My PPROM story begins like so many
others. During the first trimester of
my pregnancy I had a significant amount
of bleeding. It started when I was 13
weeks 3 days with some small spotting
and then waking up the next morning
gushing bright red blood. I went that
day for an ultrasound and everything
appeared normal. The baby’s heartbeat
was strong and no signs of a low lying
placenta. I was totally freaked out; I
thought I had already made it through
the scary time (the first 12 weeks).
After the gushing, the bleeding slowed
to spotting and then stopped for about
a
week. When it started again, it was
not
as much but this time and I was losing
large clots and having bad cramping. I
was so scared I was losing the baby.
Again I had an ultrasound at around 15
weeks and everything appeared normal.
The baby’s heartbeat was strong and
nothing indicated where the bleeding
was
coming from. Finally, the bleeding
stopped and I went on with my pregnancy
thinking everything was ok. Boy was I
wrong…
On April 11th, at 19 weeks and 3 days I
woke up in the middle of the night to
some kind of fluid coming out of me. I
really thought it was blood and was
actually relieved when I got to the
bathroom to find out it wasn’t. I just
assumed I must have gone to the
bathroom
and went back to bed. A few hours
later
I woke up and it happened again so I
knew it couldn’t be urine. Right away
I
knew something was terribly wrong. I
pulled out all of my pregnancy books
and
looked up fluid loss. Nothing really
said that your water could break so
early in the pregnancy, but I really
felt this could be what happened. I
called my OBGYN and went into the Labor
and Deliver unit of the hospital to be
checked out. When I got there they
listened to the baby’s heartbeat which
sounded fine and did an exam. They
tested whatever fluid they could find
on
a nitrazine strip and it came out
negative for amniotic fluid. My doctor
said that I must just have had some
heavy discharge combined with urine and
sent my home. I asked for an
ultrasound
but she didn’t think there was a
medical
reason to have one at that time. I
felt
very stupid and paranoid because of the
previous problems I had. Another week
went by and I still felt like I was
“leaking”. I made an appointment with
my doctor’s office and saw a different
doctor this time. This doctor also
tested with the strip and looked for
ferning under the scope but both tests
were negative. One thing I remember is
that on that particular day I wasn’t
leaking very much. She also sent me
home
and said that everything was fine. I
also asked for an ultrasound and this
time she said she would order one but
that there wasn’t a medical reason and
so my insurance probably wouldn’t pay
for it. I said fine because I just
wanted to know that everything was ok.
My ultrasound wasn’t scheduled for
about
two more weeks and I was still leaking
the entire time. At 22 weeks and 5
days
I had my ultrasound and it showed
nearly
no amniotic fluid around the baby. I
just couldn’t believe it. I had been
trying to convince myself that
everything was ok because the doctor
said it was. I was admitted into the
hospital that day. My doctor told me
and my husband all of the scary things
that can happen and suggested that we
terminate the pregnancy since I’d
ruptured so early. There was no way
that we could have done that, we wanted
the baby so bad. Our other option was
to be transferred to a hospital an hour
and a half away with a team of
perinatologists and a level III
Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit. I was transferred
two days later at 23 weeks. When I
arrived, I was met by the
perinatologist
on duty. She also told me about all of
the scary things that can happen
including pulmonary hypoplasia but also
told me that there are some success
stories. They don’t know how but
sometimes the baby can survive.
Usually
there is some kind of permanent
disability, especially when you rupture
so early. I was checked for any kind
of
infection, which I didn’t have and
started on an antibiotic for ten days
as
a preventative. They also decided to
start me on magnesium sulfate in order
to prevent any labor from starting.
The
scariest thing was that we were told I
could go into labor due to an infection
at any time. They sent a neonatologist
in to talk to us about survival rates
at
23 - 27 weeks. My temperature was
checked every four hours and the baby
was monitored three times a day for an
hour as well. I spent 14 long weeks in
the antepartum unit at the hospital
because thankfully I never did go into
labor. We had a few scary days early
on
where the baby’s heartbeat would dip
because of compressing the cord, but
that all corrected on its own. I was
given an ultrasound once per week for
my
entire stay for fluid checks and once
every two weeks for the baby’s
measurements. When I arrived, our baby
weight 1 lb and 1 oz and I had no
measurable amniotic fluid. Each week I
would go to the ultrasound and pray
that
there was some fluid around the baby.
