What to Do If Your Water Breaks

Today I want to share what to do if your water breaks. Most often we just think head into the hospital but there are a few things to consider before doing that. I think this can help you have a better birth as in some cases this can be an emergency (don’t worry I’ll show you how) and in some cases maybe the hospital isn’t your best spot, yet.

Before we get started, information like this should only be taken from an expert — so I’d love to introduce myself first.

I’m Hilary — lots of you might know me as The Pregnancy Nurse® (but I’m also the curly head here at Pulling Curls® — my original brand). I’ve been a nurse since 1997 and I have 20 years of bedside labor and delivery experience. I’ve taught thousands (maybe millions?) of couples how to be prepared not scared for their upcoming hospital birth. I’m glad you’re here. 😃

Oh, and before we keep going, if you were already in labor and your water breaks (not unusual — and we’ll talk more about that going forward) there is a good chance things are going to pick up (aka, get more painful) — so it may be just like the movies where it’s time to head into the hospital. BUT, it also may not be. It’s something that’s good to know, so it doesn’t catch you off guard.

BTW, if you’re like — yeah, I’d prefer not to be caught off-guard — check this out. 🤜

And I hope it goes without saying 🚨🚨🚨 this post is just for people who are 36+ weeks of pregnancy. If you’re before that time in pregnancy you need to head into labor and delivery ASAP.

Ok, back to if that water breaks….

Are You Sure?

It seems like it would be SO clear… a faucet from your uterus turns on, and water is coming out — but it honestly can be tricky to know if it’s broken.

First off — only 15% of people’s water will break prior to going into the hospital (and probably 10% of those will be in labor at the time).

But, a LOT of people will have changing discharge prior to labor. It can make you second guess if it’s discharge or your water breaking — in case that’s you — here’s a few posts that might help out:

• What Does Water Breaking Look Like?
• What Does It Feel Like When Your Water Breaks?
• Can Your Water Break While You’re Peeing?
• Did my Water Break or Is it Discharge (or pee)
• Did my Water Break Quiz: How to tell if your water broke

Be sure to check out my post on EVERYTHING you need to know about your water breaking for more on this important topic!

A few things to do if you’re still just not sure:

Put on a pad and lay down for 10 minutes, then get up — most often if your water has broken, it will pool in your birth canal and then when you get up, you’ll get a little gush.

Cough, see if anything comes out (although brace your bladder because sometimes it can get in on the coughing action)

An important thing to know is that your provider or the hospital can let you know with more certainty (nothing is 100%, but these tests are pretty great) if it did break. So, if you’re not sure I say give them a call… but we’ll talk more about that down below.

An important thing to know is that it doesn’t “all” come out at once. Sometimes you only get a tiny gush and then nothing — it all depends on where on the uterus the amniotic sac breaks. I have a whole post on How much Water Comes Out When Your Water Breaks? that can give you more on that.

BTW, if you’re like — huh, that’s interesting. I have more tips — come join me:

It’s also helpful to know that most of the amniotic fluid is baby pee at this point your pregnancy — and as we all know, babies keep peeing. SO, fluids KEEPS coming out even up til’ delivery. So, if you think it’s broken water should still come out now and then.

If you’re still not sure — keep reading, and do the last step for sure, so you can know what’s best for YOU to do in this situation.

Is Anything ELSE Coming Out?

Ok, if you are like — HILARY this thing is BROKE-UN. Then we move onto this step and this is the most important step.

Beyond water (and possibly a bit of blood or mucus) is anything else coming out?

Now, this will likely be pretty obvious — it would be a cord or a foot mostly that we’re looking for (or, I guess a hand, although I see that less frequently).

Not sure, put a clean finger up there really quick — but if you do a quick kegal you’ll probably know nothing else is in there.

Yes, this is WILDLY rare, but yes — in 20 years I’ve seen poor outcomes from people who didn’t check for this.

Most of you — this will be no — and you’ll move on to the next step.

