Sara McGinnis
posted in Mom Stories
This one time… I was pregnant… and my water broke. Not at home in bed, like the movies like to depict.
Not in a grocery store, with legs wide-spread and water splatting the aisle, like the movies like to depict — though I can’t deny it did happen in a place that puts me squarely in a Natalie Portman / Where the Heart Is category.
Walmart.
I came to realize my water had broken at Walmart.
Hey now, before your thoughts start running amuck this is where the “don’t judge” clause comes into play! You’ve read this far, therefor you are now obligated to hear me, Walmart labor lady, out.
I woke up on the morning of May 31, 2006, not expecting much. Sure, I was 38-weeks-pregnant, but the last eon or so of maternity life had also been uneventful, so why should this particular day be any different? Obtuse belly and I made ourselves vertical, peed, got dressed and set about getting the day started. No signs of labor particularly noted.
“…is that a wet feeling?” A nagging thought popped up, but Niagra loins I was not.
I got our 20-month-old breakfast and put the day into motion.
“I probably just have to pee. Again. Uggggh.”
Multiple bathroom breaks for both me and the 1.5-year-old later, we hit the road. “Plan A” involved hitting up Walmart for dog food and diapers, then off to visit le husband extaordinaire at work, 15 miles away, for a family surprise lunch. Mid-shopping, perhaps even in the darn pickle aisle, I noticed that disturbing, mildly-wet feeling yet again.
“Seriously? Was that some sort of tiny wet gush? Ugggggh! Bite me, pregnancy.”
Off to the bathroom my first son and I went to investigate just what was happening in the southern-hemisphere-that-could-no-longer-be-viewed from up North. During the walk to Walmarts’ aft acre I began to wonder.. “Could it be?”
You see, during my first pregnancy my water had also broken without warning. No contractions, no mucus plug, nothing. Just inexplicable wet happening out of the blue. Luckily, I learned a trick during my first pregnancy, and was aware that baby-to-be’s head tends to act as a cork when you’re standing up. Lay down, allow the “cork” a moment to float up, and you get a gush of fluid if your water has, in fact, broken.
And so, curiosity getting the best of me, I found myself not only standing in a Walmart bathroom, cart complete with 20 lb. bag of dog food waiting patiently outside the door, but testing myself…lying down. Sure enough, getting vertical equaled a gush.
I had, indeed, confirmed I was beginning labor in a Walmart bathroom. Sweet Natalie Portman almighty!
With still no contractions yet felt, and armed with the knowledge I went hours after my water breaking before feeling a single one (yet alone 20 hours of labor before giving birth) in my first pregnancy, I slapped a pad in the panties and strolled on off to check out.
“How you doing today?” the check-out lady asked. “Find everything you were looking for?”
I struggled for a moment, caught between telling the truth about the fluid that leaked out of my very pregnant shape and conforming to social norms. “Uh, yes,” I answered, deciding at once that the phrase TMI had been derived out of necessity for the blissfully naive.
We paid and exited the store, got in the car, and then — here’s where I start to seem an extra bit crazy — continued on with Plan “A.” Rather than returning 5 miles home because my water had broken, we drove another 15 miles away, to surprise dear husband with not only lunch, but the info his dear wife was leaking uncontrollably.
“Heya, honey. Surprise! We brought lunch, and my water broke. No, seriously, it really did. I think.”
First child passed off briefly to his paternal caregiver, I made a dash to the office bathroom to again test the cork theory. Wad of paper towels in hand I assumed a prone position on the floor, only to feel yet another warm gush occur. Water broke status confirmed — for sure!
“You know, this is really bad timing,” the suddenly less extraordinaire husband said to me (I swear!), upon hearing the news. “I’m in the middle of so much.”
“Well,” I replied, trying to be understanding, all current circumstances considered. “I don’t have much choice in the matter, so I suggest you let your boss know now.”
From there I drove back home…past the hospital (don’t judge!)… and put our dear first child into bed to nap. I then called his grandmother and asked her to come over, double checked my bag, started the dishwasher, vacuumed the floors and swore to myself this: Every woman beginning labor should be granted a few extra hours to get her affairs in order.
Once Grandma had arrived I drove myself to the hospital (under 2 miles away, still contraction-free — don’t judge!), checked in (boy, howdy did they look at me showing up alone strangely) and, within a few hours of them realizing my water had broken and no labor was progressing naturally (exactly as in my first experience giving birth), began Pitocin.
Looking back I estimate my water first began to leak at about 7am. I realized, for sure, about 11am, and went to the hospital around 1pm.
**This story is, perhaps, to be considered unique in what happens when labor begins. Knowing how my body reacted the first time severely helped me determine how to act the second go-round. Turns out I think I’m a bit of an outlier in the water-breaking/no labor beginning realm, so please don’t model your experience after mine just in case!**
Shortly after midnight I bore down with all my might and gave birth to my second healthy baby boy.
In hindsight I believe that, should I choose to have more children (not gonna happen!), I would expect my water to once again break without contractions giving any warning. Turns out my own mother also experienced it happening, despite having been scheduled for a c-section the same day.
All the same, I’m fascinated by how differently this one situation plays out for us mothers. One experience, and yet so many stories! Share yours?
When and where did your water break?
Photos: Flickr
Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”
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