water broken early in labor, because for a lot of OBs/hospitals that puts you on a "clock" of having to deliver the baby within 24 hours.  Since I was already at 8 cm, I figured there was no way my labor was going to last anywhere near that long so I was comfortable going ahead with it.  I really do think it helped things speed up a bit, but it certainly wasn't medically necessary.

sweetpealee

erb82:

I had my water broken when I was around 8 cm.  I was having difficulty with the pain, and my doctor, who was very supportive of my desire to go pain-med free, suggested that she break my water and see if that sped up the labor.  It worked, and about 20 minutes later I was fully dialated ready to push.  I wouldn't voluntarily have my water broken early in labor, because for a lot of OBs/hospitals that puts you on a "clock" of having to deliver the baby within 24 hours.  Since I was already at 8 cm, I figured there was no way my labor was going to last anywhere near that long so I was comfortable going ahead with it.  I really do think it helped things speed up a bit, but it certainly wasn't medically necessary.

my water broke at 8 cm- well- my dr sort of broke it during a practice push without me realizing what was going on until it "broke" ... i dilated to ten right then, immediately had the urge to push, and pushed henry out in 25 minutes from when my water was broken.  it can go well, but i was pissed that my dr did not have my consent. 

Tash13

sweetpealee:

erb82:

I had my water broken when I was around 8 cm.  I was having difficulty with the pain, and my doctor, who was very supportive of my desire to go pain-med free, suggested that she break my water and see if that sped up the labor.  It worked, and about 20 minutes later I was fully dialated ready to push.  I wouldn't voluntarily have my water broken early in labor, because for a lot of OBs/hospitals that puts you on a "clock" of having to deliver the baby within 24 hours.  Since I was already at 8 cm, I figured there was no way my labor was going to last anywhere near that long so I was comfortable going ahead with it.  I really do think it helped things speed up a bit, but it certainly wasn't medically necessary.

my water broke at 8 cm- well- my dr sort of broke it during a practice push without me realizing what was going on until it "broke" ... i dilated to ten right then, immediately had the urge to push, and pushed henry out in 25 minutes from when my water was broken.  it can go well, but i was pissed that my dr did not have my consent. 

My MW broke mine at 8 cm as well.  I was getting to the stage where I was struggling to work through the contractions and she wanted it to speed along my progress.  My son was born 20 minutes later.  This time  I'd prefer to not have my waters ruptured, unless it ruptures on its own, but it definitely did the job it was supposed to!

AmyRI

erb82:

I had my water broken when I was around 8 cm.  I was having difficulty with the pain, and my doctor, who was very supportive of my desire to go pain-med free, suggested that she break my water and see if that sped up the labor.  It worked, and about 20 minutes later I was fully dialated ready to push.  I wouldn't voluntarily have my water broken early in labor, because for a lot of OBs/hospitals that puts you on a "clock" of having to deliver the baby within 24 hours.  Since I was already at 8 cm, I figured there was no way my labor was going to last anywhere near that long so I was comfortable going ahead with it.  I really do think it helped things speed up a bit, but it certainly wasn't medically necessary.

I also had it broken around 8cm. I was warned that it could go either way - either dilate me more quickly (which I honestly didn't need, but the bag was so bulging and putting so much pressure on me that I wanted it done) or once the bag was broken baby could be up higher and I would actually reverse-dilate until he/she moved down more. Thankfully for me, he kept coming down and I went to 9.5 with the next contraction. It wasn't medically necessary, for sure, but I don't regret it. I might not do it next time if I find myself in the same situation, but it's going to be a decision I make in the moment.

SortaCrunchy

I showed up at the hospital at 8 cm and was stoked when they told me I'd have the baby out in fewer than 2 hours.  Eh... 4 hours later, I still hadn't progressed past 9 cm.  The doc had mentioned breaking the bag of waters a few times, but I kept declining.  Once I finally consented, I went from 9 cm to pushing very quickly.  I wish I would have done it sooner.

I agree with those who say to avoid early in labor, but if you're already quite far along and labor is slowing or you're having a hard time with the pain, I say go for it.  It can help speed things up.

Sawyerplus1

I had my water broken in both previous labors. With DS I wasnt progressing past 8 cms after many many hours of labor. The nurses offered a few times to call my MW to come break my water but I said no. Finally, after 8 hours of being at 8 cms, I asked them to do it, and I was fully dilated right after that. 

Based on that first experience, when I stopped progressing past 6 cms and stayed there for 4 hours with DD, I asked them to get the dr in to break my water again. DD was born 30 minutes later. 

For whatever reason, my waters dont like to break on their own and my body doesn't like to progress all the way with it intact. Who knows what'll happen next time! 

luvmyducks

My OB broke mine at 8cm bc I had been stuck between 7 & 8cm for about 1.5hrs.  He was hoping it would get things moving more since I was in so much pain in transition.  It did help and got me to a 9.5cm within a half hour, but alas, was stuck there for another hour+.  DD was coming down crooked because of how the cord was wrapped around her body, so only half of my cervix was dilating.

NewzieMom

Typically it just spends up labor.

sschwege

As pp said it can be used to speed up labor.  I was fully dilated with my bag of water still intact and before I started pushing my CNM asked me if I wanted her to break it.  I asked the advantage to this and she said, "So we don't get sprayed in the face!"  She then went on to say that there really is no advantage and that they could hold up towels.  I declined at that point and pushed with the bag of water intact for close to an hour.  Right before DD's head was crowning my CNM asked me again if she could break it and at that point I was beyond being able to ask questions and just agreed.  Three pushes later she was out.  I asked her later why she wanted to break it and she told me that there really isn't a lot of information out there on babies being born in their sack (probably because it doesn't happen that often).  She said some people think it might keep the lungs from clearing as well.  In hind sight I kind of wish I had refused, it really would have been cool to see and seems like a nice way to be born, all enclosed in your little bubble.  But no big deal!

Sawyerplus1

sschwege:

 She said some people think it might keep the lungs from clearing as well.

I wonder if the thinking there is that baby can't get squeezed well enough (which helps clear their lungs) if they're born in the caul. Hmm... 

stahlop

I had my MW break mine at 6cm.  It had taken me about 20 hours to get from a 3 to a 6, so I think my MW had her doubts it would help, but she did it any way.  3 hours later I was ready to push, so it definitely helped speed up labor for me (DS was posterior so that was another reason labor took so long).

I have a friend who just had her baby in the caul.  She said it was so awesome peeling away the sac after she was born. 

abell77

with my second birth, the midwife asked my permission to break my water right before I started pushing. She wanted to check for meconium in the fluid.