I can't tell you how many times I googled different things to see if I had any signs of labor. One of my coworkers was due just a few months before me, so she told me how she went into labor, and it definitely helped me feel a little better once I was getting close to going into labor myself. Her water had broke, but it wasn't a gush, it slowly leaked. She wasn't even for sure if it was amniotic fluid at first since it was just slowly leaking out, and she hadn't had any contractions; but thankfully she went to the hospital and everything went perfectly fine.
Movies and TV shows have twisted how labor is in real life. We see a woman's water breaking dramatically and then her shuffling around in this massive puddle at her feet. In most cases, labor doesn't happen this way, but it's hard to get the image out of your head. I heard several different stories about others' water breaking as well; some woke up laying in wet sheets, some had a stream running down their legs, and some never had their water break on its own at all. I also heard that the amniotic fluid mostly resembled water, just a clear liquid. And all of these things are true and more common, so I thought I knew what to look for if I did go into labor and my water broke.
When I went into labor, I just had contractions and kept timing them and waiting for the trickle of amniotic fluid. Every time I went into the bathroom, I checked for any changes in discharge, but my mom (who was with me during labor) assured me that I would know if my water broke because it would be a stream. After a couple of hours of seeing pinkish, watery discharge, but not in a stream, I did a lot of searching online to see if what I was looking at was amniotic fluid or just more mucus. Almost everything I searched said that my water would burst, not slowly leak, and that it would be more clear than have a color, so I was still questioning what I was seeing. Luckily, my husband and my mom convinced me to go ahead to the hospital because after a little over a day of contractions at that point, I was almost completely dilated by the time I got to the hospital. And sure enough, my amniotic sac had a small tear in it, causing the fluid to slowly leak out rather than stream out.
So knowing if your water breaks, it isn't as clear cut as it seems in movies. It may not even break on its own, so don't only look for your water breaking as a sign of going into labor. It may be a sudden burst of fluid, it may happen after hours of contractions, or it could just slowly leak out so that you barely notice it. If you notice that your water breaks, don't wait around too much longer, so get to the hospital (if that's where you choose to deliver). There's a chance that, once the amniotic sack breaks and the fluid is released, that you can get an infection and it can effect the baby, so don't waste too much time.
- Several full pads. Wear a pad if you think you are having different discharge than usual. If the pad fills up relatively quickly, put on another one. If this one fills up too, it is most likely amniotic fluid meaning your water has broke. Sometimes, you can urinate on yourself without realizing in, especially if you're already having contractions, so you'll want to make sure it's not urine.
- Watery consistency. You may notice more discharge than normal, but if it's thick and snotty, it's most likely mucus and not amniotic fluid. The reason they say your water is breaking is because the amniotic fluid is just that, a fluid. It's going to resemble water, not be thick or like jelly.
- Look and smell. In most cases, amniotic fluid is clear, sometimes appearing bloody or pinkish. There can be chunks of mucus within the fluid as well, but it won't only be mucus. Amniotic fluid has no smell, so it will be easy to tell apart from urine.
If you feel like you are leaking amniotic fluid or it is streaming out, do not hesitate to contact your doctor or go ahead to the hospital. Even if you're not 100% sure, they can test the discharge to see if it's amniotic fluid once you're at the hospital.
