It can sometimes be hard for the woman to tell whether her waters have broken or not. If fluid is coming away, it could be amniotic fluid, heavy vaginal discharge or even urine. Vaginal discharge can become quite heavy in late pregnancy, and at times when a woman gets up from resting for a length of time, it can come away as a small trickle of fluid. In late pregnancy it is also not unusual to involuntarily lose small trickles of urine.
If you think your waters have broken, try to empty your bladder and then wear a pad to see if any more fluid is coming away. You may wish to smell the pad to see. Amniotic fluid will not have the acidic smell of urine (it smells more alkaline, not unlike men's semen).
You will need to contact your caregiver, and ascertain their policy on leaking waters, with regards to time limits and inductions. You may be asked to come in to the hospital to check if the waters have actually broken, or just to stay in touch by phone, until further fluid comes away. If you do go in to hospital, take any underwear or pads that could contain amniotic fluid for your caregiver to see.
Your caregiver will use either a
speculum to look inside the vagina (to see if fluid is coming away) and / or use an amnicator, which is a specially treated orange cotton bud that turns navy blue in colour, when it comes in contact with the alkaline amniotic fluid.
NOTE: Be aware that semen is alkaline and can also make the amnicator turn blue. This would mean the test would be invalid if the woman had had sex in the hours just prior to the waters being broken. Occasionally, a woman will confuse semen with ruptured membranes, (even though it is possible to have both present if the waters actually broke around the time of intercourse). In this case, it is best to just observe the vaginal loss for a few hours, and see if more fluid comes away.