Our pregnancy with Josh began with 2
large bleeds at 13 and 15 weeks.
Following the bleeds we were amazed that
our little fighter was still there.
We thought that was the end of our
troubles. Then at 18 weeks I woke up at
7am to find I was gushing a brown water,
we couldnt believe it. My husband
and I went straight to hospital, they
kept me overnight and the ultrasound
scan showed reduced fluid. The doctors
sent me home, in England the protocol
is to continue life as normal but attend
a regular "high risk" clinic, they
dont advise bedrest. However, I read so
many stories on this website about
people spending weeks in bedrest and
having a positive outcome. So I decided
to bedrest at home. My mum and mother-in
law took weeks on and off for 11
weeks taking care of me and looking
after things at home while I rested.
Each week I had to go to the hospital
twice once for blood tests and swabs
and the other for a scan. Each week Josh
was fine but with little or no
fluid (normally about 1, but never more
than 3cm fluid) but his heart beat
was good and no infection. Each day I
continued to lose fluid, it didnt seem
to make a difference if I lay down or
stood up but I felt that the fluid was
around the baby a little longer if I lay
down.
At 29 weeks I had a slight bleed so we
went to the hospital, I was put on a
heart monitor to monitor Josh's heart
rate. It started ok but then rapidly
decreased. Within 45 mins I had been
rushed in for a C-section and Josh had
arrived. He arrived with a very flat
chest as his lungs were very
under-developed and his limbs were quite
squashed from not having much water
while in the womb. After 20 mins of
resuscitation work and lots of rescue
breathing equipment to support him Josh
was stable and taken to the
neo-natal unit. The doctors and staff
were outstanding, they explained
every step of Josh's progress with
us.
After a few days, we noticed that
although Josh required less assistance
with his breathing, he was still totally
reliant on his ventilator and did
not move. The consultant at first
thought it may have been the effects of
the drugs he had been given, but as he
was weaned off them he still didnt
move.
After about 10 days of ups and downs,
brain scans and tests produced results
that showed at some point Josh had
suffered a massive lack of oxygen and
bleed to the brain. He had little or no
brain activity. He did not respond
to any tests including eye reflex, gag
reflex and did not attempt to breath
on his own without the machine. This was
a terrible blow to us. Fortunately
for us the decission was not left to us.
The doctors made the decision that
Josh's care should be removed, which,
though hard, we supported.
We do not know when the bleed to the
brain happened although the consultants
suggested it may have happened while he
was in the womb (the umbilical cord
can easily twist or get trapped when
there is no fluid in the womb) or
immediately after birth.
Despite this, we spent the best 2 weeks
of our lives with our son Josh. We
feel he is a very special spirit that
has brought so much love to our
family.
Twice during the pregnancy we were
offered a termination. This was never an
option for us. Like so many stories I
have read, we felt Josh's life was not
our decision and we left it to God to
make that decision. The two weeks we
had with him were incredible and we
wouldnt swap them for the world. We
miss our son so much but we have a
belief that children that die are
special
and that we will be with him again after
this life.
To all you parents experiencing PROM we
wish you all the best with your
pregnancy. We believe bedrest enabled
us to have two fantastic weeks with
our son, it was well worth the
sacrifice. Our hearts go out to all who
have
to go through the pain of losing a
child, stay strong, we believe we'll be
with our children again. x
|
|