Water Breaking, Procedurally

I’ve read that a lot of women need to have their water broken. I’m more worried about this than the labor itself. What was it like?

Our Mommy MD Guide’s reply: Despite the fact that I was worried for weeks that my water would break all over someone’s car, my water didn’t break on its own at all. They broke it at the hospital. It wasn’t a big deal at all. It didn’t hurt. Truth be told, I had my epidural by then anyway so I probably couldn’t feel it.

I could feel the fluid coming out, and that felt strange. But it didn’t hurt a bit.

—Kerri A. Daniels, MD, a mom of one toddler daughter and an instructor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science in Little Rock