ERICA’S STORY
The first day of the sixteenth week
of my pregnancy my membrane ruptured.
It was December 25, 2005 we, my
husband and I and our 1½ year old son,
were at my parents house having
breakfast when I felt a little leaking
nothing serious. Awhile later I again
I felt some more leaking, this time
when I sat on the toilet there was a
gush of water, and it just kept
leaking. At first I wasn’t too
concerned but then it happened again
and the leaking had not stopped, I
began to wonder if my water had
broken. My sister a few years before
had her membrane rupture at 17 weeks
and had given birth at 25 weeks to a
1lb 9oz baby boy that had died at 6
weeks from an infection he had gotten
in the hospital. So I was aware that
these things did happen and had some
idea of the possible out come. I
called our insurances nurse line and
told them about what had happened,
they did not seem to be to concerned
since the fluid was clear, no blood
or any thing like that, they assumed
that I had just wet my self, but they
did suggest that I call my doctor and
tell him what had happened, I called
and got the on call doctor he told me
that I had better come and get checked
out but since I was only 16 weeks I
would need to go to the emergency
room. A few minuets later he called me
back and told me to come to labor and
delivery. When I got there they did a
ferning test and it was positive, they
looked for pooling and that was
positive, the doctor also said the
fluid looked green, and they did an
ultrasound, there was very little
fluid. My membrane had indeed
ruptured. I was admitted to the
hospital and told what my options
were. The doctor said there was a 75%
chance that I would go into labor
within 48 hours, and even if I was
able to carry this baby to term there
would be an 80% chance that its lungs
would still not be developed enough to
live. And if the baby did live it
would most likely be born very
premature and possibly have brain
damage and/or constricted limbs from
not being able to move around. So my
options were to have them induce
labor, or let nature take its course.
After my sisters experience I did
not go into this thinking that my baby
would be the exception and everything
would be fine. We knew that this was
our Heavenly Fathers child and if its
life was to be a few minuets, a few
hours, or a few days, or of it was to
be handicapped, we would do all that
we could do and pray that His will be
done. Of course we hopped that every
thing would be fine.
After 48 hours I was discharged from
the hospital. My husband took me and
my son to my parent’s house to spend
the next 8 weeks until I could be
admitted to the hospital. I was to go
once a week to my doctor and every
three weeks to see the specialist, and
to take my temperature twice a day.
The first time I went to see my doctor
he did not even want to do an
ultrasound, he told me that he had
never seen one of these cases turn out
good and he had even lost a mother,
and he just wished the whole ordeal
was over for me. After that
appointment I cancelled all of the
rest of my regular appointments and
only saw the specialist.
From when my water broke until
delivery I had from 3 to 6
contractions an hour. One time when
they had started getting closer than
this I had went into the hospital, and
they had told me that the only thing
they could do for me was watch me or
induce me, they would not do anything
to stop the labor, nor would they try
to save the baby until after 24 weeks.
After this if I felt that the
contractions were getting stronger or
closer together then I would have a
couple of glasses of wine. Three
different times I was told the baby
was not growing when this happened I
would take a tablespoon of a mixture
of five different seeds, soak these
over night and eat them in the
morning. I would do this until I felt
every thing was fine then I would get
lazy and stop, as long as I took the
seeds the baby grew, and when ever I
stopped it would stop growing. This
was some thing one of my sisters had
been told to do for her baby when she
had been diagnosed with IUGR.
The five seeds are chia, alfalfa,
flax, sesame, and red clover. Another
thing I noticed was as soon as my
water broke my skin went extremely dry
so I took large amounts of oils: wheat
germ oil, vitamin E oil, and a good
fish oil. These are also been known to
help lung problems, so I figured they
couldn’t hurt. This baby needed all of
the help it could get.
At 24 weeks I was admitted to a
hospital in Las Vegas, NV, this was
about a three hour drive from where I
lived, so we moved to Las Vegas and
rented an apartment, we figured if the
baby did make it, it would be in the
hospital for awhile, and all of its
doctors would be in Las Vegas. The
specialist I had seen in Utah referred
me to a specialist there, who also
told me all of the possible out comes.
He also said that once I was admitted
to the hospital I would be there until
delivery, he also questioned wither I
would be willing to have a c-section
for a baby that most likely would not
live. We let him know that we were
willing to do what ever we could. He
did an ultrasound before admitting me,
the fluid level was just over 2cm,
which was the highest measurement we
had had. He said they would do another
ultrasound every three weeks since the
fluid levels would not make any
difference on my treatment they were
not worth doing more often than
that.
A couple of weeks after I was
admitted I stopped leaking, I did not
take this for a good sign because I
had went a week without leaking before
and when they did the ultrasound they
could not find any measurable fluid.
At about 28 weeks they did another
ultrasound and the fluid measured 7cm,
and he told me that my baby was a girl
until this time they had not been able
to tell what it was, my doctor said I
might have resealed. After a couple of
days they did an amnio dye test, where
they injected dye to see if any leaked
out, none did. At about 29 weeks I was
discharged from the hospital on
complete bed rest and was to go into
the doctors office for fluid
measurements twice a week. At this
time the outcome was starting to look
a lot better. I also have a blood
clotting disorder that required me to
have my little boy 6 weeks early
because he was under stress. He
weighed 3lbs 11oz. and this baby
looked to be even smaller. Every week
my doctor was amazed to see how much
more lung tissue he could see, and how
much she had grown and we continued
until 37 ½ week when he did a c-
section. We still had to have her at a
level three neonate unit, with the
neonatologist standing by, “just in
case”. She let out a good cry, but
started to turn a little blue so they
took her to check her out for a couple
of hours then they brought her to me
and said she’s perfect. She weighed
5lb 7oz, and was 17 in long. The
doctor acted about as excited as I was
to be having this baby, he told every
one about what a miracle she was, and
how glad he was to be proven
wrong.
I don’t know wither the seeds or the
oils really helped but I felt better
doing all that I could do. I do know
that it is not our decision who lives
and who dies, I am thank full for all
of the prayers on our behalf and
acknowledge that they have been
answered. We have been blessed.
If anyone would like to contact me
they are welcome to email me at
lj13@email.com .
All of the stories on this sight were
an encouragement unto me, thank you
for sharing your grief and your joys.
For letting me know that I was not
alone. Thank You!
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