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Natural Birth
TrendyTina
member
how long is it safe wait for contractions after SROM?
TrendyTina
member
In Florida, I'm told you must transfer to a hospital if contractions do not begin within 24 hours of SROM. Note- contractions, not delivery. I'm already starting to think about my next birth and contractions not starting after SROM was the issue with my first. I was given 24 hours in the hospital to get things going naturally, but was hoping the time limit would be 48 for an out of hospital birth. I don't want to get my hopes up for an out-of-hospital birth only to end up back there again because contractions don't start again. (I know every labor is different and my next experience could be much better, but I want to plan for the event that is identical)
Is there any research that shows whether it is typically safe to wait 48 hours for contractions to start after SROM? Of course nothing would be inserted into the vagina after SROM.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: how long is it safe wait for contractions after SROM?
I've heard of moms with PROM who keep their babies inside for a few weeks until they are term. granted, they are on hospital bedrest, but they just watch for signs of infection/ fetal distress.
to be honest, I would ask this question at the birthing/ midwife center because they all vary.
just be prepared for some additional monitoring to make sure baby is okay and there isn't infection...
If I could piggy back off of this question, I'm curious about what those of you that are GBS+ have been told.
TIA
@TrendyTina Look into getting some Verbena. Ask your midwives about it.
My water broke with no contractions at 38 weeks last time. I was also GBS+. I ran some errands and met my midwife at the hospital 4 hrs after my water broke. She gave me a hep lock and one bag of IV antibiotics.
She also gave me a vial of Verbena, a very powerful herb for starting labour. Works best if your water has broken. She gave me instructions on how much to put into a shake.
It took two rounds of the shake but I did go into labour and had a home birth.
FYI my hospital policy was to induce within 8 hrs of SROM if a woman was GBS+ (I believe 24 if not GBS+). I had to decline an induction spot.
Still searching for a place to purchase Verbena. I want to have some on hand for this one in case it's needed again. I've moved to another country and the midwives here had never heard of it.
Didn't see this until I posted. Check out my reply.
I'm GBS+ again this time and would be comfortable waiting 24 hrs after SROM (no cervical checks of course) before being induced.
I had PROM at 37 weeks, so my GBS test wasn't back yet when that happened so status was unknown, which means I was considered positive. I delivered with a midwife group in a hospital and ended up starting pitocin and antibiotics about 18 hours after my water broke. I don't think they had a specific time table, but I was worried that the longer I went, eventually they may start talking c-section and I wanted to at least have a shot at a vaginal birth, which I did.
To OP, I have read up some about risk of PROM after having it with a 1st pregnancy, and the risk is a little higher of having it again, but it's also much less likely to not have contractions start within an hour of membrane rupture. I'm hoping that's the case for me if it happens again!
My midwives recommended doing a Hibiclense rinse after every trip to the bathroom if you had SROM. My water tore about 8 days before I actually gave birth, but it was able to close itself up. Yes, it can heal itself if it is a small tear! Basically, the way you know it hasn't fully broken is if you don't have a HUGE gush and you don't go into labor.
If you have fully ruptured, my midwife from my first birth would start Black and Blue Cohosh. These strengthen contractions and can kick start labor. You can also check on going to a chiropractor, acupuncturist, or massage therapist - there are certain adjustments and pressure points they can use/target to really get labor going.
Good luck with #2!
Oops! Almost forgot to respond to the GBS+ questions!!! Garlic, lots of garlic - eat it and insert it vaginally every night for at least four days, have another test run afterwards and see if it comes back + again or not. Also, doing the vaginal Hibiclense rinse will combat infections if SROM occurs.
Curious to know what people consider SROM for this. One person talked about a small leak that closes back up. I don't consider that to be SROM for purposes of starting a clock, but I'm not a health professional, so curious what others think or have been told. I imagine some would be conservative and treat this as SROM.
With my first, I had some periodic leaking of very small amounts of amniotic fluid starting about 52 hours before she was born, but it was another day before I really gave it a thought. At the time, I consulted the book "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way" and it said that this could be the start of something or your body may close it back up and you continue on pregnant for a few weeks.
I went into labor the next night, and in the end headed to the hospital with a bulging bag of waters (literally protruding external to my body but not broken), which they broke because we could see it contained meconium so they wanted to do internal fetal monitoring. They had a hard time breaking it, it was evidently very strong. SO, whatever high leak I had before didn't seem like my water had truly broken.
Just some thoughts and story based on my experience.