How do you know the difference between losing your mucous plug and your water trickling out?

Usually losing your mucous plug is like losing a glob of snot, not much else changes (sorry to be graphic), this sounds more like your water breaking. Sometimes it breaks big and sometimes, it breaks small, all depends on the tear, really. But, what you should do: is call your ob/gyn. They'll have the definitive answer on what you should do right now.

When your water breaks, you may or may not feel that gush. It'll be a bigger gush if you're laying down because gravity won't be there to pull baby's head over the opening and plug it up.

When you loose your mucus plug, a lot of women, and even I, don't get a lot of liquid, but since your body should be having discharges along with all of this, you might and it might be fine. A practitioner should be able to tell you what it is with a simple lab test, if you go in and let them swab some of it.

After the plug, or even during, if you see any pink-ish liquid or red, blood, that's what they call your 'Bloody Show' and that means that it is, or was, your plug that you lost. :)

Sounds like your water is leaking. You need to go to the hospital. The mucus plug is a big hard kind of snot looking thing . It's really gross. A yellowish kind of color. You really should go to the hospital. Your water might not have broken but it sounds VERY likely that it is leaking. There is a difference. Good Luck!!! Congratulations!!!

Rupture of Membrane is a sudden gush of amniotic fluid.

When I lost my mucous plug, it was very much like mucous and blood tinged. How far along are you?