What it is
Water breaking is the sac around the baby opening and fluid coming out. It happens before labor in about 1 in 10 term pregnancies, called PROM, prelabor rupture of membranes. Before 37 weeks it is PPROM and always a call now. The movies show a gush. Real life is often a trickle that keeps coming when you move. Leaking fluid is clear or pale yellow and smells sweet or like nothing.
What's typical
At term, about half of mothers are in labor within 5 hours and 95 in 100 within 28 hours. The longer the sac is open, the higher the chance of infection. Green or brown fluid means the baby passed meconium and needs watching. Nothing goes in the vagina after this.
What's known
ACOG recommends offering induction when labor has not started, because it lowers infection with no rise in cesareans. Waiting 12 to 24 hours can be reasonable for a GBS negative mother who is well and watched. GBS and water breaking is the exception: if your test was positive, you go in now for antibiotics.
What helps
- Put on a pad, lie down 20 minutes, then stand. A gush when you stand points to fluid, not urine.
- Write down the time and look at the color before you call.
When to call someone
- Nowgreen, brown, or bloody fluid, something in the vagina, under 37 weeks, GBS positive, a fever, or the baby moves less. Go in now.
- Call now: any water breaking at term, even with no contractions. Your provider will tell you when to come in.
- At your next visitask their plan for PROM and what your GBS result was.
Who helps
Tools: Birth Plan Generator
Related
- Group B strepPregnancy: Your Body
- Signs labor is startingGetting Ready for Birth
- Early labor at home: when to go inGetting Ready for Birth
- Induction: why, how, and what to askGetting Ready for Birth
- Short cervix and signs of preterm laborPregnancy: Your Body
What mothers here say
No one has posted under this topic yet. The first experience here will help the next mother who searches for it at 2 a.m.
Experiences and questions are their authors' own, not reviewed advice. The topic's steward lists the ones that help most in a credited digest once there is one. Unusual experiences stay, with a note.
Sources
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — Practice bulletin on prelabor rupture of membranes
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — Patient FAQ on group B strep and pregnancy
- NHS — Signs that labour has begun: waters breaking
Sources are named, not yet linked. The steward verifies each one and adds the link.
Steward this topic
Birthworkers listed in our directory can claim a topic, verify its sources, and curate what mothers share here. Your name and credential go at the top of the page. Takes about an hour the first time.
Find your directory page