Premature outflow of amniotic fluid: causes, tactics of the doctor

Pregnancy is one of the most important and important periods in the life of every woman. The most successful outcome is the birth of a healthy and full-term child. Unfortunately, not all of them are going as smoothly as we would like. Sometimes the birthing of the long-awaited baby ends with a premature discharge of amniotic fluid.

What it is?

In medical practice, there are two such concepts, such as timely and untimely discharge of amniotic fluid. The second name implies a rupture of the membrane of the bladder until the fetus can be termed complete, namely, before the 37th week of pregnancy. This phenomenon can occur in an artificial and natural way:

• The natural premature discharge of amniotic fluid is when the patient's labor begins before the due date.
• With the artificial method, doctors pierce the bladder, if there are weighty indications to cause labor activity, when there is a direct threat to the life of the baby or mother.

Water can also drain completely when all of the liquid from the bladder is completely emitted at a time, or gradually, within a few hours.

How to understand that the waters are leaving?

A young girl who has a baby for the first time, may not realize that she had a premature discharge of amniotic fluid. Diagnosis and conclusion of this phenomenon can only be done by an experienced specialist. In total, you can distinguish several symptoms, when you immediately have to call an ambulance:

• From the vagina flowed a lot of fluid at a time. Also should alert the frequent urge to the toilet (more than 10 times in one hour).
• In addition to the transparent liquid, you can also spot blood spots.
• The belly sank down and seemed to become much smaller.
• The fetus in the womb ceased to make itself felt.
• There were pains in the lower abdomen, giving back to the back and sides. They do not have a permanent character.

After the 30th week of pregnancy, the expectant mother should take special care of her body and contact a gynecologist if she is embarrassed.

Two manifestations of this phenomenon

Medical specialists often distinguish two such concepts as premature and early discharge of amniotic fluid. What are they different from each other?

• An early discharge can be said when the patient feels severe pain in the lower abdomen, the cervix begins to open, but only after these signs fluid leakage or an artificial puncture of the bladder occurred.
• Premature outflow is a process that takes place in exactly the opposite order.

In addition to premature and early discharge of amniotic fluid, a phenomenon such as a lateral rupture of the bladder is distinguished. This can only happen in a natural way. This means that somewhere on the side of the bubble formed a small hole through which the water flows partially.

Why did this happen?

A girl who so tenderly and affectionately nurtured her long-awaited baby will undoubtedly ask himself the most important question about why premature discharge of amniotic fluid occurs. There are several main reasons:

• Very large fruit or high water. The mother's body is no longer able to cope with such a huge burden, because of what it begins to prepare for labor.
• A natural phenomenon is the premature discharge of amniotic fluid when a woman prepares to become a mother of more than two babies at once. Doctors say that this is a normal reaction of the body.
• Often the cause of this disorder is the pathology of the mother's organs, for example, it has an irregular shape of the uterus, too short or long neck, blood circulates badly and in insufficient quantity enters the placenta.
• This can happen even after a future mother has suffered an infectious or viral disease. It negatively affected the course of pregnancy. Because of this, the bubble inflamed and there was a rupture in it.
• Such a negative moment can cause absolutely any trauma to the abdomen, if a woman fell, hit or lifted a heavy object.
• Very often, the culprit of this situation is the excessive intervention of doctors.
• Sometimes the patient herself becomes the culprit of her condition. The rupture can occur due to excessive smoking, alcohol consumption, non-compliance with hygiene, constant exposure to stressful situations and intense physical activity.

Premature outpouring of amniotic fluid in case of premature pregnancy can occur within a period of 22 to 37 weeks, it is during this period that doctors recommend women to be careful about their health in order to avoid unpleasant situations.

When do doctors decide to pierce the bladder?

Separately it is necessary to talk and about those situations when physicians make a decision to provoke untimely outflow of amniotic fluid. Tactics of doctors usually becomes such if:

• A woman complains of sharp pains in the lower abdomen.
• She has a long temperature of more than 38 degrees.
• There was a profuse hemorrhage, most often this indicates the placenta peeling.
• In pregnancy there is a strong Rh rhesus-conflict.
• If the child has taken the wrong position in the womb, it is better to give birth earlier, until it has reached a large size.
• If the placenta is low.

All of the above points are a direct threat to the life of the mother and her child. Accordingly, in order to be able to hope for a successful outcome, doctors make a decision to cause labor activity before the due date. Using a special metal hook pierce the bladder, which causes premature discharge of amniotic fluid. This procedure is absolutely painless, since there are no nerve endings in the bladder.

