Cleaning up when your water breaks

Ok, this is something that is starting to worry us girls who are getting close. If your water breaks on fabric, what is the best way to clean it up? and how do you clean your mattress if it happens there?

I don't know what you'd use to clean it off, but a suggestion, always sit on a towel folded over a few times, even if your driving, as the amniotic fluid can rot material.

*L* Leanne.....I can't wait to see some of the answers to this question! :)

Was going to put the link in Due in December for you Beck but you found it anyway.

Teagan Thanks for your suggestion, I guess that could work in bed too, just put a couple of towels in the bed under that area, and if and when the waters do break start the washing machine straight away - I guess that is something to keep you occupied during that early stage.

We learnt at our birth class that amniotic fluid is corrosive, and apparently it LOVES leather and will eat through it and it will also ruin your mattress. The best thing to do is to put plastic down on your mattress/cat seat/lounge or whatever and then towels on top of that. Also if your waters break at home put the clothes that you are wearing, any sheets or blankets etc in the wash before you leave, that way they won't be ruined as well.

Let your waters break in a shopping mall then someone else can clean it up LMAO j/k

Love

*LMAO* I shouldn't laugh but Leanne....your car seats!

Am definately going to find a plastic sheet and lay it down on our mattress.

Just hope they break if the shower or something! Less of a hassle with cleaning up. ;)

I think I might be in serious trouble, lol. Where do you get plastic sheets from??

I bought a painters drop sheet from K-mart, I didn't get to use it though, I was induced early due to pre eclampsia.

When I was getting close I put under my top sheet, a heavy duty garbage bag that I cut open. It makes a horrible crinkling noise but rather that then chuck my mattress out.

it does happen at home in bed, my g/f recently broke her waters 1am while she was sleeping! Thinking about it I don't know how she went cleaning it up.

Moving this to labour and birth

Love

OMG... Noone told me amniotic fluid is corrosive......

LOL I never even thought of protecting our mattress, but was SO lucky - as they broke when I was standing next to the bed, on the plastic mat that DP had under his computer chair... so managed to save the carpet too, LOL!

That is the other thing, how do I get it out of carpet?? At least in bed you can throw the linen in the wash, in the car you can use a couple of towels as protection, but carpet??

just thought i would let everyone know that target sell waterproof mattresses, up to a queen size. i bought one, it cost $45. i figure it may come in handy with leaky breasts afterwards as well (plus our mattress is brand new so i didn't want to riske ruining it).

other then that i have heard it suggested (cann't remeber where) to use a waterproof cot mattress protector on the car seat.

OMG thank you so much for bringing this up I never thought of it, and we just got a new expensive matress also so I would have been very sad. Well I am off to target . :)

i would put something on the mattress if you are worried. having said that, my waters broke while i was in bed, and because Emma was so far down my pelvis she 'plugged' it straight away and i just got wet undies - it didnt go any further than that, so i was pretty lucky... :)

Im just wondering, as mine didnt' break, the midwife broke them, how would you know if they broke and you were in the shower? Can you still feel it?

Yeah, I reckon you would still feel it. It's kind of like doing a massive wee that you have no control over. Mine broke in bed, luckily I was sleeping on a towel. DH thought I was mad, but at least I saved the matress!

With my last pregnancy, my waters broke while i was in bed.. so it was all over my mattress and when i went to alert DP and my Mother, it also dripped all over the carpet!!!
I didnt have a chance to clean it up, coz i went into labor immediatly, but when my mum came home the next day she washed all the linen and scrubbed the carpet, and all was ok :)

I am feeling so bad at the moment...mine broke at work on floorboards but my boss drove me to the hospital in his sports car with leather seats. I can't remember if I sat directly on them..lol oh well suppose I won't get a pay rise for awhile.
Bec

My mum was telling me that with all 3 of us (me and my 2 sisters) she felt a very strong sudden urge to wee and her waters broke on the toilet. So no mess to clean up. But with my sister she was at my dads awards night for basketball when her waters broke again on the loo, So she timed her contractions without alerting my father for the rest of the night. and packed her hospital bag and told my dad it was time to go to the hospital about half hour after they got home that night. He had absolutely no idea it was happening
So remember ladies if you need to pee suddenly run like hell to get to the loo then theres no need to worry about cleaning.
Have a great day
Mel :D

