My water broke at 27 weeks, after a
swimming outing with my toddler and
his friends. When I went to the
hospital, I was told that I would be
there “for the duration,” that 80% of
women like me go into labor and
deliver within 48 hours, that another
10% do so within one week. At that
point, the ultrasound estimated the
baby’s weight at 2 lbs 9 oz. I was
given steroid shots to enhance fetal
lung maturity and antibiotics to
prevent against infection, which are
given routinely in this type of
situation. I also had an amnio done
to determine whether there was any
infection, which there was not.
Miraculously, I survived that first
week without going into labor and
stayed there another 9 weeks before we
induced, at 36 weeks. I never got an
infection, and the baby doubled his
weight during bedrest, coming in at 5
lbs 14 oz. The doctors strongly
suggested that we induce at 34 weeks,
which is when they think the baby is
not better off inside than out, given
the risk of infection. They said the
baby would be fine in the NICU and
that it just wasn’t worth the risk of
infection at that point. However, I
opted to go until 36 weeks, since I
had not had an infection during the
entire time of my hospitalization and
felt like an infection likely would be
detected early given all the
monitoring they were doing of me. I
felt very strongly that I didn’t want
this child starting his life in the
NICU if it could be avoided.
I found this website early during my
hospitalization (thank goodness for
laptops!) and can honestly say that I
couldn’t have survived without the
valuable support and advice I got
here. It is so important to stay
connected with others similarly
situated. In the beginning, I was
overcome with feelings of worry for
the baby, claustrophobia, panic and
anxiety while in my hospital room, and
I desperately wanted to go home for
bedrest. Everyone here convinced me
to stay put at the hospital, which
made it easier to do. The danger of
home bedrest was if the baby was born
away from the hospital so early, he
might not survive. I needed to stay
close to the NICU, just in case.
Everyone on the mailing list reminded
me of the importance of every single
day that baby stays in, and they also
had great ideas of how to survive
hospital bedrest in general. So our
family buckled down, hired a nanny to
take care of my toddler, and my
husband basically became a single
parent. Somehow we made it all work,
and it all was well worth it given our
healthy little boy.
I’ll also mention my pregnancy
history: Four miscarriages (one at 17
weeks with no explanation as to the
loss) and one full-term pregnancy with
no complications. I took progesterone
during the entire first trimester of
the PROM pregnancy and spotted at the
end of the first trimester. I went on
bedrest for about a week until the
spotting stopped. (I was told when I
PROMed that many PROMs can be preceded
by spotting in the first trimester).
The PROM baby was delivered at 36
weeks with no complications.
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