I knew nothing about what happened to me
until after it was all over and I
started reading.
It was early on a Sunday morning when I
woke up to a little leak. I assumed it
was urine. It happened several more
times over the day. Once I picked up
the phone to call the dr/hospital just
to check but the line was busy and I
didn't try back. I talked online to
some other moms I had become friends
with and many said they had leaked urine
in their pregnancies, one said it was
because her baby was low and sat on her
bladder, and I knew our baby was sitting
low. We'd been to the doctor the
previous Wednesday and things were right
on track. Everything up to this point
had been right on track.
The next morning, Monday morning, I
called the doctor to let them know what
had happened and just be sure I
shouldn't be concerned. The nurse
seemed confused and had to call me back.
I called into work and told them I'd
had a problem and may not be able to
come in. (I had been given a lot of
problems from them during my pregnancy.)
The nurse called back and said the
doctor said come in now and be worked
in. I thought nothing of this because I
know that's how it works when you need
to come in on short notice.
We sat in the exam room for a while,
laughing and making jokes. The doctor
finally came in (24+ hours after the
leaking started, very little leaking on
Monday, it seemed to have mostly
stopped)... he checked me and came back
and said I had ruptured my water and the
situation was grave. He sent me to the
downstairs hospital to be immediately
admitted. We had very little clue what
was going on and weren't explained much.
The nurses started IV antibiotics and
said usually they put you on strict
bedrest and I might "be there for a
while". I was fine with that if that's
what I had to do.
The next morning, Tuesday, they came in
to do an ultrasound and measure the
fluid. They said the baby's belly was
full of fluid but he only had a tiny
pocket of fluid near his mouth. They
said it was about a 2, and should be an
8. I leaked a small amount a couple of
times that morning and worried that I
was leaking the remainder of the fluid
out.
That was at about 8 am... the heartbeat
was strong and the baby seemed fine and
was measuring 20 weeks and 6 days on
most of his measurements.
The doctor didn't come in til noon and
he said there was "no fluid" and that
the chances of this baby making it was
almost 0. He said the options were to
"go home" and monitor myself for an
infection for the next several days or
go ahead and induce labor and deliver
knowing that the baby wouldn't make it.
He painted a picture that I would need
to make it to 24 weeks and the baby
would most likely not make it even
then... He said 70% of women either
developed an infection or went into
labor within 72 hours, which was one
more day.
We discussed our options. We were very
concerned at how the increased risk of
infection could be deadly to me (how the
picture was painted) and based on that
and that there was so little chance the
baby would survive that it was best to
have the baby and try again later. We
didn't ask questions, we didn't know
what to ask. We told the doctor that
we'd like to stay in the hospital one
more day and if labor didn't start on
its on, we'd go ahead with inducing. He
said that would mean they'd give a pill
to soften the cervix (My cervix was
closed as of Monday afternoon)... and if
needed, give additional medication to
start labor. He said if we were going
to do it, we needed to get started then
and not prolong the inevitable. We said
okay. I was very concerned about going
into labor in the middle of the night as
I had little sleep up to this point and
was concerned how I'd feel. He said it
would be 12-18 hours before labor even
"started".
By 10 pm, I was starting to have enough
pain to ask for the pain medication they
recommended. Down the line, they said I
could have an epidural. An hour after
the pain medication, I felt no relief
and had been made very dizzy and felt
like my throat was closing. The nurse
said we'd try the pain pills. I started
with one, took another 30 minutes later
and 40 minutes after that I felt no
relief but worsened pains. Now I know
they were actual contractions.
They called the doctor who was in the
back sleeping who asked them to check my
cervix. I was 7 cm dilated. He'd told
us the baby was small and could deliver
at 6 cm dilated. I felt pressure and
told them I didn't think there was time
for the epidural.
At 1:49 am, our son was born, and he
held a heartbeat for about a minute.
They said he never tried to take a
breath because he couldn't since his
lungs were not developed enough. We
kept him in the room until we were
discharged about 24 hours later.
At my 2 week check up, the doctor said
the words "spontaneous rupture" and that
my white cell count was up slightly
indicating a probable infection
(although my white cell count was up
just slightly the month before as
well)... he said we could try again in
a few months and it would "probably not
happen again". I'm not sure if I
believe that but I hope he's right. I
feel like we trusted our doctor and
didn't ask questions. It just seemed
like there was no chance but I can't
help but wonder what if there was a chance.
|
|
