When your water breaks...other post got me thinking

bethybeach · May 2014

My water broke a week early with DS. It was the middle of winter bad storms had knocked power out so I thought it best to just head to the hospital. When I got there they said due to infection they want to deliver within 24 hours of your water breaking, so they gave me pitocin. Is this what you all have heard?

brachysira · May 2014

If it is really early, they try to keep the baby in while you say in the hospital if all else is okay. But in general, you don't want to wait too long once your water breaks.

mrsdanielleM2010 · May 2014

No experience of course but this is what my doctor has said.

brittneyandadam · May 2014

Yeah...once your amniotic sac breaks, there's no real barrier against infection. Hospitals have different policies about induction. Some will wait to see if you start laboring on your own, while others will induce right away.

bethybeach · May 2014

Not sure if this is correct but I had no dialation and cervix really wasn't soft 'effaced?' either so they gave me a pill for that first then the pitocin.

cmumama · May 2014

That's what I've heard as well. My water has never broken on its own.

portentosa · May 2014

That's pretty much what happened with me... but I did labor longer than 24 hours, for which I am grateful that I had an OB that didn't jump on giving me a c/s because DS was handling labor fine.

My water broke a week early I was admitted and immediately put on an IV drip of antibiotics and pitocin. Nothing happened for over 12 hours... 1cm, 0% effaced. I was balloon dialted.... got me to 4cm and then I stalled out again. DS was sunny side up (which I learned a couple weeks ago was likely why things were not progressing). He suddenly flipped over after over 30 hours in the hospital and I finished dilating and had him in my arms less than 2 hours later. If he hadn't flipped over on his own I would probably have ended up with a c/s later that morning as I would have been pushing 48 hours with my water broken.

DS was never in distress during my labor. Though he did end up having a minor infection at birth due to the long labor with broken water, but 48 hours on an antibiotic drip gave him a completely clean bill of health so I am happy with everything as it turned out.

CplusJ=S · May 2014

Different OBs and hospitals must have different policies. I labored at home for many hours prior to going to the hospital and during that time I was leaking enough to use a panty liner. They tested my panty liner and it tested positive for amniotic fluid. I had been leaking at least 12 hours by that time. I was worried they would pressure me into a cs so my doula asked if I was on a timeline and my OB said no. I ended up laboring another 20 hours after arriving at the hospital before having her.

suitern · May 2014

My water broke 2 weeks early with DS. I called and they asked the color and how long it had been. They wanted me to go in just to be monitored, but they never gave me pitocin or anything else. I was allowed to labor as I wanted....but I have heard the 24 hour rule.

an02102 · May 2014

My water broke at 36 w 5d they gave me a pill to soften my cervix and dialate it before giving the pitocin. Thankfully that was all I need to get active labor going and I was able to deliver without pit. I was told that as long as I was in a good pattern and progressing I could go beyond 24 hours. I did not need that since I delivered with in 18 hrs of my water breaking.

MMason12 · May 2014

My OB's policy is within 24 hours of your water breaking they want you to be progressing and in active labor. If you haven't really started laboring within about 20 hours of your water breaking they will start to use other methods (Pitocin, etc.) to get you going. You do not have to deliver within 24 hours -- at least at my practice -- like I said you just have to really be progressing within that 24 hour window.

harkeyl86 · May 2014

24 hours is correct otherwise infection can get to the baby or the mom

bethybeach · May 2014

Thanks ladies, I had a few things going on. DS heartbeat kept dropping after contractions so they were keeping a close eye on things and C/S was very possible but ended up fully dialating very quickly so I didn't have the C/S.

LTMama · May 2014

My water broke at 32 weeks, and they told me I couldn't leave the hospital til I delivered, but didn't give a deadline. They said they'd keep me til 34 weeks then induce me, but DD had other ideas.

I do recall that they didn't check my cervix that often bcs of infection risk, and I was on IV antibiotics. I ended up delivering about 14 hours after my water broke.

Blemaro · May 2014

My water broke 2 days before DS's due date. I chose to spend the night at home waiting for contractions to start. I was comfortable with this because I knew to watch for infection, fluid was clear, and I was leaking a lot so I think that was keeping bacteria out

I decided to go to the hospital in the morning about 14hrs after my water broke and they asked why I didn't come in sooner but didn't really give me hassle. The did a swab to check the fluid and checked my cervix visually with a speculum so they wouldn't introduce more bacteria. I think they guessed I was 2cm. I wasn't admitted and I just hung around the hospital for a few hours trying to get contractions going. They hooked me up to monitors to check baby's heart rate, contractions, and my temperature a couple of times that day. Nothing was picking up so I chose to go home and have a nap, supper, and shower. Then I returned to the hospital around 8 pm (just over 24 hrs of broken waters) and I was induced around 11 pm. DS was born around 3:30 am and neither of us had any signs of infection. The only pressure I had to speed things up was during pushing because "his heart rate kept dropping". I think they just couldn't get a good reading on it.

I think they have a policy here that includes 24 hours but I'm not sure if it's for baby to be born, labour to be established or started... Our labour and delivery units are always busy so they literally had nowhere to induce me when I came in and I think that's why they let me do things my way. I was happy with how it turned out. I was a VBAC so I don't think anyone really wanted to induce either.

If I'm in a similar situation this time, the only thing I would do differently would be to contact my acupuncturist to try an induction before getting pitocin again. That stuff is crazy!

Bella2425 · May 2014

My water broke on its own. When I got to the hospital I wasn't having any sort of contractions. They gave me several hours but due to risk of infection started me on pitocin about 5 hours later because nothing was happening on its own.

BabyMayinMarch · May 2014

My water broke at 10pm. We went to the hospital and they said I could walk the halls for a bit to get things going, or they could start Pitocin. At that point I felt like I was gushing every 5 minutes, and not in a walking mood. They did mention the whoel 24 hour thing as well.

When your water breaks...other post got me thinking

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