I have heard, via a podcast that I have been listening to, that you are expected at the hospital no loter than 4 hours after your water breaks, due to the risk of infection. This is American information and I was wondering if the same is expected here.
I am asking this because I want to stay at home for as long as possible before I go to the hospital for my delivery.
With my first pg, my waters broke before my cx started and I was told that I needed to get myself organised and come in. I am not sure what the 'protocol' is for most hospitals, but I know they dont like you to leave it too long after your waters have broken before you are seen.
When we went to our birthing classes, which were conducted by the hospital, we were told to call the hospital when my waters broke to let them know. I did this and was told to come on in because there was a bit of yellow on the pad. If there hadn't been any, they would have waited a lot longer before I went in - and my contractions hadn't started at that point.
Perhaps contact the hospital you're booked in for and see what there preference is?
You will find that if you call the hospital when your water breaks, in most cases they will tell you to come straight in.
There are no pregnancy police that are going to come and get you though if you don't
The risk of infection is actually pretty miniscule in your own home where your body is already colonised with the bacteria that are there. This is not the case in hospital - which also has a heck of a lot more bacteria than your house, and where there are people wanting to put their fingers in your vagina as soon as you get there...which is the first big no no in minimising infection risk
If you go in as soon as your water breaks and labour takes a while to get going (which it often does) you're at huge risk of further intervention - ie. drip.
when my waters broke at home, i rang the hospital straight away as i use to live in a small town that doesnt allow you to have babies in there hospital ( not set up for it) so i had to travel 75 klms to get to the hospital where i could have dd. anyway i rang them and they told me not to hurry in as long as i was at the hospital within 12hrs of my waters breaking i should be fine. this is going back nearly 7 yrs ago so i dont know if everything is changed now.
I think you should be ok at home unless it looks the wrong colour or something.
If your waters break & labour hasn't started with in 24 hours I think they like to either give antibiotics via IV, or induce labour, but don't quote me on it.
With DD1 I went straight in thinking I had to & was given the option of going home again.
With DS I wasn't going anywhere, but I had mecconium (baby poo) in my waters, so I had to go get checked.
When my waters broke I rang the hospital and they asked if I had contractions - I said no so they told me to go to bed, get some sleep and call in the morning or when contractions started. My waters broke at 11pm and I went into hospital at about 10am the next day.
I think it depends on the hospital and who you get when you call up.
I'm not in Austrailia but thought I'd put my 2 cents in anywyas.
My water actually broke while I was at the hospital getting checked (40 hours after the onset of my contractions). I was only 2 cm so they were going to send me home, but since there was mecconium in the amniotic fluid they wanted to admit me instead. If the fluid had been clear they likely would have sent me home until things had progressed a bit. I was told in my prenatal class though that if my water broke at home I should either call the hospital and let them know or go in and get checked and see how they would like to proceed.
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Water breaking & going to hospital
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