When I found out I was pregnant last
March, I anticipated an easy/smooth
pregnancy -- thinking that the hardest
part about it would be taking care of
the baby once he/she was born! It was
my first pregnancy so I was nervous
about being a new mom. My 20 week scan
on July 7 went fine, and I learned I was
having a girl! At 21 weeks, I happened
to be staying over at a friend's house
after a girls' night out in New York
City, and I thought I had "wet" the bed
... mistakenly thinking that the baby
had pressed on my bladder and made me
leak a little. This happened several
times during the subsequent weeks, but I
was busy traveling (made 3 work trips
involving long flights) and I just
thought it was probably normal. I
mentioned the leaking to my doctor
during my monthly check up on August 8
... what a day that turned out to be!
She quickly checked my fluid levels and
did a test on the fluid, and told me
there was a big problem. I remember her
saying to me that the best case scenario
was that I would go to the hospital and
not come out until the baby was born!!
At this point I was at 24 weeks and 4
days... so I was completely shocked. I
walked the three blocks to the hospital,
called my husband, and began the
nightmarish stay.... the doctors in
labor and delivery told me there was a
90% chance I'd deliver the baby that day
-- or within a week -- and I was
immediately confined to a bed and not
allowed to get up, even to go to the
bathroom. We had a visit from the
neonatologist, who told us that babies
born at 24 weeks have a 50/50 chance of
surviving, and the ones that do survive
have a 50% chance that something major
will be wrong (retardation, blindness,
etc.). My husband and I cried together
... and we spent that first night
listening to another woman give birth
next door -- screaming for hours. My
doctor came to visit the next day and
told me that she would have recommended
I terminate the pregnancy had I come in
even a week prior ... but since I was
already at 24 weeks, I didn't have a
choice but to stay there until I
delivered the baby. The hope was that
I'd go as long as possible ... but the
doctor kept saying the problem was we
didn't know about the "lung development"
-- and couldn't know for sure until the
baby was born. I kept asking what that
meant exactly - and she would say it
could mean that the baby would have
trouble breathing -- or even have "no
lungs" ... I couldn't believe I might
have a baby that couldn't breathe.
They gave me steroid shots and
ultimately I was moved to a different
area of the hospital where I had a
roommate. She had just delivered a baby
and there were balloons and
celebrations... it wasn't easy. Most of
the subsequent roommates I had were also
"ante partum" patients, but they were in
the hospital for much shorter stays of
course. After the first day, they let
me get up and go to the bathroom. After
about four days, and lots of begging,
the doctor let me take showers, but said
I should sit down while showering. I
had twice weekly scans where my fluid
levels ranged from 2.2 cms (when I
arrived at the hospital) up to as high
as 7.5 cms, but mostly hovered between 4
and 5 cms. I tried to drink a lot of
water, but it wasn't easy. I leaked
every day and wore a pad -- and the
leaking increased each week I was there.
That first week, one of the hospital
doctors came to say, "Don't think even
if you make it to 28 or 29 weeks you are
out of the woods..." alluding to the
potential lung problem. My husband and
I didn't know what to do or say... I
cried a lot and tried to think about
other things. Luckily I was in the
middle of New York City where we'd lived
for the past 7 years (before moving to
the suburbs a few months before), so I
had lots of friends that could come and
visit easily. And I had a portable DVD
player and internet access... so I kept
working as much as I could (I work in
public relations and much of my work is
email/phone based.) We had just bought
a house and spent all of our savings on
the down payment, closing costs and
moving -- so I was very concerned that
my boss would stop paying me ... luckily
this didn't happen. The next 8 weeks, I
just tried to survive hospital life --
temperature checks every four hours, a
series of roommates (some good, some
bad), and no privacy. Every morning at
6 a.m. I was awakened by the resident
asking about my condition, which changed
very little while I was there. It was
the hardest time of my life, because not
only was I stuck in a hospital away from
my husband and home, but I had plenty of
time to think about what might be wrong
with my baby... it was torture. When I
hit 30 weeks, I begged the doctor to let
me go home and spend the rest of my
pregnancy there on bedrest. She brought
it up at the staff meeting the next day
and came back saying that they
"unanimously" decided it was best for
the baby if I stayed in the hospital.
