[pnh102]

Her water didn’t break, it was leaking. If your water breaks, don’t fool around, get to the hospital.

Thank you for the clarification! I went back and looked at the notes and confirmed what you said. I'll keep it in mind!

[Zechariah_8_13]

If your water breaks, don’t fool around, get to the hospital.

Actually that's not necessary (unless your water breaks prematurely). The amniotic fluid is constantly replenishing itself. If a woman avoids all internal exams she's fine for quite a long while. She should just stay hydrated and watch for any fever.

The 24 hours the hospitals push is based on the typical pro-c-section American medicine model (and we happen to have some of the worst fetal and maternal mortality rates in the developed world).

Consider this - women whose water breaks prematurely often spend weeks and weeks in the hospital. Somehow they and their babies manage to survive the experience, even with all the nasty superbugs like MRSA and the like that proliferate there. The point being that it's not the water breaking that's dangerous, it's infection. Without internals the risk is quite low.

It is far, far preferable (and safer) to stay in your own home (where you have immunity to the familiar germs) for as long as possible.