I had on and off cramping for several
weeks in my twin pregnancy. I was not
concerned because my doctor had told me
to expect cramping as a result of the
scar tissue we knew I had from a
previous C-section. I had spent several
days in bed from a bad cold, was feeling
better, and was expecting to go into
work the next day. I woke up at about
3:00 am with enough cramping that I
decided to take some medicine. On the
way to the bathroom, I felt a trickle,
but thought that it was urine. I went
to the restroom and took some medicine
and returned to bed, all by the dim
lumination of a nightlight. A couple
minutes later, as I was about to doze
off, I felt more liquid coming out, and
it felt like it was not urine. I put on
glasses, turned on the light and went
into the restroom. I found that a
trickle of pinkish-clear fluid was
coming out. We called the OB's office
who said that sounded like amniotic
fluid, which was bad, but that they
wouldn't be able to tell much until the
ultrasound person arrived in the
morning. I decided to go ahead and go
to the ER to wait.
The OB determined for sure that it was
amniotic fluid with some blood in it.
She admitted me to the hospital and told
me that I would probably either miscarry
on that day or that I would show signs
of an infection and they would need to
do a D&C.
When we did the ultrasound, though, both
babies were not only alive, but were
swimming in plenty of fluid. Both the
on-call OB and my regular OB were still
very pessimistic about our chances,
though. They saw signs of an abruption
that was making the fluid pink, as
well.
I was taken to a hospital room, where I
tried to sleep while my roommate watched
Jerry Springer. I found that if I layed
on my right side, I seemed to cramp and,
subsequently, leak less. So I stayed on
my right.
A few hours later, I went for another
ultrasound by a perinatologist. He saw
very few signs of a problem, and said he
would not have diagnosed the rupture or
the abruption without the other
evidence.
I made it through that day, slowly
leaking and bleeding less as the day and
night wore on. The next day I went home
for bed rest. I continued to leak and
bleed less, until there was no sign of
either one a few days later. But, a
week and a half after the initial
rupture, my OB found evidence that I was
still leaking, both chemically and by
the ferning test even though another
ultrasound looked great. Around this
time, I found and joined the PROM
list.
After another week on bed rest, I went
to the perinatologist, who determined
that I was no longer leaking. After
this, most of the perinatologists (not
the one who had done the ultrasound in
the hospital) did not believe the
diagnosis of the rupture because all of
my ultrasounds looked so normal. This
peri told me to return to work.
I tried to go back to work 1/2 time for
a few days, but started spotting (and
sometimes flowing) old blood. After
checking it out with ultrasounds and
even ferning tests, my OB said that I
could work, but supported me when I said
that I thought I shouldn't. I put
myself on "rest" -- stayed off my feet,
no lifting, only one flight of stairs a
day, low stress.
A few weeks later, another
perinatologist diagnosed me with
placenta previa, and said that amniotic
fluid couldn't have come out because of
it. Regardless, this peri was glad I
hadn't been working.
At my next appt, I continued to be free
of all signs of rupture and abruption,
and no longer had placenta previa. I
was at 24 weeks with twins, though, so
they wanted me to stay on "rest."
After my next appt, I started on weekly
monitoring of the twins. Shortly
thereafter, I got really itchy and ended
up with Intrahepatic Cholestasis of
Pregnancy. Luckily, after some
educating of my OB, I received the right
treatment and was surviving it.
Then, at 1 hour, 5 minutes into my 32nd
week (1:05 am), I felt another trickle.
This time, I turned on the bathroom
light immediately and found that was
trickling clear fluid. The OB said to
"come on down" to the hospital, which I
did after writing a short note to the
PROM list.
After making sure that I had indeed
ruptured, they put me in a labor and
delivery room and, after a few hours,
gave me a steroid shot. I was going to
get another one after 24 hours and
deliver via C-section after another 24
hours. BUT, I started getting
contractions, and they became more
frequent and more painful. The OB
thought I was in real labor, and,
indeed, I was 3 cm dialated.
So, I gave birth via C-section at 10:15
and 10:17 am that morning. Both twins
had quite high APGARs. They were 3lbs,
4 oz and 3lbs, 11 oz. The boy, who had
to have his water broken, and the
heavier of the two, had to be put on a
CPAP, but the girl was on room air from
the beginning. After 3 1/2 and 4 weeks
in the NICU, mostly for feeding problems
from being premature, they came home
with no remaining health issues.
I feel incredibly lucky to be able to
tell this story and, hopefullly, give
hope to others. And I feel that the
PROM List was incredibly helpful getting
me through all the complications and
issues with this pregnancy. What a
wonderful bunch of people!
-Lisa
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