But, if you do feel something, you need to get your buns up in the air and call 911 as fast as you can. This is an emergency. You’ll looking to keep the cord higher than the baby so that the baby isn’t putting pressure on the cord and your pelvic bones.

Again, super unlikely — but I like to give you information and, so I do.

If you’re in the hospital and this happens (something else comes out when your water breaks) — do the same thing, hit the call light and have your support person run out in the hall and yell for help.

Ok, let’s not dwell on this one. Take it as information, not something to get anxious about (I’m an anxious one, in case you can’t tell).

OH, once you past this step be sure to consider the….

TACO🌮🌮🌮

No, not time to eat (yet)…

These are things you’ll want to note about your water breaking:

T – TIME — what time did your water break
A – AMOUNT — is it a lot or a little (or is it questionable, and that’s OK too — this is very normal!)
C – COLOR — is it clear, or does it have a tinge — maybe red, or brown? We need to know that.
O – ODOR — does it smell like something? We need to know that too.

BTW, not a fan of tacos, the anacronym COAT also works. 🙂

Is Baby Still Moving?

As always, you’re watching for fetal movement. Is baby still moving?

If baby seems to be “thrashing” or well out of their norm — I’d go in.

Baby not moving? I’d go in.

To not pass go, do not collect $200 — just go in. You don’t have to stay, but making sure that you and baby are safe is always the best bet. Remember labor and delivery is open 24/7 and there is someone just waiting to make sure you and baby are stafe!

I’m a huge fan of kick counts — not sure how to do them, grab my cheat sheet here:

Looking for more info on fetal movement (WHICH I LOVE) — be sure to check out these posts:

• Normal Daily Fetal Movement – Kick Counts
• 30 weeks Pregnant and Baby’s Movements Have Slowed Down
• Increased Baby Movements Before Labor
• 37 Weeks Pregnant Lots of Movement and Pressure
• When to Go To The Hospital for Decreased Fetal Movement?

Put a Pad On (or more)

A lot of people like to shower really quick (it can feel pretty gross) — and then I recommend putting a giant pad on — perhaps even a depends. I also always recommend having a stack of puppy pads around the house, and this is a good time to utilize them (they’ll be GREAT for once you have kids too — I still have some on hand and my baby is almost an adult). They’re not just for puppies, btw.

Both of those things (big pads or depends) are things you’ll want on hand postpartum (and so many people entirely forget themselves after baby is born) — grab my postpartum checklist here to get prepared:

And if you’re like KEEP TIPS LIKE THIS COMING Hilary! I’ve got a whole class where you can learn my best tips! It’s gonna save you time ⌚ to get them all in one spot!

Call Your Provider

Ok, now you’re feeling a bit more composed (the hope is these previous steps have only taken a few minutes — a bit more if you showered). Call that provider.

Of course, this step can come earlier if you feel like you could use an assist.

Also, PRO TIP: Many providers use what’s called a call service — which means, you call the main line, they give you an emergency line to call, you call that line and they will set someone up to call you back.

Depending on how busy that person is (sometimes they’re in surgery) it take a bit to get a call back.

CHALLENGE: At your next appointment ask your provider what happens if you need to get hold of them after office hours — that way you know how it’s set up. Some allows you to directly page a provider or some have you call L&D — every office is different, but most should have someone on after hours to help (if they don’t, that’s a red flag for me).

SO, you can always call them before jumping in the shower — just keep the phone close by (or with your partner). That way you can get some reassurance moving forward.

When you talk with them you’re going to want to know the information you got when you paid attention to your TACO. Time, amount, color, odor….

They’re also going to want to know if you’re also having contractions or other labor symptoms.

At the beginning I mentioned that most people have contractions and that’s why their water breaks (want to know more about this, you can check out my posts on signs your water is going to break and also what makes your water break).

If you’re having contractions, the conversation is a little different than if you’re not…

What’s Next?

Ok, so your provider is going to say either to:

• Come right in — honestly, not always a fan of this one. We’ll talk more about why
• Hang out at home — this is kinda snazzy… I’m fan — but keep reading….

