My husband and I tried for four years
to become pregnant. Finally after
IVF/ICSI, I became pregnant. We were
both so thrilled. I read several
pregnancy books and even kept track of
everything I was eating to make sure
that I was getting in all the necessary
nutrients for the baby. The first 11
weeks went by fine. I felt great and
was excited to finally begin to tell
people our good news. Then, after
traveling by plane, I started
bleeding. I saw my doctor as soon as I
returned home and he said not to
worry. An ultrasound showed a
perfectly healthy baby. I bled off and
on for about 7 weeks, but usually it
was quite light and a brownish color.
At 18 weeks, I had a level 2 ultrsound
done since I opted not to do the triple
test. The baby looked great and was
growing normally. The bleeding had
completely stopped by now and I thought
the rest of the pregnancy would go
normally. During this ultrasound, we
found out we were having a boy. We
left feeling so happy and relieved to
know that our baby boy was perfectly
healthy.
A week and a half later, at 19 weeks 4
days, I woke up on a Sunday morning,
but halfway to the bathroom, I noticed
a pink tinged fluid leaking down my
legs. I yelled to my husband that
something was wrong. We went to the
hospital where they confirmed that I
was leaking amniotic fluid. They also
told me that my cervix was open a bit.
The doctors said that I could either be
induced and give birth to a baby that
could not survive, or go home taking
antibiotics and be on bedrest until I
was 24 weeks. Our doctor gave me a 10%
chance of getting to 24 weeks. After
all that we had been through to get
pregnant, we could not believe that we
may lose our baby.
We went home and for a couple of weeks,
I didn't think I was leaking fluid. My
husband and I remained very strong and
prayed hard that our baby would be OK.
At 24 weeks, I went back to the
hospital. I had only 4 cm of fluid
left. I was admitted to the hospital
that day. I leaked fluid and bled
quite regularly during my
hospitalization. The high risk doctors
suspected that the bleeding was coming
from the placenta, but they couldn't be
sure about that. There were several
days that I woke up with bad
contractions and thought that I would
deliver. I wanted to at least make it
past New Year's. I would then be 28
weeks.
I had another level 2 ultrasound done
at 28 weeks. There was very little
fluid; only about 2 cm; but the baby
looked great. He was even big for his
gestational age. We could see him
making breathing movements and fluid
moving around his diaphragm. His
bladder was full and he was urinating;
creating more fluid for him.
Everything we saw during this
ultrasound were signs of good lung
development. We felt like everything
was going to be OK and that he would
come out crying.
At 12:30 am on the night of January
11, I woke up with contractions as I
had before. I managed to get a little
sleep, but when I woke up later that
morning, the contractions had not gone
away. My husband, who slept on a cot
every night during my hospitalization,
decided not to go to work until the
contractions went away. Well, they
never did. At 8:30 pm, I gave birth to
our son, Hunter Christian, but he did
not cry. He did turn his head toward
me and open his eyes as I talked to
him.
My husband went to the NICU with him
and I went to see him an hour later.
The doctors were hopeful that he would
be OK. They were even able to turn
down the oxygen level. But, then he
took a turn for the worse and they
could not pull him out of it. Our
beautiful son, Hunter, died in our arms
just 9 hours after being born from
pulmonary hypoplasia.
It's been four months since Hunter
died. I miss him so much every day,
yet, I am thankful for the time that my
husband and I had with him. I really
developed a relationship with my baby
during all those weeks of bedrest.
I still have no good answers as to why
my membranes ruptured so early. I
suspect I had some kind of infection.
I had vaginal swelling and itching, but
my doctor said not to worry, so I
didn't. I don't know if the leaking
caused my cervix to open, or if my
cervix opened first and then my
membranes ruptured. I also wonder if I
had gone on bedrest when I first
started to bleed if my beautiful baby
would be here with me now.
Stefanie
Mom to Hunter Christian, born 1-11-02,
went to Heaven 1-12-02
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