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I was lying groggy but awake in bed in the early hours of the morning, not long after my husband had gone to work. I felt concerned because I hadn't felt the baby move all night, so I was just sort of concentrating on feeling for movement and thinking about how I was supposed to start collecting my urine that day for a 24 hour protein test (my blood pressure was very high at my prenatal appointment the day before, but I had no other signs of pre-eclampsia like swelling or headaches). I hadn't had any contractions at all, but felt crampy the day before. Suddenly, I both felt and heard a muffled "pop." My first thought was that the baby had finally moved, with a very vigorous kick. Then I recalled hearing about a "pop" preceding some women's water breaking... and I jumped out of bed and rushed to the toilet. Just as I sat down, it felt as if a gallon of HOT fluid gushed out of me. It seemed to last for a long time, and I knew without a doubt that my water had definitely broken!! You know how you can stop peeing by clenching your kegel muscles? There was no way THIS gush could have been stopped! I had this fear of a prolapsed cord, and so I felt down there to make sure that hadn't happened (thankfully, it hadn't). I wiped myself with some tissue and checked the fluid just like the nurses who taught our prenatal class had instructed, using the C.O.A.T. acronym: Color, Odor, Amount, Time. Color was clear, odor was musky but not unpleasant, the amount was huge, and the time was about 6:35 in the morning! I stuffed a towel between my legs as I went about collecting the things I'd need at the hospital, and I was surprisingly calm about the whole thing, especially considering that this was my fourth pregnancy, with three preceding losses (2 miscarriages and an ectopic) in over 7 years of trying for our first child. I was worried about the baby, though, so I laid down and checked her heartbeat with a stethoscope, and it was strong. I called the hospital and asked when I should come in (now, they said), then called my husband at work. Oddly enough, when they initially checked me at the hospital, they didn't believe my water had broken because the chemical test they do with the swab didn't change color. I insisted that it had, and the nurse told me that lots of women mistake urine for amniotic fluid. I laughed at that... there is no way I could pee that much, that fast!! She swabbed me again and it showed the truth. About nine hours after my water broke, with a pitocin drip to speed labor because of my high blood pressure and with no pain meds at all (yay, I did it!), I gave birth to my sweet little girl. I wanted to experience everything during her birth, after so many losses and so many years of waiting, and I'm glad I got to experience having my water break as it did. I would do it again every single day (even if every time was also without pain medication) if it meant that I got to see Gail again at the end. So, if you feel and hear a POP, hurry yourself to the toilet!

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