Did anyone else find it really surprising at their pre-natal course when the topic of your “waters” came up?
Did anyone else find it really surprising at their pre-natal course when the topic of your “waters” came up? I’ll admit that I just assumed that when people said their “waters went” it was exactly like it showed in the movies. A very sudden and very dramatic explosion in a public place.
I was somewhat relieved to discover that it rarely turns out like that in real life. The midwife told us that for most people their waters simply “trickle” and quite often women will be unsure if that is what is even happening because in late pregnancy bladder control can be a bit of an issue.
So, imagine convincing yourself that it would simply be a “trickle” and actually find yourself in the dramatic movie situation?
These three women didn’t have to:
- My maternity leave was going to start in two weeks time. I had developed an acute waddle and I was working between about three outfits that actually fit me. It was a sunny day and I decided to pop out for a Subway on my lunch hour. It was a ten-minute walk from the office so a nice bit of fresh air to clear the head. During the walk, I noticed a few niggles but simply put them down to Braxton Hicks which I had been experiencing since I was 32 weeks. I was 36 weeks so I never considered that it could be anything “real”. As I waited in the queue I felt a trickle and felt quietly embarrassed, putting it down to my weak pregnancy bladder. Before my Subway sandwich had left the oven I was the girl having the dramatic “explosion” in the middle of a restaurant. They escorted me to a staff room and half an hour later I was in my husband’s car on the way to the hospital. Twenty hours later our little boy was born – three weeks early but perfectly healthy. I’ve never gone back for a Subway since.
- I was never a fan of walking the dog but in my third trimester, I made it my business to take on the task because I was doing little or no exercise at this point in my pregnancy. On one particular night, I was five minutes from home and stopped to talk to a neighbour. Five minutes later I was in her house calling my husband because my waters had well and truly “went” standing outside her garden. I didn’t have my daughter for another three days but was kept in hospital and put on antibiotics in case of infection. I thank my lucky stars that my neighbour was a) a woman b) someone I got on really well with and c) kind enough not to mention the fact that her husband later “cleaned up” with the hose (my husband wasn’t kind enough to keep that one to himself).
- I’ll keep it brief. Pedicure. A treat to myself on my first day of maternity leave. What resulted was a pedicure on one foot and a very very embarrassed trainee who didn’t quite know what was going on. I called them weeks later to organize payment as in the panic I had forgotten. They didn’t charge me for my one-foot pedicure and were delighted that my baby was born safely however I can say with certainty that I’ll be finding a new salon as I can’t get past the embarrassment even though I laugh about it all the time.
Written by Tracey Quinn staff writer at Family Friendly HQ.