My husband and I were planning to move
back to CT ... we had been living in
Portland ME while he attended school ...
learned that I was pregnant (first try)
in July ... we waited until he was out
of school ...we were moving as soon as
one of us found a job ... saw doc at 8
weeks ... saw doc at 11 weeks ... could
not detect heartbeat at 11 weeks so
scheduled an in-office ultrasound -
heartbeat confirmed ... ultrasound was
transvaginal ... given copies of
ultrasound ... at 12 weeks we told
family of pregnancy ... we wanted to
wait until the start of the 2nd
trimester to tell people ... on the
following Saturday we were walking on
the beach and I bent down to pick up
some pebbles ... felt a trickle ... but
figured urine ... went to the nearest
bathroom and tried to go, but nothing
... started home ... felt leaking and
wet pants ... left wet spot on car seat
... called doc office ... spoke to rude
on-call doc who asked if this was my
first pregnancy and when I said yes told
me that it was urine ... when I insisted
that it was not urine (I am in the
health care field and know what urine
smells like) ... he told me that if it
was amniotic fluid, which he doubted,
there was nothing that he could do so to
just lay low and come into the office
Monday. Did some research about
membrane rupture and found this website.
First thing Monday morning we went to
the doctors office ... again told that
it was unlikely amniotic fluid and to
relax ... ultra-sound was completed ...
to me and my husband the baby looked
different than last week ... kind of
squished looking ... before was
floating, moving and head looked round
... asked the tech ... who of course is
not allowed to say anything ... she did
show us the heartbeat ... and insisted
on transvaginal ultrasound to get more
info ... we question the sterile issue
(we had read over the weekend that they
were not a good idea post rupture) ...
(not knowing if what we had read was
accurate ... figuring she did ultrasound
for a living she would know) ... after
the ultrasound we then sat in the
waiting room for about an hour ...
finally were led into an exam room ...
nurse called us out to her office to
answer some questions ... while in there
she peeked at the ultrasound and told us
everything was fine ... showed us the
AFI ... went back into the exam room and
sat for a few minutes ... my husband and
I talked about how stressful this
pregnancy was going to be, but how
relieved we were ... after a few minutes
... a doctor we had never seen came in
and said that the membrane had ruptured
and there was no detectable fluid ...
what ?!?! ... told her what the nurse
had said ... she left ... could hear her
yelling ... she returns and tells us
that the nurse did not relize that we
had an ultrasound 11 days earlier and
was looking at that one ... if she had
looked in the file she would have seen
the more recent one ... we were shocked
and devastated ... even more so b/c we
had been prepared for bad news - were
given good news - only to have it taken
away ... not a good experience ... was
told to go home, complete bedrest, drick
lots of fluid, watch for signs of
infection and return in 3 days ... at 3
days another ultrasound was completed
... fluid was detected ... AFI was 2.4
... doc was surprised to see fluid but
said he knew very little and referred us
to specialist ... saw specialist next
day ... very nice knowledgable
docs/techs ... gave us all of our
options ... including experimental
treatments ... I think it helped that we
had read everyhting we could and pretty
much already knew the options ... went
home to think ... returned for two more
visits 5-6 days apart ... each time
fluid was 2.4 - 2.8. At 16 weeks we
decided that we would terminate the
pregnancy ... it was a difficult
decision, but in the end the right one
for us ... the timing was bad ... we
were moving in two weeks, I was supposed
to be starting a new job (my dream
job)running a non-profit agency (I was
offered the job the weekend that the
membrane ruptured), the health risks of
bedrest for another 20 weeks, and the
biggest for us was the odds of having a
healthy baby - more specifically the
lung issue (my husbands sister had
recently died from a lengthy illness and
we were not ready to do that again) ...
we thought about waiting a few more
weeks to see what happened ... but I did
not want to go through labor and
delivery ... I wanted to be able to have
a D&E ... we had read a lot of stories
about peoples decisions to terminate for
a variety of reasons (there is a real
nice website) ... it took us a little
bit to find a doc willing to do a D&E
... apparently it is risky after 12
weeks ... the doc that we found was
great ... the experience was a positive
as it possibly could have been ... the
hospital staff was great too ... we
visited the neonatolist again after the
termination to discuss the results of
the autopsy and other tests ...
genetically everything tested fine, no
infections found, everything seemed
normal ... at the bottom of the record
the phrase "PPROM cause unknown" was
typed ...we decided to try again as soon
as possible ... they recommended 4
months ... we conceived exactly 4 months
later ... 2nd pregnancy ended at 34.5
weeks with PPROM and a healthy baby boy
who is going to be 2 in October ... see
other story ... and expecting again ...
I am 36 years old ... was 34 for first
pregnancy.
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