What is a "dry birth"?

Specializes in LDRP.

Okay, so I've heard this mentioned a few times. Sounds like a load of hoodly to me.

One patient, primip, had been ruptured for 20 hours or so. Said something to the effect of she didn't want to go for 24 hours post arom, b/c she didn't want a "Dry birth".

One lady, a visitor of a laboring pt, said she was "In active labor for 10 days. My water broke on the 6th, I delivered on the 16th and it was a dry birth"

So educate me. B/c not a single birth I've seen in my year as a l&d nurse has been the least bit dry ?

25 Answers

There's no such thing. :lol2:

I've only heard the term "dry birth" refer to a baby that is born out of the water vs. birthing in a pool of water.

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

No such thing.

Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.
dawngloves said:
There's no such thing. :lol2:

Amen to that!

Invent one and you'll be rich.

It's an old wives tale.

Having said that, births with someone who PPROMed 8 weeks ago vs. someone with a normal AFI are noticably *less wet*. But dry?? Nah!

Never heard of such thing!

I've heard of a dry birth ever since I can remember. It's something used by "mountain folk" mostly.

I've also heard from nurses that it's a medical urban myth.

They do have something around here they call "middlesmirts". I'm sure someone older than me can correct me if I mis-spelled that.

"Middlesmirts" is when you have a bad ovulation which results in extreme pain, nausea, fever, but it goes away on it's own...and all you can do is lay there and suffer through it.

Hopefull2009 said:
I've heard of a dry birth ever since I can remember. It's something used by "mountain folk" mostly.

I've also heard from nurses that it's a medical urban myth.

They do have something around here they call "middlesmirts". I'm sure someone older than me can correct me if I mis-spelled that.

"Middlesmirts" is when you have a bad ovulation which results in extreme pain, nausea, fever, but it goes away on it's own...and all you can do is lay there and suffer through it.

It's mittelschmerz. and a very real medical occurrence. It can last an hour or a couple of days. I get it on my right side probably from old appy adhesions, but I wouldn't say it's debilitating.It's more like, "Owie. My ovary!" ;)

Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.
motorcycle mama said:
I've only heard the term "dry birth" refer to a baby that is born out of the water vs. birthing in a pool of water.

never ever heard of it used that way.

Specializes in Cardiac.
Hopefull2009 said:

They do have something around here they call "middlesmirts". I'm sure someone older than me can correct me if I misspelled that.

"Middlesmirts" is when you have a bad ovulation which results in extreme pain, nausea, fever, but it goes away on it's own...and all you can do is lay there and suffer through it.

Mittelschmerz isn't ovulation gone bad, lol. It's normal. For me, it means it's time to get busy, and it happens every single cycle. BTW, the 'fever' is from your temp rise after ovulation. It's how you would know you ovulate. It's from your 'hot' hormone, Progesterone.

A "dry birth" is what they used to call a birth in which the bag of waters (amniotic sac) breaks early in labor, as it does about ten percent of the time. It certainly is misnamed because even when this happens, the woman's body continues to make a fresh supply of amniotic fluid right up until the baby is born.

Specializes in CCU,ICU,ER retired.

When my daughter gave birth 15 yrs ago she had originally gone in for an ultra sound she wasn't due quit yet but very sonn When they did the US she had no amniotic fluid at all and was rushed into surg for a ceaserean(?) So within 30 minutes they delivered. Why would that be an emergency?

I have heard of dry birth and thought that was what she had.

I have no experience in that field and haven't got a clue.

cardiacRN2006 said:

Mittelschmerz isn't ovulation gone bad, lol. It's normal. For me, it means it's time to get busy, and it happens every single cycle. BTW, the 'fever' is from your temp rise after ovulation. It's how you would know you ovulate. It's from your 'hot' hormone, Progesterone.

A "dry birth" is what they used to call a birth in which the bag of waters (amniotic sac) breaks early in labor, as it does about ten percent of the time. It certainly is misnamed because even when this happens, the woman's body continues to make a fresh supply of amniotic fluid right up until the baby is born.

Oh, I have actually had this...that is why I brought it up. The pain, was like cramps x 100, the fever, not the normal 1 degree over, was 101 or better, and the nausea, I was afraid if I sat up, re-adjusted my position on the couch, I would puke.

It was dead on the day I was scheduled to ovulate, and when I got up the next morning, everything just disappeared, no meds.

Dalzac said:
When my daughter gave birth 15 yrs ago she had originally gone in for an ultra sound she wasn't due quit yet but very sonn When they did the US she had no amniotic fluid at all and was rushed into surg for a ceaserean(?) So within 30 minutes they delivered. Why would that be an emergency?

I have heard of dry birth and thought that was what she had.

I have no experience in that field and haven't got a clue.

Sorry for the double post, but I don't have any experience b/c I'm not a nurse, but we do have a close friend of the family that when her baby was 22 weeks gestation, she had amniotic fluid so low, the baby was determined non-viable, even though the heartbeat was strong. They scheduled induced labor 2 days later and sure enough, when they went back, the baby's heartbeat was nowhere near what it was.

This happened Christmas weekend, and I couldn't imagine anything more horrible.

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