I’m currently 38w + 1d. Today just before 6pm, I was sitting on the couch and suddenly felt a gush of fluid. I lost my mucus plug on 10/15 and have been spotting all week, so I thought maybe this is my water breaking??!! I stand up and feel more gushes and hurry to the bathroom. I pull my pants down and notice the gush was actually a bunch of bright red blood that had filled the pad I was wearing, along with leaking onto my underwear and pants. I sit on the toilet and more blood gushes out.

I’m freaking out and call out to my husband for help and to bring my phone so I can call the doctor. I spoke with my doctor and she said to head to the hospital because it sounded like my water broke.

We got to the hospital, I got hooked up to the monitors to check on baby, while the nurse checked to see if my water had broken and tested for amniotic fluid. Baby’s heart rate was normal, I was still only 1 cm dilated, yet was having contractions every 4.5-6 minutes. I couldn’t even tell I was having contractions. The test for amniotic fluid came back positive, but the nurse said it could be a false positive due to all of the blood. The hospital ended up sending me home and told me to come back if I see any more bright blood or have blood gushes or have any other normal labor signs.

The whole scenario seems kind of bizarre. We’re not sure what caused the gush of blood in the first place or if that was actually my water breaking. I’m still slowly leaking blood. My husband and I are a little sad after going to the hospital thinking we might meet our baby only to go home empty handed.

Update 10/21: my doctor called and wants me to come in for an ultrasound tomorrow (Monday) to check my amniotic fluid levels. She believes the blood was caused by a burst blood vessel due to a cervix check on Friday. I did not see my doctor at the hospital yesterday, because she was at the other local hospital delivering babies. I haven’t experienced any more gushes of liquid or bright blood, but still have lots of pink and brown discharge.

Update 10/31: on 10/21 my water ended up breaking for real and 6 hours later my baby was born on Monday 10/22! It was nice knowing what to do and expect since we had gone to the hospital the night before. We even had the same nurse. I was sitting on the same spot in the couch on Saturday night (10/20) and Sunday night when I experienced the gush and water breaking.