Claire
But seriously guys, WHAT’S IT LIKE When Your Water Breaks? 😅
This is a question we get a lot, and you guys also comment it as well!
So let’s begin with some scenarios we have read:
- Sometimes your water will break BEFORE contractions
- Sometimes it will break during labour
- And sometimes your provider may break artificially if you are in labour and your contractions have slowed down (as a way to speed them up!)
- A couple of scenarios may happen if/when your water breaks and you haven’t started labour yet…
A Dramatic Gush
All of a sudden you feel a HUGE gush! It literally feels like you peed your pants, but you didn’t! And it’s not stopping! It may have happened while you were sleeping, at the grocery store, sitting on the couch, ANYWHERE! It’s really unpredictable, but don’t let your anxiety about this get the best of you! If your water breaks in public (and gets all over the place), most people understand!
A Slow Trickle
Sometimes when your water breaks you might experience a sensation of wetness in your vagina or on your perineum, an intermittent or constant leaking of small amounts of watery fluid from your vagina, or a more obvious gush of clear or pale yellow fluid.
You may feel a little trickle and wonder, “did my water break?”, sometimes this happens, and we call it a slow leak. When this happens, it also will not stop and continues to come out in little drops/spurts, but it’s not as dramatic as the ‘dramatic gush’!
Both warrant a call to your provider! Even if you are unsure, don’t feel embarrassed to say “I think my water broke?”.
There are a few very simple tests your healthcare provider can do to determine if it has:
- Speculum exam to look for pooling
- Nitrazine paper test to check if the PH indicates amniotic fluid
- Microscope check to look for ferning (a unique pattern in amniotic fluid)
- Ultrasound to check your AFI (basically how much fluid is in there!)
Believe us when we tell you it can be a lot harder to determine if you peed your pants or your water just broke than you’d think – so definitely make the call just in case!
Did you know when your water broke?
Let us know in our comments below
Originally posted 2021-02-23 07:19:52.
The speculum check is the absolute worst thing omg. I do not want to scare anyone at all this my experience – the speculum should not near pregnant women lol we are too sensitive down there it took a lot not to cry and I wasn’t even dilated and my water didn’t break I just had watery discharge 🥴😭🤣
Baby boy has 7 days left 🥲 wish me luck
With my first i was induced and they broke it for me…
Im so scared for #2 and not knowing
For me it was funny I was playing a game online with my sister and I farted haha. As I farted I thought I peed myself! It wasn’t a huge gush but enough of one. I told her i think I peed my pants I’ll be right back and ran to the bathroom. At first I did think I was just peeing because when I was sitting on the toilet I felt like I could control the flow. As soon as I got up another big gush came and i knew it was my water breaking.
My first was a little trickle, the second was a tidal wave 🤦🏼♀️😂
Both my VBACs, water broke in labor. 1st was like an hr before pushing which felt weird since I was in the pool. 2nd broke after I birthed his head so I actually didn’t feel it.
Had a dramatic gush with my first 😂 an hour before any contractions started. Super quick first labor 🙌🏼. 18 hour trickle with my second before going to get pitocin to start up labor with my second 🤦🏼♀️ hoping for another speedy labor this time around, but hoping for an at home rupture lol
My water broke on Saturday and at first I thought I peed my pants. After I walked around the house and it kept coming out, I realized I did not pee my pants!
I rolled out of bed to pee for the hundredth time and I heard a pop and I felt a trickle so I started making my way to the bathroom but it turned into Niagara Falls in the hallway. 😅
Mine didn’t break! My daughter was born inside her amniotic sac!
My water never broke with both my babies and my last pregnancy his head was almost out and my midwife had to break my water! I feel cheated I’ve never experienced this !!😂😭
With my youngest, i felt thia huge kick or punch and then bam–tons of water. It wouldnt stop gushing out every few minutes.
My water broke on it’s on with my first that’s how I knew I was in labour lol and with my second my doctor had to break it before I could start pushing
My water broke and I had absolutely no contractions! My sweet boy was ready to come but forgot to tell the rest of my body 😂
I was 35 weeks and didn’t feel well most of the day. Laid on the couch and some fluid came out and I thought I didn’t even sneeze or anything! So I went pee and changed and laid back down on the couch and some more came for like 2 minutes (while I walked to the bathroom) within 30 minutes my contractions were 2 minutes apart and it was our first so we were speeding to the hospital lol was so crazy! But then I leaked the whole way there! Is such an odd feeling to not be able to stop it!
With first it broke only about an hour before baby came. With second I woke up and ran to the bathroom with a slow trickle. It was so different from my first I had no idea what to think. 3 hours later I still had no contractions so they started me low on pitocin.
I got the big, wonderful GUSH that I hoped for and I was on the hospital bed by then. I said “my water broke!” and the midwife and nurse cleaned it up some. With the next contraction there was another sizeable gush so I announced “more water!” and my sweet misunderstanding husband quickly offered me the drinking water cup 😂❤️
Mine was before contractions and a dramatic gush with my son (i was only 1cm and not effaced at all too). I’m hoping with this pregnancy it doesn’t break until later. Those contractions were rough without the “cushion”
Decided to go to bed late at night about 11:30 pm and 30 minutes later woke up to a huge gush and then my contractions started after 😅 so didn’t get much sleep lol
my water always breaks just minutes before baby comes out!! with my daughter i jumped out of my SKIN because i was feeling “down there” to see if she was close and it broke in my hand in a HUGE gush!! scared the life out of me!! 🤣
Very weird. I remember laying in bed and felt a pop on my lower right side, and then when I got up there was a gush. I used the bathroom, cleaned up and laid back down for a bit. Figured if it happened again I didn’t pee myself. 🤣🤣 I got up a little while later and then gushed again. It’s like having a constant period leak. 🙄
What I wasn’t prepared for… IT DOESNT STOP LEAKING!! 😳
I was in the birthing tub, 10cm dilated and I thought the baby came out. I’m not even kidding.
I thought I would definitely know, like I would just keep leaking even after I pee? But nope, water broke in the middle of the night, waking me up with a huge urge to pee and liquid running down my legs. I had no idea, thankfully I went in to the hospital because it was go time!