LOL - good topic!
I had my waters broken for me in hospital so I didn't have to worry about corroding anything away, LOL.
However, I remember having a contraction after my waters were broken and it was sooooo gross because liquid just kept pouring out (and it was a brownish colour because there was a bit of meconium). My natural instinct was to run to the loo in the birthing suite so I left a nice trail across the room. My "resourceful" DH ran behind me with a handful of pads and threw them down on the floor to mop up the fluid. Soooo funny to watch. I sat on the loo laughing my head off. Who needs bread crumbs to find their way home? I just had to follow the trail of pads! ;)

I put a plastic sheet over the matress but I had to take it off as I was way too hot in it - in Sept too.
My waters were broken in the hospital for #1 and made a big mess . #2 broke in hossie too but on their own in the bath.

My aunties waters broke in the middle of the public bar of my Grandads pub!

I don't remember my waters breaking before either of my kids, maybe they popped it on the way out?

However Bunnings has some really cheap painters drop sheets and they actually quite thin, but waterproof all the same. I don't think they would get as crinkly or sweaty on the bed.

I've never experienced it, but I heard that if it breaks on anything other than tiles oe lino etc, the stain and SMELL is almost impossible to get rid of, I hope Im wrong. 8-[

Mine broke in bed & due to the circumstances (I was 31wks pg at the time) was flown straight to Melbourne not to see home or my bed for almost 3weeks. Needless to say I don't think DH cleaned anything up as he came home had 3hrs sleep & then drove to Melbourne to be with me & nothing here has rotted away ~ maybe I didn't get loads on anything else except my knickers, the pad & my pj bottoms??????

Do know that I made sure I had a couple of towels under my bum in the car, but when we got to the hospital here the midwife made me walk all the way up to the maternity ward & a trip in the elevator & the whole time I was still leaking rather madly!!! Think my sneakers caught most of that though!! & they never rotted away either. 8-[

Well, here I am pg with #3 and didn't give any of this a thought with the other two. Was induced on due date for both but I suppose the waters could have broken at any time. Will remember to be prepared this time even though I may get induced again. Quite surprised about the corrosiveness(sp). :-k Thanks Ladies.

Just thought I would add my 2c here - waters left to break normally will usually happen at second stage (pushing), but these days, it's almost the norm in hospitals that if your waters haven't broken, they will break it for you - telling you it will speed it up! But do you know that there is actually no evidence that it will?

I ran a poll on bellybelly to see how everyone's labour began and the majority was an induction or contractions - while some had their waters break as the start of labour, it's not very common.

It's best to leave the water alone - not just to lessen the risk of infection (hence being put on the clock and if baby isn't born we'll have to augment (hurry it up) because of infection risk) but it's actually quite common for baby to have a cord around the neck due to all the twirling and ballet they do in utero! Can you imagine, once those waters break, that the cord no longer has that water to float about in and be loose?

Off my soapbox LOL :)

I put a towel under the sheet on my side of the bed just in case, I got quite paranoid about it.

My water actually broke when I was on teh cmoputer, i stood up and there it went. So I just made a mad dash for the loo, and only managed to get my pants wet. After cleaning up, I went back to the living room and felt the rest of the waters about to blow, so I ran out our front door onto the deck just in time for the biggest WHOOOOOOOOSH as the whole bag broke, soaking my clothes, runners, and the front door mat. Bought a new front door mat and just hosed down the deck, no worries!

xxxCaz

My waters broke in bed and we ended up throwing out the matress! It soaked through my hubby's pj's too and onto the maltese dog...come to think of it, that dog was unusually white for the rest of her life!!! Maybe it IS corosive! :-k There was so much of it and it had that real protein smell.

When we got in the car to go to the hospital because it was a brand new car, my DH piled towels so high, my head hit the roof.

I got the urge to go to the loo while I was in bed and just as I stood up they started to trickle. I bolted to the loo leaving a tran across the floorboards and they gushed as soon as I sat down.