Here is my story, and I am writing
this
for all the women who have been told
grim statistics and horror stories
about PROM and babies of PROM.
I had bleeding from week 7 to week 15.
I had a subchorionic hemmorage during
that time, causing the bleeding. I was
on bedrest on and off, for a total of
about 3 weeks.
From week 15 to week 22 things went
great. We found out we were having a
boy and I felt awesome. No bleeding,
nothing!
Sunday morning, Feb. 22, at 3am I got
up to pee. I laid back down and as I
was getting comfortable, I felt a huge
gush. I instantly woke my husband up
and said, "Oh my God, I think my water
broke." I ran to the toilet and some
more fluid gushed out, it was rust
colored but didn't have an odor. I put
a pad on to catch whatever else may
come out. I was so scared. I called
911
and an ambulance brought me to the
hospital.
There, the docs insisted that I didn't
break my water because the litmus
tests
they did turned out negative. I
insisted that it broke, they insisted
I
peed myself. One nurse actually
listened to me and dug out my pad out
of the garbage and tested that, which
was positive. Each doc kept saying
that
my water wasn't broken, until finally
over 24 hours later, my OB came in and
did an u/s. She immediately sent me to
a high-risk hospital in Minneapolis, 5
hours from home.
There I got many tests. First they did
an amnio with what little fluid they
could find in there. The fluid they
pulled out was rust colored. Then they
injected my sac with blue dye and had
me wear a tampon. When I pulled the
tampon out several hours later, it was
blue, confirming that I did indeed
break my water. I was admitted into
the
hospital there. I started antibiotics.
At 24 weeks I got two shots of
steroids, 12 hours apart. I sat there
for 29 days. It was hell.
The whole time the docs kept saying
that my child would probably not
survive because my water broke before
he was able to develop his lungs well
enough. They also talked about things
like contractures and Potter's facies,
deformities basically that happens to
many kids with no fluid. They worried
about bleeds in his brain, severe
disabilities, blindness, deafness,
etc,
etc...It was all horribly grim. They
said his chance of survival was
30%.
At that point, I felt too far from
home
and decided to ask for a transfer
closer to home. I found a hospital one
hour from home that had a level III
NICU and was there a few days after I
requested to leave. I sat there for a
week and a half. The neonatologists
were even more grim there. The stats
were horrible, I was so scared for my
child and felt so guilty and ashamed
at
what my body had done to him.
OH YEAH...I forgot to mention that all
the while, my baby had stopped
growing!
He remained about 600 grams on u/s and
so that is another reason for the grim
outlook. Also, his limbs were
measuring
very small on u/s making docs think he
had dwarfism! Also, I never had any
measurable fluid on u/s...every time
he
would make new fluid, I would leak it
out. It was very distressing.
Finally, April 2, I went into labor. I
had made it past my goal of 28 weeks,
I
was 28w4d. I labored all day, and
finally when the contractions were 2
minutes apart, my baby couldn't handle
it. His heart rate was dropping
severely during each contraction. They
did a c-section.
My c-section was horrible. They had to
cut through my thick uterus several
times and 18 days later, I am in
pain...but I have a beautiful, perfect
son!
He came out crying. He was only 612
grams, 1 lb 5 oz and 11 3/4 inches
long. He was vented for fear he would
stop breathing, but was off the vent
and breathing on his own 6 days later.
He is perfect in every way. And even
though he is small, and stopped
growing
in me, he DID continue to DEVELOP,
meaning, his organs and body matured
even though it was small. He looks
like a mini-baby! No dwarfism, he has
LONG arms/legs/fingers/toes! No
contractures or webbing of his skin,
no
potter's facies, no bleeds in his
brain, no NOTHING! He is proving every
skeptic wrong and is surviving and
growing and thriving. Today, at 18
days
of life, he is 1 lb. 12 oz. He is
eating 15ccs of my breast milk every 3
hours, pooping like a champ and acting
like a normal, healthy baby.
Of course, he has a long road ahead,
but he is a survivor, a miracle and he
is proving everyone wrong.
Please feel free to email me if you
can
relate to my story or need support.
Isaiah's updates can be found
at...
www.isaiahthemiraclebaby.aboutmybaby.co
m
God bless you
Update July 2004
Isaiah is 104 days old today and
getting ready to leave the hospital
next week :o) He has been through so
much. He is 6 lb 3 oz now! He nurses
well (so don't let nurses/docs
discourage you from trying)...we had
to
WORK hard at it. First he nursed
using
a nipple shield, but he would get mad
when my milk wouldn't let down right
away, so we had to drop milk into his
mouth until let down...we tried a SNS
(supplemental nursing system)...he
hated it. Then one day I ditched the
shield and everything else and he
latched on without a problem and has
been nursing well ever since!
Also, he had developed ROP
(retinopathy
of prematurity) but after *almost*
needing laser surgery because he was
stage 3, prethreshold...his eyes
reversed themselves and he no longer
has any signs of ROP!
Another big problem he had was with
his
liver. It was not functioning
properly,
making his direct bilirubin go up and
up...at one point, after several HIDA
scans of his liver, he was diagnosed
with biliary atresia. This is a rare,
horrible liver disease which would
require major surgery, and within a
few
years a liver transplant! His surgery
was scheduled for July 13, but the
week
before his surgery, his liver started
working!!!!!!! They took back his
diagnosis and think his liver was just
sluggish due to prematurity! Praise
God!
Lastly, he had developed 3 large
hernias, 2 inguinal and 1
umbilical...his belly button was
huge!
He had surgery this week to correct it
and will be coming home hopefully next
week!
He is doing great, and I wanted to
update to my story before. The docs
would've placed bets against him when
I
was pregnant with him, they thought
the
lack of any fluid would destroy his
body and brain...but it didn't, he is
perfect in every way, and has
TREMENDOUS spirit!
I hope this helps anyone in my
situation...I remember reading the
PROM
stories while I was in the hospital
for
6 weeks!
Isaiah's updates can be found at
www.isaiahthemiraclebaby.aboutmybaby.co
m
Update Jan - 2005.
I just wanted to update
again!
Isaiah is now almost 10 months old (7
months adjusted for when he was
due).
He is 14 lbs, over 25 inches, crawling
everywhere, pulling to stand,
clapping, babbling, eating baby food,
and doing wonderfully.
If you're reading this, there is
hope!
Update August 2005
Isaiah is now 16 months old. He is
walking, running, talking, and doing
great!
His new site is
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/i/isa
iahserna/
It is password protected so please email
me for the password and I will email you
back right away!!!
Don't give up!
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