My pregnancy with my first child had
been difficult, but did not include
PROM. With that pregnancy I went into
Preterm labor at 26 weeks and dilated
to 3cm. I was on bedrest for the
remainder of the pregnancy, but
delivered a healthy baby boy at 38
weeks.
The story of my PROM began about a
week before I had it confirmed that I
had indeed started to leak amniotic
fluid. I was out with my husband and
son at a flea market and felt like I
had wet my pants. It never crossed my
mind that my water might have broken,
I simply thought it was bladder
control issues because it was my
second child.
A few days later I mentioned the event
to my doctor at a routine appointment.
He agreed that it was probably a
bladder issue, but said he should test
for leaking amniotic fluid just in
case. A few minutes later he returned
with a serious face. He said, "You've
ruptured your membranes. Your baby
only has a 5% chance of staying inside
of you long enough to survive. Most
women in your circumstances would
terminate. What do you want to do?" My
husband and I were stunned. I started
crying. I said I couldn't decide
anything right then.
The doctor sent us to the hospital for
an ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed
a baby girl with a beating heart and
lots of fluid around her. At that
moment, I knew I just had to wait it
out and pray for the best.
We had a lot of support from church,
friends and family. We had to put our
son (then 18 months old) into day care
for a while so I could stay on
bedrest. That was the hardest part of
it all for me, being away from him.
That and constnatly feeling like I
would lose the precious baby girl
inside of me. But, weeks went by and
after a few weeks I was no longer
testing positive for amniotic fluid
(they did both ferning and nitrizine
tests). The doctors shrugged and
suggested I must have just resealed.
The perinatologist also agreed that
although rare, it appeared the
membranes and healed themselvs.
I carried my daughter to 37 weeks (on
the nose). They had to break my water
during labor! My daughter is a daily
reminder to me that you can't always
believe what doctors tell you and that
faith will carry you through more than
you can imagine.
I am now 32 weeks pregnant with our
third and I haven't had any problems
other than a little PTL (nothing
significant...only dilated to 1 cm).
Our son was diagnosed with leukemia
last March, and I have to say I think
a lot of the strength we've had
dealing with his illness came out of
the experience of fearing the loss of
our daughter.
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