Things I learned #4: there go my waters!

I feel a bit silly telling you this one but if only one person stumbles across this post in ten years time and it helps them out in some kind of way, then my embarrassment was worth it…

…When I was about six centimetres dilated in the throes of labour, the midwife asked me if I would mind if she examined me to see how I was getting along.  She asked me to stand up after my next contraction so that she could check the baby’s heart rate and then I could get out of the birth pool just for a couple of minutes for the examination.  My husband maintains that I stood up suddenly out of the water, put my hands on my hips and exclaimed “this is BULLSHIT”, but I have no memory of this. 🙂

I sat on the ground reclining backwards for the exam, which was interrupted by a contraction.  This was the one and only contraction I had technically on my back.

It was not cool at all.

I would not be recommending it as a positive position for pain management.

Suddenly, and I mean suddenly with all the drama of a ten year old’s English essay, my waters broke, as if out of nowhere.  How this came as a shock to me I still don’t know.  But I was SHOCKED. And terrified.

Because the waters were…HOT.

Seriously, what was I expecting?  My tiny naked baba had been living in there for nine months, of course they weren’t going to be tepid but for some reason it was the last thing I was expecting.  The midwife had to explain it to me. What a muppet…

Ladies (and gentlemen), waters are hot. Obvs.

PS. Is “waters” an Irish thing? I notice a lot of American and UK sites say “water” singular.

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