If your water breaks, lie down where you are, raise your hips, and call 120 (China's ambulance number); don't walk around or take a bath
- Top value
- Evidence B
- Buys life
- For: Pregnant or trying
- Free
- Takes minutes
- No willpower
In plain words
When the water breaks, you don't pack your things slowly and then set out. The right thing is to lie down on the spot, raise your hips on something, and call 120 (China's ambulance number). Standing and walking makes the fluid drain faster, and the umbilical cord may be swept down with it. That is an emergency that can kill the baby.
- Cost
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Free.
- What you get
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The Beijing Municipal Health Commission (北京市卫生健康委员会) gives this advice: when your water breaks, “immediately find a place to lie down flat so the amniotic fluid does not flow out,” “do not walk around,” and “call the 120 emergency number at once.” While waiting for the ambulance, tell your family to bring your things and meet you at the hospital. Medical-institution public education explains further why: when a person is standing, the fluid is lost faster and the baby's umbilical cord may fall out with it, which is called cord prolapse, an emergency that endangers the baby. So lie down, raise your hips, and you may lie on your left side.
- Notes
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The three signs that labor is near are regular contractions, a bloody show and the water breaking; breaking of the water is the one where you “lie down on the spot and call for a vehicle.” This is the author's summary of the two public-education sources above. Public education from Shunyi District Maternal and Child Health Hospital (顺义区妇幼保健院) says that getting out of bed to stand, walking, sitting and squatting all make the fluid flow faster and also raise the risk of cord prolapse. So after your water breaks, don't take a bath, don't squat on the toilet, and don't drive yourself. Note the time the water broke and the color of the fluid, and tell the doctor. Fluid that is light green, yellow-green or even brownish-yellow suggests it may contain meconium (the baby's stool). If you feel a cord-like thing hanging down in the vagina, it may be cord prolapse; call 120 (China's ambulance number) at once, and lie flat with your hips raised. If the baby's movements are clearly different from usual, tell the doctor too.
- Evidence grade
- B : Supported by research but without a precise number, or based on small or single studies.
- Sources
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- Beijing Municipal Health Commission. Weekly emergency topic: what should an expectant mother do if her water breaks early? [in Chinese] https://wjw.beijing.gov.cn/bmfw_20143/jkzs/jzjj/202001/t20200115_1575632.html
- Shunyi District Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Beijing. What to do if your water breaks at home in late pregnancy? [in Chinese] https://www.bch-syfy.cn/Html/News/Articles/9453.html
This tip also appears in
Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 27, tip 8. This section is about health and medicines. It is general information, not a substitute for a doctor’s diagnosis or prescription. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer