I was 17 weeks into my third pregnancy
(first two pregnancies were normal and
normal deliveries) and I was feeling
great. I had worked that day and
rushed home to change and take my 2
sons to a birthday party about an hour
away. While at the party I felt a
little gush and went to the bathroom
to put on a pad,I thought I had lost
control of my bladder. I went back to
the party and it happened again. I
told my husband it was time to leave
and we gathered the boys and headed
for home. I told my husband what
happened and we decided to go to the
hospital and on the way I had a big
gush that soaked through my clothes.
The doctor that confirmed it was my
water(through a sterile spec exam)told
us it was very rare to happen so early
in pregnancy and that in his 18 years
of obstetrical practice had never seen
prom at 17 weeks gestation. He told
us the prognosis was grim and that I
would probably miscarry within 48
hours. There was no experienced
obstetrician in our area and so he
referred us to someone 4 hours away(
at the IWKGrace in Halifax). He made
the appointment for 5 days away and
told us that I would probably miscarry
before it. At the appointment we had
an ultrasound that showed the baby
with next to no amniotic fluid
surrounding him, we were then brought
to a room and given the news that our
baby had a 5% chance of making it to
viability(24 weeks) and even if he did
his lungs may not be able to work and
he would die. We were also told that
he may have other deformities such as
clubfoot, muscular stiffness and
facial deformities. They told us that
most people find this too scary and
opt to terminate and that this option
would be open to me up to my 24th
week. I immediately said no and told
them that I wanted to continue no
matter. The drive home was the worst
4 hours of my life. We cried and and
couldn't believe what we were told.On
the drive home the baby was very
active and I took it as a sign that I
was making the right decision. When I
arrived home I got on the internet and
found this website and hearing the
positive stories gave me faith and I
decided that I was going to be
positive and that my baby was going to
make it.
My husband wasn't so positive; because
everything we were told was so
negative he thought I was going to be
devastated and that I should be more
realistic. But I felt that I could
never be prepared to lose my baby and
that being positive was the only way
to get through this.I went on bedrest
and drank tons of water only leaving
the house to go to doctors
appointments in Halifax. I was told
that if I made it to 24 weeks that
they would admit me to the IWKGrace;
so every day I would pray to make it
to 24 weeks and counted every day as a
blessing. So at 24 weeks I kissed my
other 2 sons and headed to Halifax. I
was given a dose of steroids,
celestone, 24 hours apart.The next 10
and a half weeks were the hardest of
my life. I was desperately lonely and
missed my sons terribly. The bedrest
was so hard and on top of that I
developed gestational diabetes and
pregnancy rash which I didn't have
with either of my other pregnancies. I
lived for my ultrasounds, but was
always both excited and nervous before
each one. I never had very much
amniotic fluid, just small pockets but
the baby was still very active and
with each week my baby's chances of
living were getting better. I started
to bleed at 26 weeks and would bleed
off and on up until delivery. The
baby was breech and so I needed to
have a C-section. At 34 weeks and 5
days the nurse was doing a fetal
heartrate check and I had a tightening
that made the baby's heartrate drop
and the next day the baby had a few
more so they decided it was time to
section(March 15,2002).
This was one of the scariest moments
of my life, I did not know if he would
have developed lungs. The ultrasounds
showed signs of crush
syndrome,smallness to his lungs and
they told me they could not tell
whether his lungs would be hypoplastic
until after he was born. But 5 minutes
into the section I heard him cry, the
most beautiful sound I heard in my
life. They showed him to me before
taking him to the NICU. When I was
able to see him 3 hours later, I could
not believe it. He was PERFECT. He
had oxygen for 20 minutes and that was
it. He was absolutely beautiful and
only needed monitoring. He was given
doses of antibiotics because of the
prom and me being group B strept
positive. He had one heart rate drop
and one apnea, which I was told was
him acting his age, so he was
monitored for 13 days and I took him
home on March 28 in time for Easter.
He is doing great and I am so grateful
that I had found this website and the
sidelines volunteer who had given me
so much hope. After the pProm we were
given only the negative and it didn't
seem like there was much chance of
having a healthy baby until I found
stories just like mine that had a
happy ending. I know not all the
stories have a happy ending but I look
at Jacob and am so thankful. The last
three months were so hard but worth
every second. I hoped and prayed that
I would be writing a happy ending
story here to give someone else faith
and inspiration.
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