Remember the “Sex In The City” episode when Carrie rushes to the hospital to meet a pregnant Miranda straight from a date with Mr. Big?
Of course she is wearing very fancy and very expensive shoes when Miranda’s water breaks and soaks them in the process.
On the show, the scene captured the horror and surprise of viewers and generated laughs. But for many pregnant women, having your water break in public is a real fear.
I had this fear.
With my first pregnancy, I actually brought a change of clothes to work with me during the last few weeks before my due date. I had a recurring vision of a tidal wave pouring from my body and drenching everything in its path.
In reality, my water did break but it was so slight that I barely noticed at all and had to “test it” several times by lying flat on my back and sitting up, waiting for any fluid to escape.
I have a friend who just had her second child. She was about four weeks from her due date and she was out running errands with her four-year-old.
She was 45 minutes from home and walking to her car when she suddenly felt something wet dripping down her leg. She began to panic as she quickly got to her car and tried to decide what to do.
The baby was early.
Could she drive home?
She called her husband to tell him about her wet skirt and figure out what their plan of action should be. Her husband called her doula.
She turned on the air conditioning in the car and tried to cool the sweat on her skin, from both the hot Arizona day and the nervousness of the situation.
Her husband called her back with instructions. It was decided. She was going to drive back towards her house.
But before she began to drive, she glanced at her son in the back seat. She'd forgotten to strap him in his car seat!
She started to get out of the car when she noticed her purse on the passenger seat. It was wet. So was the seat. Puzzled, she looked inside.
There she found a water bottle turned upside down with a loose cap. The bottle that once held her drinking water that had gotten heated from the warm weather, had all dripped out.
Out of her handbag, onto her skirt, and down her leg.
With her ears burning with embarrassment, she called her husband. Sorry, false alarm.
Don’t fear it. If it happens, it happens. It probably won’t be as bad as you think.
Edited by Jody Smith