Water breaking & going to hospital

[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....