October 2011 Moms

If your water breaks.....

....will it always be a gush or could it just be a leak that continues over time? 

I went to the bathroom a little while ago and after I got up to go wash my hands, I felt a trickle (enough to catch my attention from what normal discharge would feel like)  Looking in the mirror it soaked through my underwear and pants in a couple of spots.  Nothing new has leaked in the past 20-30 minutes and what was wet on the pants is now dry. 

I know this is probably a dumb question, but how to you know if it's normal discharge or water breakage?  I go for my 37 wk appt. today.  Should I ask him to check it?

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Re: If your water breaks.....

  • I was just reading about this in Ina May's Breast-feeding Book!  According to her,  if you are standing up (and the baby is head down), you have little risk of gushing out because the baby's head acts like a plug and so you should just leak, maybe heavily.. but it shouldn't be as bad as if you were laying down.  If you think it broke, I would guess you could lay down and see what happens!

     Your doctor can do an easy test where they take a little bit of liquid and put it on a test strip, if the strip turns blue (I think..), it is amnio fluid.  I had it done on Wednesday (it turned green.. no leaking here!) and other than the speculum, I didn't feel it at all. 

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  • Might as well have your doctor check while you're at the appointment today. Good luck!
  • My friend said her water breakage was a leak, but that she knew because it was a light pink and smelled slightly sweet - unlike urine.
  • I asked about this at my appointment yesterday because I've been seeing  a lot more wetness lately, my midwife said if it's your water it will continue to leak. If it stops then it's probably not your water. She said if there is any question to move around a bit and change positions in the way you are sitting or laying down, if it continues to leak then it's probably your water breaking.
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  • Mine trickled, but was accompanied by fierce labor cramps so I knew what was up.

    It's good you already have an appt today, so you can check it out to keep your mind at ease.

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  • I have heard that it smells differently too.
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  • I had this exact thing the other night, only it really soaked through my pants and dripped down my leg.  Ended up going to L&D because I have a scheduled C-Section on 10/18 so if I go into labor my Dr says I need to go right in.  They did all 3 tests on it and the Ph test came back positive for Amnio fluid and the other two came back negative. I've been consistantly having wetness down there since then, but I had an AFI Ultra Sound yesterday and my fluid level was on the low end of normal, but still normal... So I don't really know what the heck it was!  I would definitely ask your Dr though!  Good luck!

     

  • If nothing has happened in 30 minutes, I would say it wasnt your water breaking.  Mine broke with Jack, but not is a gush.  More of a trickle like urine (only I could tell where it was coming from) It continued like that for hours. I put a pad on after it happened and I soaked through at in about 5 minutes or so. 

    I would still bring it up at your appointment, everyone has a different experience!

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  • If your water breaks it'll be a gush BUT you can get a tear in the bag of waters and it'll leak.  I actually (embarrasingly enough!) went to L&D because my husband and I couldn't figure out what was going on - I had wet underwear all day no matter how many times I changed them.  I was told to smell it (amniotic fluid will have no smell or a sweet smell) BUT if you're super hydrated it won't have a smell even if it's pee.  I would definitely mention it to your doctor though and he can do a quick test to determine whether it's amniotic fluid or not.

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  • It can be either a trickle or a gush. In either case, it should be pretty continual (according to my birth class.) However, since you have an appointment today, just ask the doctor while you are there.
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  • So I have very recent experience here and have an outside baby because of it...

    I noticed something similar to what you mentioned on Tuesday but it was intermittent and not very heavy so I wrote it off as watery discharge. It happened again on Wednesday. Since I had a DRs appointment that day, I waited and mentioned it at the appointment?

    My Dr did the 3 tests as mentioned by PPs and all 3 came back positive. My leaks wer sporadic, and barely wet my pad. I could have easily missed it all together. Crazy enough, because she was head down and engaged, she was plugging it up a bit. I ended up being induced and delivered a healthy baby girl 12 hours later.

    My recommendation is to call your DR and have it checked. Better safe than sorry.
  • Better safe than sorry.  Have them check it.
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