# water breaking: gush, or trickle?



## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

this may sound really dumb, but...

... how often does the amniotic fluid simply trickle rather than gush when it breaks...

and how can you tell if it's actually amniotic fluid if it's trickling, and not just pee?

with my son, my water didn't break until i was about 9 cm dilated... i was having contractions every 30 seconds that lasted well over a minute long, and it broke on it's own with a very noticeable popping feeling and giant gush. i'm worried i won't know when it happens this time if it's different.


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## ebethmom (Jan 29, 2002)

With ds, my water broke with a trickle. I think I even told my doula that I thought I had just peed! She checked and said, "No, that was your water breaking."

I had preeclampsia, and an induction at 38 weeks. They started with Cytotec







, then had to wait four hours for the awful effects of that drug to wear off before they started the Pitocin. My water broke in between the two.


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## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

so...... how did she know it was your water??


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## cottonwood (Nov 20, 2001)

Probably tested for its pH?

Mine was just a trickle. It felt VERY different to me from loss of bladder control. Which I'm experiencing with this pregnancy -- I'll get the signal to pee but because my bladder is so compressed I sometimes don't get to the toilet in time and a bit slips out. So there is a very definite sensation of those bladder muscles (can't remember what they're called) letting go. With water breaking, there is none of that -- you just feel wet all of a sudden. You may also feel a little "pop".


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## anothermama (Nov 11, 2003)

My water didn't break (that I noticed) with my daughter......they actually broke it in labor. Bah.

This time, I had JUST finished peeing (sorry for TMI!) and stood up and then there was another goosh. I don't know what to tell you other than it was OBVIOUSLY different than peeing......it doesn't feel like peeing to me at all. I gooshed sporatically for the next day and there was no controlling it and it was a totally different sensation than peeing. And it didn't smell like a darn thing......I'm told it smells sweet or different than pee.......and I think thats true. Mine smelled like nothing.

I don't mean to give you an ambiguous answer, but I think it's a lot like labor......when it happens, its usually one of those things you can "just TELL" what it is.


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## 2+twins (Apr 20, 2004)

With my first birth it broke once I gave my first push or two and I was in the water already so I don't know if it was a gush or not. I just know that I immediately realized what had happened (plus now there was some vernix floating in the water). With my second birth it broke 15 minutes before labor began. I was lying in bed and felt a pop then another pop and a trickle. The popping sensation was somewhat painful and I knew it had to be my water breaking. I had dh bring me a towel and I waddled with it between my legs over to the bathtub so that this huge "gush" could come out of me. It never did - just small trickles here and there. I think the baby's head was just too far down for a gush. I had her 90 minutes after the contrax begun. I think for the most part you'll just know the difference. You're pretty darn familiar with what it feels like to leak urine so this just isn't like that.


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## MyBabiesCome1st (Jul 14, 2003)

With my DD the OB broke my water (UGH!). (hospital birth)

With my DS we have NO IDEA when my water broke. (homebirth) About 2-3 weeks before Mason was born I thought my water was starting to trickle out. TMI, but as I was sitting folding close I got this weird feeling that I was soaked so I went to the restroom and found I lost my mucous plug. I called my MW and she said "oh that can happen weeks before the baby is born, and I doubt you lost any water."

Well I would get these weird feelings when I was bathing, and I'd stand to see if anything was coming out, but it then didn't seem like anything. I chalked it up to be anxious and excited.

However when Mason was acutally born, there was no fluid. My water never *broke* that I can recall. My MW has no idea when it *broke* either. Because of this, I had to monitor Mason closely and take his temp every hr. during his first 48 hrs to make sure he didn't spike a fever (sign of infection) b/c once your water breaks you are more suceptible to an infection...and we didn't know mine had broke. KWIM?

Sorry to go off topic, but if you *think* you are losing your water, I'd ask your MW or OB to check for sure. I doubted myself, as I said above, b/c I thought I was overly anxious.


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## shelbean91 (May 11, 2002)

With my first, I had a trickle for a day or two, but it was so small, I thought it was pee. I thought I had a bladder infection, went to get checked out- they tested the fluid and determined it to be amniotic fluid. I was only 32 weeks, so I was hospitalized until dd was born at 35 1/2 weeks with a slow trickle.

