So I had a conversation last week with a friend who's expecting a baby in May. She was voicing a common pregnancy fear; what if my water breaks in public?!?
We all got engrossed in this conversation about the old "tips" we've all heard of 'carry a big jar of pickles with you in the grocery store' and the like.
Most of the rest of us had already had a baby or two or three and she asked each one of us if we went into labor with our water breaking or not, and if so, where were we. About half of us women (four out of the eight of us there) had our "baby time!" signaled by our water breaking... and the funny thing was, for each of us it was either in the middle of the night or somewhere convenient like in the shower.
That got me wondering... for all the worry you hear about it happening... I've never known anyone personally who's water broke in public or in an awkward situation. So I wanted to take an informal poll...
My story: My water broke first with my first baby (dr broke it just before delivery with my second). It was two days before my due date and in the middle of the night I had gotten out of bed to go to the bathroom. As I finished up on the toilet, I realized the tp roll was empty and reached over to get a new roll from under the sink next to me. Just as I leaned over and reached for it, gush.
While I was on the toilet.
Can't get much more convenient than that, eh??
So if you've had a baby (or two or more!) leave a comment and let me know if you had an experience with your water breaking or not. Or a story of someone you know. I'm curious how often it happens and how likely it really is to create an embarrassing situation.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
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19 comments:
i don't have any experience with water breaking (dr broke mine too). but, i read a survey when i was pregnant that said for the majority of women, if their water breaks on it's own, it will be at night when they are in bed. and i think something like only 5% of women have had their water break in public. supposedly it usually happens when you are relaxed... which is why it happens at night. :)
Well, since I love talking about birth (is that weird?) I'll chime in, though I have virtually nothing to offer.
I went into labor on my own with Luke in the middle of the night, but my water had to be broken about 5 hours before he was born. The other two boys were induced, and my water had to be broken both times...and I didn't know that it was possible to have your water broken and not have the water gush out. Yep. Happened to me. It was like 2 hours later that it finally "took." (of course, this was the very fine-looking young resident who was in charge of this one, requiring him to return more often than I wished he had to.)
I was SO worried with Luke about my water breaking at work...I kept a couple of towels in my car so I could drive myself to the hospital (like I really would have done that)!
Oh I'll definitely be coming back to see more comments on this one! Dr. broke my water with the first one because I was induced. Now Im nervous because I could actually go into real labor at home (or in public) and have never done that before. Im sure Ill be a Nervous Nelly around that time too. And probably hoping that I'll go overdue again so I can have a planned induction and have all the mess of water breaking and labor start in the comfort of the hospital bed. LOL!
Dr. broke my water both times.
I think you'll get a lot of comments on this- why do women love talking about their births? Anyway, my water did break with Ryan, and yes it was in the middle of the night. I felt a bit of a gush in bed and thought I had peed myself (sick), so then I got up to use the bathroom, and well...the 'peeing' never stopped! I immediately started having contractions and knew I was in labor. I totally feared that my water would break when I was standing in front of a classroom of students, and that I'd forever be known as the teacher who peed her pants at school!
This is a big fear of mine considering I'm due in approx. 5 weeks with my second baby! The first time around, my water broke on it's own. I had just got home from dinner with my husband. I had just squated down to get on the floor to go through my bag that I had packed for the hospital. GUSH! It broke. It was 4 days before my due date. Not embarassing because I was home. I'm nervous this time though!
That was always a big fear of mine since I spent most of my time at work (with a whole lot of men!) but I was induced both times and the doc broke mine before Pitocin was ever even started. Thank goodness!
I gotta say, I am very anxious to know if I will start labor on my own this time, and what will happen with my water breaking!
I was induced with my 1st, so they broke my water at the hospital with that long scary crochet-needle-looking-thing. what I hated, though, was that I just had to lie there. I kind of hope it happens at home next time, in the shower or somewhere else a little more convenient, so I don't have to lie in it. LOL
With Morgan, I thought I had to pee so I got up to go the bathroom and the minute I got in there, it was Niagra Falls. Yay to no mess on the carpet!
Callie was a scheduled c-section so it didn't happen.
Apparently it's pretty rare for it to happen in public but we did have a girl at work have hers break there (yuck) and another girl I know had hers break at the mall.
I was so worried about this with my first child, but I ended up being induced and the doctor broke it. Lucky thing because I had a lot of amniotic fluid, so much the nurse even commented on it! I was also induced with my 2nd child (so the doctor broke it) and had an emergency c-section with my 3rd child.
The doctor broke my water with both the boys, so no messy embarrassing incidents here. I heard that it was like less than 10% of women actually have their water break before they realize they're in labor... or something like that.
This I have a story for... Easter - we were cleaning out the garage. I kept tripping over these old bricks we had and would laugh hysterically because it kept happening. Each time I would wet my pants from laughing. This happened twice. After the second time of changing my pants I went back outside bent over to pick up two bricks and gush. Pants covered in water. My mom and husband looked at me with urgency in their eyes. I stated that I just wet my pants again. I went upstairs and it wouldn't stop so I sat on the toliet and told my mom "it's the weirdest thing, it won't stop." She screamed for JT and 6 hours later we had our L. My water broke with J at the hospital.
My water broke with Norah - about 2 weeks early. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and realized that my pants were went and I just kept going to the bathroom - only I wasn't peeing, my water had broken. So, for me there was no gush, just a slow trickle.
Lucy and Daphne were c-sections so I didn't have to worry about it then.
My water broke in the middle of the night when I sleeping. I just heard a pop and I went to the bathroom and it was coming out it short gushes. So what if it did break in public, people would understand, right? :)
With my first pregnancy the Dr. broke my water around 7 cent. in the hospital. With my second, it was the night before my due date, I felt a firm punch and a trickle. No gush.
My sis in law had her water break on its own the second time around, but it was in her own bed. Her sister though had hers break in Costco. She calmly tied her sweatshirt around her waste, went over to one of the taste tester people and asked for some napkins, and proceeded to wipe up her mess. She left her cart full of food for the BBQ she was going to host and went home. Most people seem to have it happen at night though from what I've heard. We shall see with my third one here in about 6 weeks or so.
I meant waist, not waste. Oops.
I to remember being really worried about this!
I just looked it up, because I knew I had read this statistic somewhere when I was pregnant: Less than 15% of women have their water break on their own before going into labor. But for the life of me, I can't find a source to link to online!
Sorry. "I, too" Not "I to"
I always thought the stats were real low too... that's why I was wondering, because I know an awful lot of my friends had their water break to start labor.
And here, so far, 8 out of 16 (including me) have experienced their water breaking prior to being in the hospital. Which is about the same percentage with the original group of ladies I was talking with the other day... 50%!!
Also, I assume it happens less often now because so many more women have scheduled inductions and c-sections than say, 10 years ago.
Interesting!
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