Apparently the risk of infection was too
great, and if I were to get infected at
home, I wouldn't recognize it nearly as
fast as if I were in the hospital where
they would catch it immediately. I
never fully understood why it was
necessary that I be at the hospital,
especially after four weeks of nothing
happening, but I tried to think of my
baby and I read lots of the
stories/emails from this PROM web site
to keep me strong and focused. The next
four weeks moved slowly ... I cried
every few days and was in a state of
despair/depression frequently. Hospital
life really started to get to me... and
I wasn't allowed outside or off the
floor due to "liability issues" ... even
though finally my doctor agreed to let
me walk down the hall to the patient
lounge when I wanted. Finally, at 32
weeks and 5 days, I noticed bleeding one
night -- and they moved me immediately
to labor & delivery, where I started
having contractions. I called my
husband and we both thought the baby
would be born that night/morning, but
contractions subsided after about 6
hours. I was moved back to my room to
keep waiting. On Friday morning (two
days later, at 33 weeks), I woke up
feeling restless and unsettled -- a
different feeling than I'd had the
entire time in the hospital. I had a
feeling I was going to have the baby
that night... and so I spent the morning
wrapping up a couple of important work
projects. That afternoon, a friend came
to visit and told me she was worried
about me -- I didn't look like myself.
About 9pm that night, I started having
contractions again. They were strong
and regular -- every 10 minutes or so.
I told the nurse and was moved again
back to labor & delivery. My doctor
came to see me and told my husband and
me that they wanted to go ahead and
induce labor. Since I was at 33 weeks
and had been bleeding/contracting off
and on for 3 days, they felt the baby
was trying to tell us something... and
the baby would be safer "out" than "in"
at this point. We quickly agreed and
two hours later I was given Pitocin and
the contractions became very, very
strong and painful. I had an epidural a
few hours later which took away all the
pain, and managed to sleep. Around noon
the next day we had a visit from a
neonatologist/pediatrician who told us
that she and another doctor would be in
the room during the delivery and that
they would quickly take the baby to the
NICU and come back within an hour to
tell us how she was doing. She said not
to expect to be able to hold the baby.
Two hours later, I was fully dialated
and the doctor told me to start pushing.
About 20 minutes after that, Violet
Jane was born ... I heard a small cry
from her and knew that she could
breathe!! It was the most beautiful
sound I could have imagined. My husband
and I both started crying... the doctors
worked her over a bit, and then let both
of us hold her briefly before taking her
to the NICU. 20 minutes later they came
back and told us she was going to be
just fine. They ultimately did an x ray
and we learned later that day that there
were no lung issues at all! Because she
was 7 weeks premature, and small (she
was born 4 pounds 6 ounces) she had to
stay in the NICU for 3 weeks ... she had
to learn to "suck" from a bottle and
maintain her temperature, but she never
needed help breathing. The time in the
NICU was hard -- especially after the
first week when I was mostly recovered
physically and ready to spend time
relaxing with my baby. She developed a
colon infection and had to be on an IV
... it was not easy seeing her in the
incubator with tubes/needles piercing
her skin. But we finally got to take
her home, and she's now gaining weight!
Her actual due date was November 24,
which we just passed yesterday, and
she's now over 7 pounds. I couldn't be
more relieved and thankful that it's
turned out OK. My husband and I are
hoping that the next year we don't go
through any more trauma, as this year
has been extremely stressful for both of
us, but we love our baby so much.... she
is such a blessing. I went back for a
check up with my doctor, and she told me
that they are calling Violet a "miracle"
-- and that it may change the way they
treat future patients, since if I'd come
in at 21 weeks when I first started
leaking, they would have encouraged me
to terminate the pregnancy. She said
they didn't have any idea why I didn't
go into labor for 8 1/2 weeks, and why I
finally did go into labor suddenly...
she said they blame it on the full
moon...
Please feel free to email me with any
questions as I'd love to be a
help/resource for other women with PROM
if I can.
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