With both ds'- I had a gush. It was obviously not pee. I think when it's a gush, it's obvious, with the trickles, it's not. They test with litmus paper and put a drop under a microscope to see if it ferns- that's the only sure way to know the difference, as far as I know.


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## mamand'ete (Jun 24, 2004)

With my first my water broke at home around 10 AM but it just trickled and I wasn't sure at first what was happening but I was constantly wetting my pantiliner and sure that I wasn't peeing myself. My OB told me to smell it; urine has a distinctive smell and water doesn't smell like anything really plus it should be clear clear clear.
When standing it barely came out because baby's head was generally acting like a plug but when I changed position there'd be a little more. I didn't get a contraction until about 7 PM that evening.

I was totally expecting the huge gush that indicates your water has broken like they tell you in prenatal class and it just didn't happen so I was confused. Plus my mom remembers her water breaking at home with me at about 2 AM in bed and it was a gush for her. We both delivered a couple weeks early.


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## SaraC (Jan 11, 2002)

With my first DD it broke at Wal-Mart and I really didn't know what it was. It was a slow trickle and I thought I had peed myself. I called my mom in the stall and made her smell my panties :LOL It was my water. I was 2 weeks late and as we were paying the cashier asked me when I was due. I was like 2 weeks ago and my water just broke!! She looked like she was going to die but I was giddy. I didn't have a contraction until 9 hours later.

With my second DD I think it broke in the water but I am unsure. I never had a gush but I did feel very different at about 9 and then we noticed vernix in the water.


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## lilyka (Nov 20, 2001)

With number one it was a fast trickle. more of a stream. At first I thought it was pee but when all the keegleing in the world wouldn't stop it I thought well maybe it was amniotic fluid. Then after 10 minutes of this i decided it was definitely the beginning of labor (I was 6 weeks early so this meant getting right in to the hospital).

with number two I had a few drips but she was late, fluid was low, she was huge and her rolls plugged the leak.

with number three my water broke right before I pushed her out. flooded the office. definitely a gush. I felt it snap too. it was a weird feeling and it definitely hurt.


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## Jessviola (Jun 17, 2003)

for me, i felt a pop while laying in bed half asleep and remember thinking that maybe my water had just broken, but nothing came out while i was still laying there. when i got up it started leaking and it felt *very* much like peeing. this really surprised me because i could never understand how girls couldn't tell the difference between their water breaking and peeing







: it was definately my water breaking though and about 90 mins later contrax started.


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## plantmommy (Jun 7, 2004)

With ds, the OB did AROM, because at about 1 cm an hour, I was not progressing fast enough for her. Grrrrr!

With dd, the bag of water was intact throughout labor and transition, and when I asked the midwife to check me, because I felt like pushing, she said the bag was bulging, I was fully dilated and if I broke that bag of waters I'd be pushing my baby out. So I gave one mighty push and the bag didn't break, it exploded! My poor midwife got covered.


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## stafl (Jul 1, 2002)

Amniotic fluid does smell different than pee, and when you try to cut off the flow, it won't stop like you can stop peeing.

With my first, I had a huge gush of fluid, and several more gushes later on, though labor had not started (and never did start, even after attempted induction which led to c/s).

I leaked just a trickle with my second during early labor, then the majority of the water came out as baby's head emerged, and the rest of her body came shooting out in a big gush!


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## Ms. Frizzle (Jan 9, 2004)

Depends on who you ask









With my first son it gushed out. I was walking back from the bathroom and it just started flowing. It was very warm, and was the colour of straw. It would slow down to a trickle, and then start up faster again. I had my first contraction 30 minutes later

With my second sone, I asked for my waters to be broken. I was SO ready to meet my boy, and I had been in labour for 9 hours and the only thing stopping him from being born was the bag of water. As soon as my midwife broke it it didn't take long for us to meet him


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## Ms. Frizzle (Jan 9, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *plantmommy*
With dd, the bag of water was intact throughout labor and transition, and when I asked the midwife to check me, because I felt like pushing, she said the bag was bulging, I was fully dilated and if I broke that bag of waters I'd be pushing my baby out. So I gave one mighty push and the bag didn't break, it exploded! My poor midwife got covered.

