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Home › Articles › Birth Procedures › A Sudden Gush

A Sudden Gush

What Happens When Your Water Breaks?

By Renee Roberson

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

 – so who wouldn't picture that as the way most women's bag of waters break?

Interestingly enough, it usually doesn't happen that way for most women. In fact, both Dr. Edward J. Lazarus, an OB/GYN who works with the UT Medical Group in Tennessee, and Dr. Adelaide G. Nardone, medical advisor to Lansinoh Laboratories, say that only between 8 and 10 percent of their patients experience their water breaking at term. The majority of the time expectant moms actually have their physicians break their waters for them, after labor has already begun.

What Is Amniotic Fluid?
"The amniotic membranes, or 'bag of waters,' make up the sac that contains the amniotic fluid," Dr. Nardone says. "This fluid warms, protects and cushions the growing fetus. The membrane has two layers: the chorion and the amnion."

During labor, the force of contractions puts pressure on the amniotic sac (which is comprised mostly of fetal urine) and causes it to rupture, Dr. Lazarus says. This rupture of membranes can occur

  • spontaneously, during labor
  • artificially (by your OB provider when in labor)
  • prematurely, before the onset of labor or 
  • preterm, before 37 weeks.

Dr. Nardone says up to 95 percent of women whose membranes rupture on their own will deliver spontaneously within 28 hours. "However, if they do not go into labor on their own it is recommended that labor is induced within 24 hours in order to reduce the risk of infection to both the mother and the fetus," she says.

Oh, the Amniotomy!

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