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Yup same here. If your water breaks you need to deliver within 24 hours bc baby is no longer protected by the amniotic fluid.

I think contractions were when it was "I had to stop and breathe" and 3-5 minutes apart about 45-60 seconds long.

I went in when my contractions were about 5 minutes apart, lasted about 1 minute, and was consistent for about an hour. But I think if your water breaks, you go in pretty soon after that. I've heard the same thing as @regberadaisy, that you need to deliver within 24 hours of your water breaking because of the risk of infection to the baby.

When they induced me

Otherwise, they recommended the 5:1:1 rule.

I called when I was having contractions. The on call doctor said, (no joke), "Come on in when you are having the worst pain of your life." He was not the doctor who delivered M, thank goodness.

They were actually surprised I lasted as long as I did. I guess a lot of women go in pretty quickly after that first call. At least 3 nurses said to us, "We were wondering when you were going to get here!" Haha. I called at 4pm, we went in at 5:30am. I didn't want to go in through the ER so I made sure we waited until the L&D door was open at 5am to go in.

I had all these plans to labor at home because I wanted to avoid as many interventions as possible...well I had (TMI) green discharge when I went to the bathoom, which I knew could be a sign of meconium, and mild cramping about eight minutes apart, so when I called my doctor, she said to head in to get checked out...it turned out that I was leaking amniotic fluid, so I had to stay and I labored at the hospital.

I would still love to be able to labor at home, hopefully with my next child!

Hospital - went to the ER at 10:30 pm as per instructions when my water broke. I was not having contractions.

My water broke at 5am, and we called my OB at 6:30...she knew I wanted to labor at home as long as possible, but since my water had broken a while a go and it was getting toward rush hour (in NYC) she said we should head to the hospital. Good thing, because it took us over an hour and the contractions started to pick up once we got there!

Actually, if you stay hydrated, the body continues to make amniotic fluid throughout labor. And the chance of infection is low as long as you're not sticking stuff up there- ahem, cervical checks, scalp electrodes, etc. I personally would not go to the hospital until I was into a good contracting pattern and was having to concentrate through the contractions. I would keep an eye on my temperature just in case, but yeah... But that's not your conventional wisdom, lol, just me.

@FarmWifeGina: That's interesting - I didn't know that! Good information to have for next time

@Foodnerd81: Ah, then you're probably ok. I just don't want to be put on a clock.

I was told to go in once my water broke but I labored at home for a few hours anyway. I was 4cm when I got there, about 4 hours after my water broke.

Something nobody told me was that your contractions may not be consistent! I kept waiting for 5:1:1 but it never happened...8 minutes here, 4 minutes here, lasting 90sec here, 30 sec here...so I finally went in when the pain got to be bad enough I couldn't speak through them, 22 hours after they started. It worked out great, I was 7cm upon arrival, got an epi right away, and proceeded to nap for 5 hours. The nurse then woke me up to push and broke my water. Easy peasy.

My water broke first and we headed in when it broke!

My water broke at 6:30pm and my midwife wasn't concerned about going in to the hospital. She came by my house to assess me because my contractions were coming so close together right away. I think she came by around 8:30 and we finally went to the hospital around 11:30, only because we were worried the car ride would be too awful if we waited much longer. I think I was 5cm and then baby girl was born at 5:15am!

@kml636: I waited about 8 hours, too.
Contractions started around 6AM and we left for the hospital at 2PM. They didn't quite follow the 5-1-1 rule so I went by the can-you-talk-through-this-still rule When we left I think my contractions were only 3 min. apart but they were only 30-45 seconds long. By the time we arrived, I was dilated to a 6 and LO was born 5 hours later!

ETA: My water didn't break until I was pushing, but I know my midwife told me at one of my last appointments that if it broke before contractions I was technically supposed to call and come in right away, but that she encouraged me to stay at home for a while still and ideally until contractions started on their own. This was as long as the fluid was clear, etc. She literally said - put a bath towel between your legs and take a nap! Haha

They told me to call when my contractions were about 5 minutes apart. They jumped from 8-10 minutes apart to 3-5 very suddenly. I called and they had me come to the doctor since it was closer for a check (so I could skip all the triage stuff if I went in or so I could go back home if I wasn't ready). I was at 4cm and still 3-5 minutes apart so she sent me to the hospital.

5-1-1 rule, but they told us to call first. The admittance nurse told me to call back in an hour (apparently my voice wasn't pained enough?) I called back an hour later, she told me to come in but I ended up going home because my labor stalled. I could have stayed but convinced myself it wasn't time, and I wanted DH to be able to sleep. When I went back in a few hours later I didn't call first, I went in because I could barely catch a breath between them (they were 2-3 min apart) and I hit a point where I thought if I was in that much pain and not in active labor that something was wrong.