What Does
Once your water breaks, you may notice a continuous drip of clear or pale yellow and odorless or sweet-smelling amniotic fluid that won't let up until your baby is born. You'll want to wear a pad until you can get to the hospital or birthing center (or bring a towel and a change of underwear).
Amniotic fluid should be odorless. Contact your healthcare provider if you notice a foul smell as it could be meconium-stained or mean there is an infection.
When your water breaks you might experience a sensation of wetness in your vagina or on your perineum, an intermittent or constant leaking of small amounts of watery fluid from your vagina, or a more obvious gush of clear or pale yellow fluid.
The easiest way to determine if it is amniotic fluid, urine, or discharge is to put on clean, dry underwear and a pad or panty liner. Then lie down for about a half hour. If the fluid is amniotic fluid, it will pool or gather in the vagina while you lie down.
In the event you're not sure, lie down in bed on your side for about 15 minutes and then stand up. If you experience any kind of gush, small or big, it may be a sign that your waters have broken. Contact your provider and your Doula support team to make your next move.
You may feel a slow leak or a sudden gush of water. The fluid that is released when your waters break is usually clear or pink in colour, but sometimes it can become yellow or green due to your baby passing their first poo (meconium) inside the sac. You will continue to leak this liquid until your baby is born.
If this happens, most women will start to labour within 24 hours (about 6 in 10 women). If your waters break before your contractions or labour starts, your choices are to: 1. wait 36-72 hours to see if labour starts naturally before being induced 2.
Doctors may recommend inducing labor if it does not begin naturally within 24 hours of water breaking. When a pregnant person's waters break, the amniotic sac can no longer protect against infection. The pregnant person and the fetus become at risk for infections such as chorioamnionitis and sepsis.
Your waters breaking can feel like a mild popping sensation, followed by a trickle or gush of fluid that you can't stop, unlike when you wee. You may not have any sensation of the actual 'breaking', and then the only sign that your waters have broken is the trickle of fluid.
Your baby will continue to move once your water breaks.
The bag of waters around your baby has broken and the fluid is able to trickle out, but your labour has not started yet. This is called pre-labour rupture of membranes (PROM). You may have experienced a small trickle of water, or a gush of water.
Rupture Of Membranes: Your Water Breaks
The so-called "rupturing of the membranes" can happen at the very start of labor or during the first stage of labor. Usually the doctor, midwife, or nurse will break your water before you become completely dilated, if it hasn't broken by then.
Usually the bag of waters breaks just before you go into labor or during the early part of labor. It happens often when you are in bed sleeping. You may wake up and think you have wet the bed. Sometimes women feel or even hear a small “pop” when the bag breaks.
8 Symptoms Before Labor Starts
While there is no way to know when labor is 24 to 48 hours away, labor signs include a bloody show, Braxton Hicks contractions, labor contractions, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, lower back pain, rupture of the amniotic sac (“water breaking”), and nesting instinct.
Because the trickle of fluid can feel like peeing or discharge, it can be confusing – but there are ways to determine whether you're seeing amniotic fluid or something else. If you think your water has broken, call your doctor or midwife so they can run tests and recommend next steps.
Watery vaginal discharge is different from your water breaking, which is your amniotic fluid leaking. Amniotic fluid is pale and straw-colored compared to the thin and clear nature of vaginal discharge.
You can't actually feel when your amniotic sac breaks/tears, however. Like peeing - For some people, their water breaking feels like they're peeing due to the sensation of liquid trickling out. Pressure - Once the water breaks, some people will feel increased pressure in their pelvic area and/or perineum.
If the mystery fluid was discharge, sweat, or pee, you probably won't feel anything unusual. If you feel cramps, a backache, nausea, loose bowels, or contractions, then it's possible your water has broken!
If a child then only has to remain in the uterus for a few days without amniotic fluid, this does not have any major consequences for the development of the child. However, if the baby has to go four to six weeks without amniotic fluid, in many cases the lungs can no longer develop normally.
You might notice an increase in vaginal discharge that's clear, pink or slightly bloody. This might happen several days before labor begins or at the start of labor. However, if you have vaginal bleeding that is as heavy as a typical menstrual period, contact your health care provider immediately.