Sep 5

“…Your Water Hasn’t Even Broken Yet? Well, Now It Has!”

“You’ve been here for 10 hours and you’re only at 8 cm? And your water hasn’t even broken yet? Well, now it has!” – OB during a pelvic exam of laboring mother.

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There are 28 comments to this post.

Crunchy Nurse had this to say, Sep 5, 2011 @ 7:02 pm (Quote)

Is there the implication that the OB broke her water?

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Alyson Miers Reply:
September 5th, 2011 at 7:10 pm Alyson Miers(Quote)

“hasn’t even broken yet?” + pelvic exam + “well now it has!” = OB broke the water.

So much for informed consent.

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Crunchy Nurse had this to say, Sep 5, 2011 @ 7:13 pm (Quote)

I guess I should feel privileged that my OB paused, amniohook in air, and stated that he was going to break my water. At least I could have screamed no if I did not want to consent.

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Alison Haasch had this to say, Sep 5, 2011 @ 7:17 pm (Quote)

In all fairness, it takes a really fine touch to do a vaginal exam at 8 cm and *not* inadvertently break someone’s water. Granted, I doubt that was a goal for the cervical examiner, as few in-hospital providers know to value the intact amniotic sac, but even when it’s not the goal to break it, it happens very, very easily.

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Krista Reply:
September 5th, 2011 at 7:27 pm Krista(Quote)

Hmm, I’ve had midwives-in-training check me late in labor and they’ve never broken my waters.

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Sarah Reply:
September 5th, 2011 at 8:09 pm Sarah(Quote)

My midwife must have had the touch then, because I had a bulging membrane all throughout labor and she never managed to break it. When she checked me the last time and I was complete, she asked if I would like to break it myself with the next contraction, which I did (both to relieve excess pressure and because I thought it was pretty darn cool to get to do it myself). I have nothing to compare the experience with though, because with my first birth, my water broke on its own long before labor actually started.

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Billie Jo Reply:
September 5th, 2011 at 9:04 pm Billie Jo(Quote)

Same here. The Midwife with my first commented that I had a bulging bag of waters so she wasn’t going to do anything and see what happened on its own. I was 9+ cm and a younger Doc came in and broke it… She was a little PO’d about that cause she wanted to see if I would birth in the Caul.

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alice Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 4:02 am alice(Quote)

Hmmmm, I’m sorry, I have to disagree. Those membranes are damn tough. Unless they are *already* close to rupturing and may have a small hole in one of the membranes then its is very difficult to rupture the membranes without some substantial manipulation (either pushing you’re finger hard into bulging memebranes with a contraction say or pinching/tearing them between your fingers. Simply touching them will not make them break. It happens accidentally incredibly rarely.

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Beth Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 4:44 am Beth(Quote)

Then someone is doing cervical exams incredibly roughly. My trhird was born in the caul, despite my midwife trying to break the sac to get him out quickly. Her amnihook didn’t work and she was trying to rip it with gauze on her fingers when he was born.

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Kasondra Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 5:31 am Kasondra(Quote)

Not always…my sac was incredibly thick. Like, my midwife was shocked when she felt it (I asked to have my water broken at 9.5cm) She said it was like a ziplock bag…

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Amber Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 5:49 am Amber(Quote)

My waters have never broken before 8 – 9 cm of dialation (3 labors) and no one has ever broken them with a cervical check.

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Angela Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 6:30 am Angela(Quote)

In all fairness, there’s no need for him to have his hand up there in the first place.

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Missy Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 11:24 am Missy(Quote)

This is what I was thinking. I had no vaginal exams before or during my last labor.

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GranolaRN Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 6:55 am GranolaRN(Quote)

My fingers must have magic sparkles then. I can’t count how many women I’ve checked with advanced dilation, and I’ve NEVER accidentally broken the sac. I’ve been present for even more checks with advanced dilation, and I’ve seen the water broken accidentally (not “accidentally on purpose) maybe once or twice. I can remember once for sure, and that’s all, and the doctor felt horrible. It’s not actually that hard.

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Jenni Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 10:19 am Jenni(Quote)

yeah, i had a bulging bag, dilated to at least 6, for 5 days, and through 4 internal exams, nobody broke my water until i asked them too.