The big question is if you’re also in labor. Are contractions getting:

• Harder (aka, more painful)
• Closer together
• Longer

If they are, that’s a good sign you’re progressing into something that’s going to bring a baby about fairly soon.

That’s a time to pack that hospital bag and head on in…

Studies show that most people will go into labor within 12-24 hours of their water breaking.

In fact, you may have been having some small contractions (possibly felt more like cramps) prior to this that may pick up at this point (very normal).

However, some people’s water breaks and nothing is going on. We actually call this premature rupture of membranes — PROM 💃 (sounds fancy, right) >> meaning your water broke but you’re not in labor.

But, still — we hope to see contractions start within 12-24 hours — your body should get the message that it’s time to evict this little one.

The biggest nemesis of a broken bag of fluids is an infection. 📛📛📛 Meaning your uterus has been sterile up to this point (in the bacterial way — very fertile in the baby way). But, now that the bag of water is broken that means bacteria from your vagina and skin can travel up into the amniotic fluid/baby.

So, it’s important that nothing go into the birth canal (that clean finger I mentioned above is alright if you’re worried something fell out) — I’m talking no tampons, no body parts 😉. We gotta keep that area clean. K?

At the same time, we need to watch for signs of fever. If you stay home (or frankly, also if you come to the hospital) they’ll want you to monitor your temperature every hour or so to watch for a fever — and if you feel any of those signs of a fever please let your team know.

BTW, every new parent should have a thermometer waiting for baby when they come home. I recommend something like this — it’s cheap and easy to use (and can be used by you too — I recommend under your armpit so you can keep eating/drinking without issue).

For a long time we brought in every mom who thought their water broken (and don’t get me wrong, ANY questions please do come in) but sometimes home is the safest place for you if you’re not really into active labor yet — you can monitor your temperature just as well as we can.

Some people would prefer not to start Pitocin to get baby out… that’s something you can review on your birth plan:

Some people may say BRING ME IN AND LET’S GET THIS BABY OUT (aka, start Pitocin) — and that’s totally up to you.

As a reminder, you can always go into the hospital — but it doesn’t mean you have to stay there if you find out everything is good. You can also go back home. Be more comfortable, eat your own brownies in your own bed (with a puppy pad on) until things start brewing.

Your provider (if you’re choosing to stay at home) should give you a time you should just head into the hospital. This will likely be 12-48 hours in the future — as long as you don’t run a fever. This will give your body time to start labor, but ultimately, we do want to start labor if it hasn’t happened by then.

Or, they’ll want to follow-up with you every few hours to make sure baby is still moving well (keep doing those kick counts), and there are no signs of infection.

The chance of infection grows each hour the bag of water is broken…

Oh, and change that pad frequently — probably every time you pee just so it’s not a source of infection. OR, if it’s not coming out that much, you could just hang out with a puppy pad under you. That’s good too.

Pro Tip: If that puppy pad is clean, even after you’ve sat on it — fold it right back up and use it again!

Often, I hear providers just telling people to come in. That avoids any liability they might have with you staying at home (or further phone follow-up. But it’s AOK to say…

Hey, is there a chance I could hang out at home for a bit to see if labor will start on it’s own?

For some of you, you’ll want to go right in, and some of you will want to stay at home. No choice is right for everyone and that’s why I love a birth plan (like I recommended above) to help you know what you really want.

And, like I said before — you can always change your mind if you start to get antsy and head into L&D. That’s the beauty of this system!

Learning to ask questions, and helping tailor birth to your own needs like this is some of the smartest stuff you can do.

But honestly, it doesn’t come naturally. It can feel very much like “I should just go in if that’s what they recommend” — when the choice to stay home can be just as safe (sometimes even more so).

I saw moms just going with the flow far too often, so I created a birth class that helps educate you to engage in your own care. To ask those questions, to stay safe but still get more like the birth you’re hoping for. All of that is possible — I show you how to do that in here.

Ok, I’m impressed you’ve made it this far into the article. Now, I want to give you one that a lot of people want to know more about…. What to do if your water breaks in public. I’ll see you over there in that article!