With my first, I was one of the "ones" whose water broke out of the blue in a gigantic gush without contractions. I was at home, and it was early (35 weeks), so it wasn't embarassing. It was so early that DD's head wasn't engaged in my pelvis and this, according to my OB, is why it was a huge gush and not a trickle. It was all very surprising.
Even with that experience, with my second pregnancy I was out and about until the day I went into the hospital. If your water breaks - it breaks. Oh well. Even if your water breaks, labor doesn't hit you like a ton of bricks most of the time. Labor and delivery for FTMs is a gradual process. My second L&D was only 3 hours, but it still wasn't a crazy "OMG, these contractions are going to kill me" from the moment it started.