I awoke around midnight 28 weeks into
my pregnancy. I felt a strange pop and
a warm, wet fluid as I sat up. My
husband woke up as I was heading to
the bathroom. I knew immediately that
my water had broken, but kept hoping
and praying that it was just urine
leakage.
My husband woke up to me saying, "I
think my water just broke! What do we
do?"
He called my OB who assured us that it
was probably just urine, but we should
go to the hospital to be checked out
just in case.
Sure enough, I learned that I had PROM
at 28 weeks and would be admitted for
observation and bed rest for as long
as possible.
I was given massive doses of
antibiotics to ward off any potential
infection(s) (none present when I was
admitted) as well as steroids to help
our son's lung development.
Two weeks passed when I noticed an odd
discharge. My OB decided it was most
likely the beginning of an infection
and about one hour later, I was in the
delivery room for an emergency C-
Section.
Will was born at 30 weeks weighing
3lbs. 13oz. - a decent size for his
respective age. He was immediately
rushed to the Level 3 NICU where he
was intubated and give Surfactant to
help him breathe easier.
We learned that he was suffering from
BPD as well as Reflux which made his
recovery take longer than usual.
He slowly transitioned from the
ventilator to C-PAP to a nasal canula.
All in all he spent almost two full
months in the NICU. We were able to
bring him home on Valentine's Day
weighing 6lbs. 8ozs.
We took him home with a host of
medical equipment- nasal
canula/oxygen, Pulse Ox monitor, Apnea
monitor, and medicine administered
twice a day for the Reflux.
There was never a determination of why
I experienced PROM. No signs of
infection, no problems with my
placenta. The odd thing is that the
very same night I had PROM, four other
women came in with the same thing. One
of the nurses mentioned that they
generally only see a couple cases
every few months, but very rarely a
cluster like that. She also mentioned
that she read there could be a
correlation between PROM and a sudden
change in weather pressure. I have
tried to investigate that myself, but
have found no real evidence to back
that up. Anyone else heard of that?
Despite his rough beginning, Will is
now a healthy, vibrant little boy
about to turn two this December. He is
the light of our lives and people
cannot even believe all that he went
through when they see him racing
around and chatting up a storm.
We were so lucky to have the amazing
care of the medical staff and support
of our families during those most
difficult months.
Now the question to have another baby
is our big dilemma, especially after
the stress and worry we have already
been through. I am not sure we could
handle going through all of that again
although I would love to have another
child at some point. Any advice or
thoughts are welcome! :)
It is so nice to have a forum to share
our story and hopefully provide some
encouragment to someone who is going
through what we did. I know we felt
somewhat alone (even though our family
and friends were so supportive.) There
is just no way anyone can truly
understand the circumstances unless
they have been though it as well.
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