"Vicki S" wrote in message
(Elizabeth H Bonesteel) wrote:
One woman this morning said that "they" will need to make sure the
baby is born
within 24 hours of your water breaking, because after 24 hours there
is a high
risk of infection. Someone else said that if your water doesn't
break, "they"
will do it for you at the hospital.
... is it really SOP if labor is progressing normally? And is there
really a
legitimate 24-hour "deadline" after your water breaks?

When I gave birth in a hospital, I was quite close to delivering my
son in an intact bag of waters -- something I really wanted purely for
the romantic and "cool" aspect -- when my OB said she wanted to break
the bag. So I asked my doula (who is usually a homebirth midwife and
caught my second child) what she thought, and she said it was ok to
let the doctor break the bag. So I let them. I still don't know why
the Dr. wanted to. They didn't install a monitor, that's for certain!
I should ask my midwife about this the next time I see her. :-)

At any rate, the woman who said that "they" will break your bag for
you if it doesn't break on it's own, is probably almost always right
-- at least in US hospitals.

rant--certainly not directed at you Vicki, just this issue in
general

I find it interesting how it seems like you can't win with how ROM
occurs--if it breaks on its own, its "too soon" and hospital personnel
get worked up about infection, but if it doesn't break early enough in
labor, then it needs to be broken to "speed things up" or to "help
things along" (even if labor hasn't really begun yet). Seems like quite
a contradiction! I'm fairly cynical/pessimistic/negative about the
hospital birth climate, so take this fwiw, but my observation is that
the ROM issue is yet another way of taking control away from the
laboring woman and making her feel like something is "wrong" with how
her baby is doing things (either breaking the water too soon or not soon
enough--apparently only a doctor knows when the precisely "right" time
is. G*d forbid it should be the woman's own body and baby that
decides!).
/rant

I think it would have been neat if your son was delivered in the
caul--doesn't happen very often! My water didn't break in labor until I
was fully dilated and pushing (at which time it broke quite
forcefully!). By that time, I had basically forgotten that there was
even water to break and it was fairly startling to me!

--
Em
mama to L-baby, almost 8 months old!