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Kit Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 3:44 pm Kit(Quote)

I’m on Allison’s side on this one. My bag of waters crowned first, if that makes sense. All my midwife did was touch it with a finger (not grab or pinch or poke, touch) and it popped and sprayed all over her. The pressure made the membranes weaker and easier to break. So it can happen.

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Lisa Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 10:43 pm Lisa(Quote)

I had my MW break my bag of waters since I was stalled out (I hoped it would speed labor and it did). Her assistant went in first and couldn’t break it so then the MW had to go in to break it. Maybe it has to do with the diet of the mother as to how delicate it is?

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Samantha Reply:
September 7th, 2011 at 10:59 am Samantha(Quote)

We all make different amniotic sacs like we make different babies. Some women have amniotic sacs made of steel and other have them made of tissue paper. Mine are on the side of steel, with my last baby, my amniotic sac hourglassed and came out first then baby’s head desecended into the hourglassed waters. Made for some super easy pushing, no ring of fire, no tears. I did hold that bag of water in my hands briefly and actually poked into it to feel baby’s head still inside and it did not rupture. I broke the water when baby was out to his neck by pinching and twisting the sac just below baby’s chin. When I examined my placenta later I could easily hold up the sac and placenta to gether by the sac and it was like rubber.

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Elizabeth had this to say, Sep 5, 2011 @ 7:17 pm (Quote)

Stupid ass. I would have kicked him preferably in the balls.

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elysiarenee had this to say, Sep 5, 2011 @ 7:50 pm (Quote)

How can the word ‘only’ come before the number 8 in a situation where the maximum number is 10? batty.

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Stephanie Reply:
September 5th, 2011 at 8:21 pm Stephanie(Quote)

I agree with elysiarenee!

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Dreamy Reply:
September 5th, 2011 at 9:23 pm Dreamy(Quote)

…when it’s your score in a boxing round, actually! It’s called the “10-point must” system. Nearly all boxing rounds are basically scored 10-10, 10-9 or 10-8, with 10-8 being a blowout. 10 is the “maximum,” but I’m not sure you can actually get fewer than 7 points because at that point, you’d have been knocked down more than 2 times.

But that’s more the exception that proves your rule.

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Details Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 4:40 am Details(Quote)

Well since I only got to 7 one time, and only got to 6 another time. BITE ME

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Jenni Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 10:21 am Jenni(Quote)

yeah. nobody says “i only got a 8 out of 10 on my spelling test” ….

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Jane had this to say, Sep 6, 2011 @ 5:24 am (Quote)

I’m put in mind of kids who break things just because they can. “Well, it was going to break eventually anyhow.”

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Jane had this to say, Sep 6, 2011 @ 7:52 am (Quote)

Sorry to double-comment, but I just realized the implication of the “even.” We’re so focused on the violation of breaking her water without consent that we missed the reason the doctor did it: “you’re at 8cm and your water hasn’t EVEN broken yet.”

I wonder how many times the doctor sees an intact bag of waters during labor. If this doctor is so hook-happy, what are the odds that all the doctor’s inductions begin with a bag of pitocin and the amniohook? So if you take the 30% of labors that begin with SROM and then all the AROMs from inductions, then you’ve probably got precious few women laboring with intact membranes.

I bet the doctor wasn’t sure how to manage a labor with the membranes intact.

Either that or the doctor couldn’t mentally rearrange the milestones in labor. If AROM is supposed to happen FIRST then the whole world turns inside out if the mom is about to push and then they rupture on their own. :-b

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amelia had this to say, Sep 6, 2011 @ 8:06 am (Quote)

At that point in my labour I was barely able to speak and I wasn’t fully aware of what was going on around me, but she did break my waters with an amniohook. It had taken me over 12 hours to get from 3 to 8cm, but so what!!! I was coping just fine, sleeping between contractions, one nurse said she wouldn’t have even known I was contracting if she didn’t look at my belly. After AROM I needed to be in the shower, hit transition, was forced onto the bed on my back and begged for the gas After two hours of purple pushing my daughter was born. Even while pushing I was wishing I had just stayed home.