My husband and I were a bit anxious
when we got pregnant after our first
son was born due to pPROM. He was a
30 weeker due to pPROM at 29w0d. My
perinatologist watched me closely for
signs of preterm labor and a
shortening cervix starting around 16
weeks. Since there was no reason
found for my previous pPROM, the
doctors told us that it was most
likely a fluke and this pregnancy
would be fine. In my heart I knew
otherwise.
Around 19 weeks I started to have
frequent braxton hicks but nothing was
changing my cervix. I went to L&D an
u/s revealed that my cervix was about
3.5cm long and thick and that we were
expecting a little girl this time
around. We were excited but for
mostly the wrong reasons.....female
preemies usually fair better than
white males. Unfortunately after a
pPROM pregnancy and premature
delivery, the worst case senarios
usually pop into your mind first. I
went back to L&D at 21 weeks due to
unexplained bleeding and was monitored
and released. This was the start of
my restricted activity at home with a
very active almost 2 year old.
The night I was 23w4d I had to go into
L&D for contractions and more
unexplained bleeding. They did an FFN
and it was positive. Also during the
u/s my cervix funneled down to 0.8cm
so I was admitted to the antepartum
unit and given betamethasone steriod
injections. Eight days after being
admitted to the hospital, my water
broke at 24w5d. My AFI was originally
at a 6 but seven hours later it had
dropped down to 2.1. The AFI u/s that
morning also revealed to us that our
little girl was definately a little
boy and our second son was on the
way. This news was a bit of a shock
but thankfully not too much pink had
been purchased. I was kept in bed on
24 hour monitoring, hoping to add more
precious weeks to my pregnancy. We
had made it 9 days post pPROM with our
first son and hoped we could pull a
few more out with this little guy
since he would be so premature.
We had two dates that we didn't want
to give birth on. The first one was 4
days post pPROM because it was our
wedding anniversary as well as my
father's birthday. The second date
was 6 days post pPROM on June 17th
which was our son's 2nd birthday.
After a very nice, reactive monitoring
strip from 6-8 the morning of June
17th, his heartrate became unreactive
and jumped 40 points up to the mid-
180s. My husband had brought our son
in at 9:30 to the hospital so we could
celebrate his 2nd birthday when the
perinatologist walked in and announced
that they were keeping a close eye on
me and the baby because my white count
had jumped and his heartrate was
questionable. I knew right then our
boys would share a birthday and we
would be having a 25 weeker.
Sure enough, they came in at 1 and
hooked me up to an EKG to make sure my
heart would be okay through an
emergency c-section (I have a PFO).
The anesthesiologist came and in and
told us that I was going to have to be
put under general anesthesia due to
eating breakfast that morning and that
my husband would not be able to be
present until after Eli was born.
This was incredibly upsetting because
it meant neither of us would witness
our second and last child being born.
I had developed chorio and they needed
to get the baby out. They took me
back to the OR and Eli was born at
1:47pm by a classical c-section. He
was immediately intubated and given
surfactant. They had to perform CPR
on him and my husband went with him
and the neonatologists to the NICU.
Almost 6 hours later I was wheeled
down to the NICU to see our 973gm
(2lbs 2oz) and 14" micropreemie. His
eyes were still fused shut since he
was only a 25 weeker and his skin was
a scaled red, transparent mess but he
was the most beautiful thing I had
ever seen. It was a rough road
through the NICU but after 10 weeks
Eli came home on an apnea/heart
monitor, various meds, nutritional
suppliments, calorie boosters, and
thickening agents for aspiration but
he was home. Eli is now over 5 months
old and weighs in at 8lbs 9oz and is
22.25" long. He's still on the
monitor and has severe GERD and
aspiration problems but is our
miracle. Feel free to visit his
website (and his brother Carson's
site) if you want to see pictures. We
have been advised to never get
pregnant again due to our two pPROM
pregnancies with no explanation. This
is fine with us because after seeing
what both of our boys went through in
the NICU, we do not want to put
another child in that environment. We
love our two boys and now have two
pPROM success stories.
Kellie ~ Mom to two miraculous
preemies
Carson Sterling 6-17-03 ~ Our 30
weeker
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/c/ca
rsonsterling
Elias "Eli" Eugene 6-17-05 ~ Our 25
weeker
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/c/ca
rsonsterling
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