Study when entering the hospital

As soon as the girl suspected that a large amount of water had come out of her vagina, she should immediately go to the doctor. He should make the following diagnosis:

• Register a call by accepting from the patient all the necessary documents, including an application for medical assistance.
• Start a medical history, having listened and written down all the complaints of a pregnant woman.
• Make a gynecological examination on the chair.
• Take all the necessary tests, measure the temperature and pressure.
• Mandatory ultrasound, this diagnosis allows you to assess the overall picture of the fetus in the womb.

Based on the conducted research, the specialist decides on his further actions. The future mother must agree with him, having learned the whole complexity of the situation. Otherwise, it can harm your own health and baby.

Several Possible Solutions

Separately, it is worthwhile to talk about what a way out of the situation can offer medical specialists, when they found out the cause of premature discharge of amniotic fluid.

• If a partial leakage occurred, they try to keep the pregnancy at least until the 37th week, so that the baby continues to develop fully. But in this case the patient must be under constant control. She will be prescribed appropriate treatment: droppers, suppositories and tablets.
• Calling up labor if there is a direct threat to the life of the mother or fetus. In this case, the natural process of the child's birth takes place. A premature baby will be in specialized conditions (pressure chamber) and continue to develop in them under the supervision of doctors. Usually the risk for the mother in this case is minimal.

Fortunately, because of the frequent origin of these situations, midwives have a lot of experience and know what measures to take, so in most cases they manage to save patients.

Possible consequences

As mentioned earlier, if a woman has a ruptured bubble, she must immediately call an ambulance. Otherwise, there may be several unfavorable moments:

• Hypoxia. It is caused by the fact that for a long time the child does not receive enough oxygen. Usually, doctors take measures that can save the baby.
• Because of the lack of fluid and air, the baby dies right in the womb of a woman.
• The shell of the uterus will become very inflamed, and then a long treatment will be required.
• There will be a weak labor activity, because of which this process will drag on for a long time, more than 8 hours.
• Death of the patient.

It is worth noting that the diversion of water is a very dangerous process, after which it is impossible to remain without medical assistance, since the outcome can be the most unfavorable.

Preventive measures

Every woman who wants to give birth to a healthy child is concerned with the question of how to avoid premature discharge of amniotic fluid. There are several preventive measures. If you comply with them, the risk of such a phenomenon is several times reduced:

1. It is recommended to consciously approach the process of family planning: not to do abortions, not to have a lot of sexual partners, to avoid diseases of the genitals.
2. Before pregnancy, partners should undergo thorough research, in particular, to exclude Rh-conflict.
3. Continually to be observed at the doctor during pregnancy, to hand over necessary analyzes and to pass researches that will help to prevent possible complications at early stages.
4. To lead a healthy lifestyle three months before conception and the entire process of bearing a baby: do not smoke, do not take alcohol, eat properly, take more out of the open air and avoid stressful situations.
5. Do not lift weights.

However, there is no guarantee that it will completely avoid this phenomenon, in some cases it arises because of the individual characteristics of the organism.

When there is no reason to worry?

In some cases, this phenomenon is absolutely natural. There are a number of situations where you should not worry about this:

• If there was a premature discharge of amniotic fluid in a terminated pregnancy, that is, from 38 to 42 weeks.
• In the absence of other symptoms: pain, bleeding, temperature, detachment or low location of the placenta.
• The waters went off in small quantities.

In all the above cases, it is worthwhile to see a doctor, the specialist will take adequate measures, and the way out will be favorable for everyone.

About Integrity

As it turned out, the waters flow away due to the violation of the integrity of the bubble. We should also talk about this separately. After conception, the embryo forms in the uterine region, a fetal bladder forms around it. It is he who is the favorable environment in which the baby will develop for 9 months. If the integrity of the bubble stops, oxygen stops flowing, blood circulation and gas exchange suffer. Accordingly, the child at this moment is in danger. Therefore, it is very important that he was born as early as possible.

Simple test

Find out what water leaks, you can and at home. For this you need to buy a test in the pharmacy. In a test tube with a liquid, you need to put an indicator, if it appeared in a few seconds the famous two strips, then you can collect things, call an ambulance and go to the delivery room.

The period of pregnancy is very tremulous, important and responsible. During it a new life is formed. Every young mother should take maximum care during this period to treat her body, listen to doctors and observe all necessary precautions. Only in this case it is possible to avoid adverse consequences and become the happiest mother of a healthy baby.