:LOL Thats so funny!! I tried to break my own like that and my midwife even moved to the side of me so that she wouldn't get soaked, lol
I'm glad it worked for you


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## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

thank you all for your input.

so... if it's a trickle then it won't stop immediately right? it will just keep on going?


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## linnea (Feb 20, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *klothos*
thank you all for your input.

so... if it's a trickle then it won't stop immediately right? it will just keep on going?

That's how mine was... I had a nasty cold, and was getting out of bed in the middle of the night to blow my nose because I couldn't sleep. As I sat up I felt a little squirt, and high tailed it into the bathroom and stepped right into the tub because it was just a constant trickle. It kept trickling for the next several hours, on and off. There was no doubt in my mind the instant I felt that first squirt, I knew it wasn't pee!


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## Colorful~Mama (Feb 20, 2003)

with my first...i trickled. i told doc it felt like i was 'leaking'. It just wouldnt' stop.

with my last, i popped and gushed for 30 minutes. it was like 'ack. get me more towels!'


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## shelbean91 (May 11, 2002)

With my 1st, it was such a slow leak, it felt like it could be stopped w/kegals. It didn't feel continual and i only leaked a few drops every few minutes. i think i'm an exception, though.


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## clewal (Nov 20, 2001)

I had both. With my son, it was a flood. The bed was soaked and it never stopped coming out. I remember running to the toilet after I had realized that my water had broken (I was asleep when it broke).

With my daughter, it trickled out as I was sleeping in the hospital. I had gone in to get me something to relax some and sleep since I had been in labor for 24 hours with no rest. So I was laying there in bed and I felt a trickle. The nurse came in because I had moved and knocked off the monitor (hospital policy that all vbacs had to have a monitor) and I told her that I think I had wet the bed, she checked and told me my water had broken. I said okay, you gotta keep me now, and rolled over and went back to sleep.


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## Sustainer (Sep 26, 2002)

With my first birth, it broke with a gush at the end of my labor.

With my second birth, it broke with a trickle at the beginning of my labor.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *klothos*

and how can you tell if it's actually amniotic fluid if it's trickling, and not just pee?


I couldn't tell. I thought I was peeing my pants. I put on a pad and let it trickle some more and then looked at the pad. The fluid was clear, not yellow, and it didn't smell like pee, so that's when I began to suspect that it was my water leaking, rather than a loss of bladder control.


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## rad (Jan 21, 2004)

With my DS, my water broke with a loud pop and a gush. I stood up and flodded my slippers. He was really high up.

With my DD, it was more of an uncomfortable feeling that woke me up and a trickle. I wasn't completely sure that it was my water, but then my contractions started coming very quickly and strongly within about 10 mintues.


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## nova22 (Jun 26, 2004)

With my second labor, I felt a weird prickly feeling on the inside like she had jabbed me really hard. Then I heard a pop, and there was a huge gush. I was 1/2 excited to go into labor, and 1/2 pissed off because I had just lay down to go to bed and I didn't feel like having a baby at the moment.







I guess it depends on how high or low your baby is. A low baby won't allow a huge gush. DD was up very high.


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## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

Quote:

I was 1/2 excited to go into labor, and 1/2 pissed off because I had just lay down to go to bed and I didn't feel like having a baby at the moment.
:LOL

Quote:

I guess it depends on how high or low your baby is. A low baby won't allow a huge gush.
ah, ok. my baby is very low ~ her head is sitting right against my cervix... so maybe i should stop expecting a huge gush.


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## jessanddanny (Jan 11, 2004)

I slowly leaked for 2 1/2 wks before Seth was born. 5am on the day he was born it exploded! Water everywhere! (he was born at 10:51am).


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## BoobyJuice (Jun 25, 2003)

With my first it literally looked like I'd dropped a water balloon. I was naked because I'd just gotten out of the shower, contractions were hurting my back. I toweled off calling for my husband because this was LABOR - finally -and just as I get to the bedroom with the hardwood floors and splash! That was it though, didn't really leak any more.

With my second, labor was extremely fast. I was squating in the bathtub with the shower running. I never felt my water break or the water come out. Just suddenly had a head . . .

I think everyone is different. Not just every woman, but every pregnancy. That's the important thing to remember. when someone tells you how it's "supposed" to be, odds are, it would be good to ignore them.


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