Rumer Willis Describes Breaking Her Own Water During Labor With Her Finger

When Rumer Willis welcomed baby girl Louetta in April, she gave birth at home. Surrounded, as she told Romper, by her sisters Tallulah and Scout and her mom Demi Moore. Or as she called them, “a kooky tribe of women” who were by her side to help the first time mom deliver her baby. But when it came time for Willis’ water to break, she took matters into her own hands. Literally. In a conversation with the podcast Informed Pregnancy, Willis detailed breaking her own water during labor with her midwife’s instructions.

Willis explained on the podcast that her water was not breaking during her labor, even after she dilated from two centimeters to eight centimeters in an hour. The new mom, who shares baby girl Louetta with boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas, asked her midwife if they should break her water. For those who don’t know, babies in vitro are protected by an amniotic sac that ruptures before giving birth, which most people refer to as water breaking. In many cases, the water breaks on its own before delivering the baby. But in Willis’ case, she decided to do it herself after her midwife gave the okay.

“She was checking me and felt my water bag bulging, but still not popping, which was wild,” Willis recalled on the podcast. “So, I was like, ‘Well, should we break it?’ She goes, ‘Well, you can.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘Are you serious?’”

“I reached my finger up there, and I'm feeling and it was crazy. I could totally feel this little bag — it feels like a water balloon, but with a bit tougher skin,” Willis went on to explain. The midwife instructed Willis to push against the water bag during a contraction, and she “popped it.”

Willis went on to explain that she was “surprised” by the moment “because it’s a different sensation when the water bag is pushing against your cervix to when the baby’s head is.”

It should be noted, however, that breaking your own water is not advised and can be very dangerous. Doing so could lead to infections, for mother and baby, by introducing bacteria into the uterus, according to Medical News Today. Under medical supervision, your health care provider can perform a procedure called an amniotomy to rupture the amniotic sac, aka “break the water,” with a small sterilized hook to speed up labor.

During the same podcast interview, Willis described her birth experience as “the most ecstatic, joyful moment of my entire life.” And when she finally got to hold her newborn daughter, she shared, “I just started sobbing with joy.”