False alarm water breaking - wtf was that?

[Anonymous]

A few nights ago there was every appearance that my water had broken. I am only 29 weeks along, but I had premature rupture of membranes at 36 weeks with my first child, and this went down exactly the same way. Whoosh of watery fluid followed by drip, drip, drip for hours and (TMI, sorry) the smell was exactly as I remembered from my water breaking with first pregnancy. I went to labor and delivery to have it checked, per on-call doctor's instructions, and am so thankful that the fluid tested negative for anything amniotic. The doctor and nurses agreed that it was pretty weird, and had me stay several more hours to do the tests all over again. Negative the second time too.

I'm still weirded out by the experience and wonder if anyone has had anything similar happen, and if your doctor gave an explanation as to what it could have been? The doctor's best guess was that my cervix softened quite suddenly and released discharge that was previously kind of "trapped" in there, She said maybe that could mimic water breaking and have the same smell, etc. I've never had discharge that was so watery though, and am just still scratching my head. Mostly I'm hoping that the tests weren't mistaken and that this isn't some kind of sign I may have PPROM again with this pregnancy. I read about the tests for amniotic fluid the next day, and according to Google (I know ) they are frequently inaccurate if the "rupture" occurred more than a couple hours prior to the testing. By the time they did the tests, 4.5 hours had passed since the initial event. Just overly anxious about it and hoping someone can pipe in that they had a similar experience that was ultimately totally benign.

[Anonymous]

Can you have them do an ultrasound to check the fluid levels? (I'm surprised they didn't do this). My water broke w/ my first and I tested negative and they sent me home and said the baby probably just kicked my bladder ... I went into active labor the next day and had complications because of prolonged rupture. Not to freak you out, but you obviously know what it feels like to have your water break... an ultrasound would give me more piece of mind that those strip tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you have them do an ultrasound to check the fluid levels? (I'm surprised they didn't do this). My water broke w/ my first and I tested negative and they sent me home and said the baby probably just kicked my bladder ... I went into active labor the next day and had complications because of prolonged rupture. Not to freak you out, but you obviously know what it feels like to have your water break... an ultrasound would give me more piece of mind that those strip tests.

Maybe I'll ask about an ultrasound. The dripping has stopped now, a couple days later, and everything seems okay but I am still freaked out by the whole event. Also that even the doctor and nurses could tell it wasn't urine, and the smell was so distinctive and recognizable. My next appointment isn't for a couple of weeks, so maybe I'll call about it sooner just to be safe. I'm think I'm always more worried about being "that patient" than I should be. I don't want to be difficult, but do want a little more assurance that everything is fine.

[Anonymous]

mucus plug?

[Anonymous]

Eff worrying about being that patient. You should call today and ask for an ultrasound (I had PROM at 25 weeks and know that I'd know exactly what it was if it ever happened again).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you have them do an ultrasound to check the fluid levels? (I'm surprised they didn't do this). My water broke w/ my first and I tested negative and they sent me home and said the baby probably just kicked my bladder ... I went into active labor the next day and had complications because of prolonged rupture. Not to freak you out, but you obviously know what it feels like to have your water break... an ultrasound would give me more piece of mind that those strip tests.

Maybe I'll ask about an ultrasound. The dripping has stopped now, a couple days later, and everything seems okay but I am still freaked out by the whole event. Also that even the doctor and nurses could tell it wasn't urine, and the smell was so distinctive and recognizable. My next appointment isn't for a couple of weeks, so maybe I'll call about it sooner just to be safe. I'm think I'm always more worried about being "that patient" than I should be. I don't want to be difficult, but do want a little more assurance that everything is fine.

PP here... my water broke and then I had absolutely no dripping. I'd get the ultrasound -- at worst, they know your water broke and at best, your fluid levels look fine and you have piece of mind.

[Anonymous]

Not to scare you, but one of my best friends had her water break and the fluid tested negative for amniotic fluid (probably because of the delay). Right as she was being discharged, she started getting contractions and they decided to double check with an u/s "just to be sure". Probably saved her baby's life.

Given that you are only 29 weeks along, you could definitely have fewer/more mild contractions even if you go into labor, since your body is not as ready. I would seriously get things checked out ASAP.

[Anonymous]

I'm so surprised that the doctor's didn't do an ultrasound to be sure everything was ok?! Must the patient advocate for literally everything?!

[Anonymous]

My water tested negative until they checked the composition under a microscope and realized it was indeed amniotic. The tests aren't always 100% so if you're worried or think it's possible, they need to check every possibility. Good luck OP. Don't be scared to tell them to do a U/S or check under a slide.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for everyone's input. I thought I was being a bit over the top with the worry, so this is all helpful perspective.

