Hey Hey Mamas! It's your CajunStork here. Are you wondering what to do when your water breaks?
Today, I'm going to give you all the information you need to know
on how to keep you and your baby safe after your water is broken.
But before I begin,
My name is Midwife Kira and I believe in #trulynatural birth
because I know it makes for better birth experiences!
Consider subscribing to my channel
and don't forget to get your midwife recommended
>> Birth Packing & Supply List<< in the description below.
Now if you're watching this video and your water is already broken
I would like to hope that you have already called your Midwife or your Doctor... and if you haven't pause this video and make
a phone call because that's the number one
most important thing is you need to do alert your health care provider.
Now assuming that you did that or you're watching this video before your water broke
I want to give you some information that you probably need to know to feel
prepared for when that does happen. The first thing you probably should know is that only
One-third of pregnant women's water breaks before they start labor.
So it's very unlikely that you're gonna find yourself as one of those moms whose water breaks in the grocery store
or while they're teaching a class.
And although it could happen to you...
there's a
66% chance it won't. So don't expect your water breaking to be your first sign that you're in labor.
Most women experience labor as the onset of active labor contractions.
So if your water's broken, there's a couple of things that you need to do.
First of all, you need to look at the time.
Now this idea of the 24-hour time-clock is not actually
evidence-based and I'd like to hope that your practitioner is no longer practicing this 24-hour
rule that you have to deliver your baby or you're going to have a c-section. This is definitely outdated information.
However, there is some information that does let us know that there is an increased risk of infection after your water has been broken 24
hours. But, if you're NOT receiving vaginal exams during labor, your risk of infection is actually much smaller.
So another thing you need to know about your water breaking is only receive vaginal exams as absolutely necessary
So an example that I can give you where this would be a useful rule is if you're showing up at the hospital and you're
in labor, a lot of times your nurse wants to check you to confirm that you're ruptured and
then the doctor wants to come back behind you the next hour and also check to confirm that you're ruptured.
Well evidence says that after three vaginal exams your risk of infection goes up tremendously (once ruptured).
So, one step that you can take in being proactive and preventing infection is
requesting that only the physician perform the vaginal exam to confirm that your water has been ruptured.
So it's OKAY for you to ask for limited vaginal exams after your water's broken. And in fact, I strongly encourage you to do this.
Another thing that you need to know besides the time is the color of your fluid. If your fluid is
clear that typically means that everything is fine. Now, not to be gross or anything,
but if your fluid has kind of like white chunks in it, then that's okay too because that's typically vernix coming off of your baby.
But, if you're having any kind of discoloration in your fluid such as a light green,
dark brown or especially anything bloody
You need to call your healthcare provider immediately as this can be an emergency.
Something else to consider when your water is broken is whether or not you're Group B Strep positive.
Now. this is a conversation you're going to have to have with your personal health care provider.
A lot of times in my practice when moms are Group B Strep positive
we have a different plan of care if their water broke before the onset of labor... and your doctor probably does too.
So you want to be sure to talk to them about that before your water breaks on if they plan to do anything different with you
if your're Group B Strep positive.
So, make sure you follow their instructions if you're Group B Strep positive.
Now after your water's broken
another thing that's really important for you to make note of is if the baby is still
moving normally and also your temperature. While you're checking your temperature and keeping an eye on it
you're gonna want to check your temperature at the onset of your water breaking
and then once every 2 to 4 hours to make sure that you're not noticing a fever starting to happen.
Now, of course for your temperature
we're watching for any potential risk of infection.
A fever is considered anything at 100.4F or above.
So if you're running like a 99.0F you're not running a fever.
You're probably just in labor!
I'm talking about all of this and you're probably thinking
"Wait...I'm not already at the hospital if my water's broken?" or "with my midwife?"
You know, this is the part of the video where things kind of can go in two different directions.
In my practice
I ask my clients a series of questions to make sure
that everything is normal once their water's broken. I will do an initial assessment on them
but typically my clients will continue to stay home for a couple of hours after their water's broken to wait for active labor.
But in a hospital setting your doctor probably wants you to come in immediately after your water's broken
Or if your Group B Strep negative he might be comfortable with you waiting like two to four hours
So, you really want to make sure that you and your health care provider on the same page about what to do when your water breaks.
Other things that you need to know that are
SO IMPORTANT
when your water breaks...
So, I typically tell my clients when you go to pee you need to wipe front to back.
You need to not insert anything- whether it be fingers or tampons or having sex- after your water's broken.
All of those things are completely off limits.
Even vaginal exams, as I mentioned before, should be limited.
And that's another way that we can prevent increasing our risk of infection.
In addition to that many people don't realize that when their water breaks
they're going to continue to leak amniotic fluid until they deliver.
Which means this idea that our cajun culture has of a
"dry birth"...
like we run out of amniotic fluid
doesn't actually happen!
Women will continue to leak amniotic fluid throughout the rest of their labor until they deliver.
So you want to have on hand something like Depends for example
so that you can continue to move around and labor
comfortably and not have to worry about the possibility of like leaking on the floor.
I'm going to go ahead and post those in the link below
But you can also find those in my
>> Birth Packing & Supply List <<
because it's definitely something that is super helpful when you're water's broken when you're in labor!
One other step we can do to prevent infection is to change our pads frequently while we're in labor.
I recommend changing it probably every two hours or so
Or at least every time you go pee so that you're not reapplying the same pad
to that area.
Finally one of the things that you need to know when your water is broken is that you need to stay hydrated
So I would recommend that you make the BirthHouse Infusion
while you're waiting for active labor to kick in.
The recipe is right here in this video.
And basically this is red raspberry leaf tea and coconut water and a lot of really other good vitamins and minerals that you can give
yourself while you're in labor to stay hydrated and nourished.
So I'll see you over there! Thanks for watching this Midwife Monday. Bye bye!