The bed rest definitely helped because
within one week I had 8 cm of fluid. I
continually lost whatever fluid
accumulated throughout the entire
pregnancy. I did have a pattern where
I
would build up fluid for one, two or
three days and then it would all come
gushing out. It was horrible. Each
time I lost the fluid, it reminded me
that this baby might not make it. The
baby continued to grow fine and my
fluid
levels fluctuated anywhere from 3 cm to
one time having 14 cm. As the
pregnancy
progressed, I was still told that there
would be no way to know if this baby
had
lungs until she was born. At 33 weeks,
they did a measurement on the
ultrasound
that showed a strong possibility for
pulmonary hypoplasia. I was sick for
days. It’s so hard to hear any bad
news
when you have invested all of this time
physically and emotionally. Finally,
on
August 3rd, at 35 weeks and 5 days I
was
induced. The funny thing was that I
had
started having mild contractions about
8
minutes apart the very morning of my
induction on my own. I was started on
Pitocin at 8:30 am and labored for a
very long 15 hours. I had an epidural
that did not work and had basically no
pain control. I really just did not
have the strength emotionally or
physically to get this baby out. She
finally did come out with the help of
forceps at 11:07 pm weighing only 4 lb
and 10 oz. Once she was out, her cord
was cut and she was whisked over to the
staff from the NICU to be worked on.
The next 20 seconds waiting for a cry
were the longest of my life. She did
let out a couple of cries (which meant
she had some lungs) but then did seem
to
go into some respiratory distress. The
neonatologist came over to me while I
was still lying on the delivery bed and
said that they were taking her down to
the intensive care unit and would put
her on a ventilator. She also said
that
the baby had a 50/50 chance at that
time
for survival. And then she was gone, I
barely got to see my baby.
We found out later that she never
needed
to be put on the ventilator AND didn’t
even need any supplemental oxygen. She
was weaned from an Oxyhood to room air
very quickly. Finally, about 4 hours
after she was born, my husband and I
got
to go see our daughter. She looked so
bruised and had a significant amount of
fluid retention. Her head was a little
misshapen and I could tell she had some
contractures but overall looked pretty
good for having been squished inside of
me for 4 months. She was put on an
antibiotic as a preventative and did
have an eye infection that needed to be
treated. We saw the neonatologist the
day after she was born and she told us
that our baby was a miracle and that
she
was exceeding all of their
expectations.
We named our daughter Hailey Anne and
got to bring her home on August 11th
after an 8 day hospital stay.
We’ve had Hailey home for over two
weeks
and she continues to do very well. Her
birth report states that she has small
facial features and contracted hips,
legs and arms due to the prolonged
PPROM
and the doctors feel that all of this
will correct as she grows. She does
have small lungs but they are
functioning fine at this time and
should
eventually grow to the right size.
I thank God everyday for this wonderful
blessing. I cannot imagine what I
would
have done if Hailey hadn’t made it. I
spent so many days in the hospital
reading the stories on this website and
thought it was important for me to post
my own story. If you are currently
going through PPROM, try not to focus
on
all of the negatives. Miracles can
happen, mine did.
UPDATE MAY 5:th
My daughter was born at 35 weeks and 5
days after a PPROM that occurred at 19
weeks and 3 days. I have found very
little information about the babies
after they are born, how they turn out,
what kind of problems they experience,
etc. I thought it would be nice to add
an update about my daughter who is now
9 months old. My daughter amazingly
never had any respiratory problems at
all. Her lungs were put to the test
about 6 weeks ago when she had
bronchiolitis and she pulled through
just fine. Hailey was an extremely
colicky baby until she was 6 months
old. She was also diagnosed with reflux
or GERD at 3 months old. She was very
delayed in her gross motor skills up
until she was about 8 months old. She
was very slow to do everything; she
didn't lift her head from tummy until
almost 4 months, didn't roll over until
5 months, didn't roll both ways until
almost 7 months, showed no signs of
sitting until 7 months, etc. She had
torticollis (twisted neck) and had to
be treated by a physical therapist. The
torticollis is now finally gone. I
really feel that her muscles were
affected by the PPROM since she
couldn't move around very much in
utero. Now, at 9 months old she seems
to be pretty much caught up to her
chronological age. She can crawl, sit
unsupported, is starting to pull up,
etc. She is developmentally fine in
other areas too. Her biggest struggle
continues to be with reflux. This has
caused a lot of pain for her and has
some feeding problems as a result.
Overall, we are working through these
things very slowly.
All in all, Hailey is a regular baby.
It has taken me almost this long to get
over the fact that she is ok and
nothing is wrong with her from the
PPROM. I continue to search for answers
in hopes that this does not repeat
itself with my next pregnancy. Good
luck to all of you currently
experiencing PPROM. I have to admit it
was the most difficult time of my life.
But, I made it and so will you.
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