Rupturing Your Water

Induction of labor, whether it is breaking the water or chemical will more than double your chance of a c-section. Do not induce unless there is a medical reason for induction (either you or baby are in danger). Carrying your baby until your baby is ready is the most wonderful gift you can give your baby - letting him/her choose their own birthday. Your baby will know when he/she is ready to be born.

Breaking the water artificially often leads to baby being in a bad position for birth - leading to more pain for the mother and a much, much larger chance of c-section. Once your water is broken - you will likely be put on a 24 hour clock and if you have not delivered by that point, you will be told that the risk of infection has gotten high and now you need a c-section.

Let me know if you have further questions. Oh, if your doctor is telling you that you should induce because your baby is big according to an ultrasound, you should know that an ultrasound weight at the end of pregnancy can be plus or minus 3 pounds of accuracy. That's right - my baby who was supposed to be over 10 pounds was only 6 lbs. 4 oz.

C.

I've had my waters broken twice. They use a long crochet-hook thing. It didn't hurt at all. Induction has not led to any problems for me at all.

I was induced for my second child. They started giving me the pitocin at 8 and at 10, my dose was really high and all the nurses were surprised that I wasn't having contractions yet. Then the doctor artificially ruptured my amniotic sac and BOOM labor began in earnest. I went from 3cm to 10cm in an hour and only pushed for 30 min. Compared to my first birth (25 hours of back labor) this was such a breeze, though I know it's not for everyone. This obviously isn't exactly what you are doing, but it did seem to be the water breaking that really triggered my labor. Now, I also had membrane sweeps for both children and they didnt do a thing. Good luck with your delivery!

when I was in labor with my toddler, the OB broke my water after a few hours of labor, it hurt pretty bad to me. but after that my contractions became a lot more intense and coming faster.

Yes, our OB did this as part of the overall induction process. There was more fluid that I thought - splash! on the vinyl floor of the delivery room. (our first baby)

I had my water broken with at least 8 of my kids. It really jump starts labor like nothing else!

I had to have mine broke because it didn't break on it's own. I can't tell you if it gets labor moving because I was already at 8 cm. Unlike ST I didn't feel it.