Water breaking & going to hospital

[joey123]

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.

Thanks

[*Ali*]

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.

[Mother Goose]

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?

[Tobily]

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.

[mummy2chloe]

hey

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.

good luck

[~clover~]

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.

[Nai]

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.

[Twin Sister]

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.

[Toomanytoomany]

I'd be less concerned about infection than about a cord prolapse, particularly if there was a gush of fluid rather than a trickle or it's been clear up until that point that the baby's head is not engaged. I think that if my waters break I'll be goign to the hospital just to check that the baby is okay and then heading back home again to labour. But my waters have never broken on their own so I haven't had an opportunity so far to put that into practice!

[Daffodil Mumma]

We had birthing classes at the hospital afew weeks ago and they said if my waters break to call them straight away just so they know. They said if there was nothing unusual about the fluid I wouldnt need to go in straight away and could labour at home, they just like to be warned to expect me soon lol

[Evie76]

My water broke all over the people down the slimy end as DS was coming out. The were expecting it though, they have plastic gowns on. I was in full-on labour without my waters breaking.

So, water doesn't necessarily always break before. The OB said he had one the week before that did exactly the same thing. But, prolly best to call the hossy when it does, if your at home and don't have a purple face and sucking on the gas machine like a mad woman at the time (like me).

[SamiH]

Yes, cord prolapse - they check heartbeat to ensure everything ok.

Re infection - check your hospitals policy.

Re : my DD - waters broke 5.30am, rang, told to have a shower and brekky no rush come in midmorning .... they kept me in overnight cos of giving me anti's after 18 hours and then no contractions still by the next morning so had synto to get things going

This time around i knew ALOT more. Waters broke 2.30ish afternoon, rang hospital, come in around 6pm for some monitoring - yep fine with that. They wanted to keep me in in case I went into labour as they were short staffed on ward - ok with that. The thing was, it wasnt the hospital BUT the OB who was on duty that doesnt release ladies after waters have broken and come in (must of had some bad experiences).

HOWEVER next morning no real contractions still, I was asking about going home so I could get some real sleep etc - NEW OB came on at 7am and all the midwives were cheering for me - he let me go home and would give me 3 days as long as I came in every day for monitoring and movements were all felt ok to me etc - with a packed of anti's. I knew I could negotiate this time

Mind you, got home around 10 - had a wonderful loooong shower and jumped into bed for an hour, and contractions started at 3pm and were text book with Zander arriving at 8.55pm.

So whilst hospital policy will be ** hours - depends if you are private/public and the ob on duty or your own etc.

Good luck!

[Tiff+2]

My waters were leaking all day from the time I had a S&S at 9am in the morning and I was told everything was ok and didn't got to the hossy until 6pm that evening when my contrations were 2 mins apart. But as I say mine were only trickeling!!

[Cyathea]

According to NICE guidelines, it is safe to have your waters ruptured for up to 96 hours, as long as you take all the precautions to avoid infection:

Do not insert anything into your vagina, do not immerse yourself in water (spa or bath) unless in active labour, and keep an eye on your temperature to ensure you are not developing an infection, and make sure the liquor is a good clearish colour. As someone has already stated, staying home is pretty safe as you are in a 'bacteria friendly' environment.

Also it is wise to dose up on garlic and Vit C, just to suppport your immune system.

For interests sakes, here are some stats on SROM and time of labour starting...

From NICE guidelines

Expectant management of women with prelabour rupture of the membranes at term should not exceed 96 hours following membrane rupture.

5.5 Induction of Labour in the presence of Prelabour Rupture of the Membranes (page 28)

5.5.1 ....Epidemiological data on time interval from term PROM to spontaneous labour demonstrates that most women go into spontaneous labour within 24 hours of rupturing their membranes.

86% of women will labour within 12-23 hours
91% will labour within 24-47 hours
94% will labour within 48-95 hours
6% of women will not be in spontaneous labour witthin 96 hours of PROM.

I personally would wait as long as necessary, provided there were no sign of infection, and myself and bub were happy and healthy. I know a woman recently who simply did that, and she waited 9 days, and then had her homebirth with no complications.

The sooner you go to hospital, the more likely you are to end up with comepltely unnecessary intervention, and we all know what a slippery slope that can often be....

[Cyathea]

Duplicate post whoops

[Novella]

both my girls were born at 36 weeks due to premature rupture of membranes (waters breaking too early)
I had to go in and get things checked but with dd1 they sent me home with oral antibiotics and told to come in 48hrs later for an induction (my cx started about 10hrs after waters breaking and she was born the same day). I was told that it was unusual with a premature labour to be sent home but was very grateful for the ob who suggested it as labouring at home was much more pleasant
With dd2 my waters broke and cx started immediately so when I went in for a check (as it was premature labour again) I stayed in hospital and delivered dd2 5hrs later

I would always call the hospital when my waters broke

[tan32]

At my hospital i was told when my waters broke, that i could stay home till i felt i needed to come in.
In the end as i was strep B positive so they asked me to come in for monitoring, they were about to send me home as i was having no contractions several hours later. I got up to go and went into full blown labour