Sunshinebaby/ Cindy...just for your reading:-
A mother's water can break in one of two ways. A high leak in the amniotic sac can occur which results in a trickle of fluid. This sign can be hardest to identify. One way to determine if your water has broken with a trickle is to empty your bladder completely and put on a clean sanitary pad. Then lay down for a few minutes. As you lay down, the baby's head will "uncork" itself from the cervical opening and may allow more trickles to come down and leak out. If you are not sure at all if your water has broken, see your care provider. They can do a test with a small strip of paper that examines the pH of the fluid to determine whether or not the fluid present is amniotic fluid.
The other way your water can break is with a big gush, or even several gushes. This is often unmistakeable and can seem like a large amount of fluid even if it's only a cup. The gush of fluid comes from the breaking of the forebag of the amniotic sac, which is the small balloon-like cushion of fluid below the baby's head.
If your water breaks, please call your care provider for further instructions. They will ask you to report a few things and one easy thing to remember is TACO:
Time - When did it break?
Amount - Trickle or gush?
Color - Clear or darker yellow/green?
Odor - Normal musky odor versus foul odor?
It will also help to know the status of your Group B strep test. If your test was positive, you may need to go your place of birth fairly soon after your water breaks to receive antibiotics. As you progress into labor, there are many other signs to know that you are moving into early labor, active labor, transition and eventually pushing/birth.