What happens when your water breaks?
Whoops! Your water broke… In the movies, it all starts with a splash – and then come the contractions, followed by a baby soon thereafter. But in reality, it isn’t quite that simple. Childbirth doesn’t always start with your water breaking – far from it. In fact, it’s usually the opposite, with contractions underway for a while by the time your water breaks.
It might be good to know that you won’t always get that Hollywood splash, because when your water does break, it could just feel like you peed yourself. A lot. It’s also good to know that it is almost more common for your water to break after you’ve been having contractions for a while. You may even be at the pushing phase before the amniotic membranes break and the water comes rushing – or rather, trickling – out. So don’t count on your water breaking as the first sign that childbirth is underway , because it might happen well into labour, or even at the very end.
What does it feel like when your water breaks?
What it feels like when your water breaks will vary from one pregnant person to the next – and it can actually be tricky to know if it’s happened. It depends on how the baby is positioned: if baby’s head is like a cork in the birth canal, your water breaking might just be a few drops. In that case, you might experience some dampness in your underwear, like you weren’t quite able to hold it. If you don’t love that idea, you can wear incontinence pads (like TENA), which absorb water well. A regular panty liner is better for discharge with a significant proportion of mucus. For other people, the passage will be clear and there will be a sudden, slightly more abundant amount of liquid when their water breaks. If the amniotic membranes want to stick it out until the end, and your water breaks during the pushing phase, it might feel like a warm, calm river running out of you. If your water breaks during or just before childbirth, you might feel excited, filled with anticipation and maybe some relief – because you know now that it won’t be long before you get to meet your baby..
Why does your water break?
Inside the uterus, the baby is surrounded by the amniotic sac. Towards the end of your pregnancy, the sac gradually weakens and breaks before or during childbirth. At that point, about 7.5 dl of water will come out. Just how much it is depends on which week you are in: during weeks 38 and 39, you have the most amniotic fluid, at 9–10 dl. During your pregnancy, the amniotic fluid has both protected the baby and filled out the uterus, and in the beginning it provided the foetus with nutrients. From the second trimester, the fluid was circulated as the foetus drank it and then urinated it back out. When it’s time for the baby to be born, the amniotic sac is no longer needed and it breaks.
You might be wondering what it feels like before your water breaks. Can you know it’s about to happen? No, it’s impossible to know. Your water will break when it breaks, and you won’t know before it happens.
What happens if your water breaks before your contractions start?
It’s possible for your water to break without your contractions wanting to begin. If that happens – or if you think your water broke – contact your doctor or midwife for advice, and to go in to assess whether the amniotic fluid is still there. If your water did indeed break, they will wait 24 to 36 hours at most before doing anything, as long as mother and baby are both doing well. This is to give the body a chance to spontaneously go into labour, which it does for most people.
Inducing labour
How long you wait depends on how the mother and baby are doing, and on the colour of the amniotic fluid, which can speak to how the baby is faring. Greenish water means the baby has released meconium, which may be a sign of stress or exposure to stress. A CTG test will be run and electronic foetal monitoring will be carried out to measure the baby’s pulse in relation to uterine contractions, in order to see how the baby is doing.
If everything looks as it should, then they will wait for your contractions to start spontaneously. If your contractions begin, but the labour is drawn out, you will be given antibiotics. If your contractions don’t want to start within 48 hours, then labour will be induced; this process might vary depending on where you are giving birth.
If induction is planned, your doctor or midwife might break the amniotic sac with an instrument, if it doesn’t break spontaneously, to kickstart contractions.
Please note that all information above is based on Swedish recommendations.