Re: microscope test, they did to what they called a "ferning" test under a microscope, twice, in addition to the little test strips they used. But from what I've read, both tests have a high false negative rate if they're undertaken more than a couple of hours after the rupture, and I'm a little concerned about that because it was 4.5 hours after the rupture when they did the first tests (and a couple hours later than that when they tested again).

Lastly, I wonder since it's been a few days now with no further events, if that's further indication that everything is probably fine. But somebody made a good point that this early in pregnancy, even if it was a rupture, there might not be any further signs of premature labor to indicate anything is going on. So probably still warrants requesting an ultrasound to double check things.

[Anonymous]

I would ask for an ultrasound and in the meantime check your temp to make sure aren't developing a fever.

[Anonymous]

Those tests do have a lot of false negatives. I agree that the ultrasound would be reassuring and reasonable to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would ask for an ultrasound and in the meantime check your temp to make sure aren't developing a fever.

This. If you're running even a slight fever just get to an ER immediately and demand an u/s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few nights ago there was every appearance that my water had broken. I am only 29 weeks along, but I had premature rupture of membranes at 36 weeks with my first child, and this went down exactly the same way. Whoosh of watery fluid followed by drip, drip, drip for hours and (TMI, sorry) the smell was exactly as I remembered from my water breaking with first pregnancy. I went to labor and delivery to have it checked, per on-call doctor's instructions, and am so thankful that the fluid tested negative for anything amniotic. The doctor and nurses agreed that it was pretty weird, and had me stay several more hours to do the tests all over again. Negative the second time too.

I'm still weirded out by the experience and wonder if anyone has had anything similar happen, and if your doctor gave an explanation as to what it could have been? The doctor's best guess was that my cervix softened quite suddenly and released discharge that was previously kind of "trapped" in there, She said maybe that could mimic water breaking and have the same smell, etc. I've never had discharge that was so watery though, and am just still scratching my head. Mostly I'm hoping that the tests weren't mistaken and that this isn't some kind of sign I may have PPROM again with this pregnancy. I read about the tests for amniotic fluid the next day, and according to Google (I know ) they are frequently inaccurate if the "rupture" occurred more than a couple hours prior to the testing. By the time they did the tests, 4.5 hours had passed since the initial event. Just overly anxious about it and hoping someone can pipe in that they had a similar experience that was ultimately totally benign.

This just happen to me, but I'm only 20 weeks, so I'm praying/hoping is not PPROM. It happened yesterday, got the strip test around 3 1/2 hrs later (negative for amniotic fluid) and ultrasound to measure fluid level (AFI) , AFI seems normal so far (measured yesterday/today) so we're still hopeful. No clue what the sudden watery discharge was. Got tested for vaginal infections today to discard that too. Recommended no exercise, no efforts, monitor temperature, and if no sudden gushes, re-check in one week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few nights ago there was every appearance that my water had broken. I am only 29 weeks along, but I had premature rupture of membranes at 36 weeks with my first child, and this went down exactly the same way. Whoosh of watery fluid followed by drip, drip, drip for hours and (TMI, sorry) the smell was exactly as I remembered from my water breaking with first pregnancy. I went to labor and delivery to have it checked, per on-call doctor's instructions, and am so thankful that the fluid tested negative for anything amniotic. The doctor and nurses agreed that it was pretty weird, and had me stay several more hours to do the tests all over again. Negative the second time too.

I'm still weirded out by the experience and wonder if anyone has had anything similar happen, and if your doctor gave an explanation as to what it could have been? The doctor's best guess was that my cervix softened quite suddenly and released discharge that was previously kind of "trapped" in there, She said maybe that could mimic water breaking and have the same smell, etc. I've never had discharge that was so watery though, and am just still scratching my head. Mostly I'm hoping that the tests weren't mistaken and that this isn't some kind of sign I may have PPROM again with this pregnancy. I read about the tests for amniotic fluid the next day, and according to Google (I know ) they are frequently inaccurate if the "rupture" occurred more than a couple hours prior to the testing. By the time they did the tests, 4.5 hours had passed since the initial event. Just overly anxious about it and hoping someone can pipe in that they had a similar experience that was ultimately totally benign.

This just happen to me, but I'm only 20 weeks, so I'm praying/hoping is not PPROM. It happened yesterday, got the strip test around 3 1/2 hrs later (negative for amniotic fluid) and ultrasound to measure fluid level (AFI) , AFI seems normal so far (measured yesterday/today) so we're still hopeful. No clue what the sudden watery discharge was. Got tested for vaginal infections today to discard that too. Recommended no exercise, no efforts, monitor temperature, and if no sudden gushes, re-check in one week.


OP here. I feel a little disconcerted that I got none of those recommendations, no u/s, and no re-check was requested. I guess I will be requesting it on my own.