Background: I'm 43 and still
childless, despite trying for a baby
for most of the last 10 years. All 3
of my pregnancies have been lost to
miscarriage - the first (3 yrs ago),
at 7 weeks, the second (thru IVF) last
year to pre-term PROM at 20 weeks, and
the third (again thru IVF) to pre-term
PROM at 18 weeks - just last week (Aug
07).
Like the last, this pregnancy
proceeded COMPLETELY NORMALLY until 17
weeks and 6 days, when my waters burst
suddenly as I sat up in bed in the
middle of the night, giving a little
push to what I thought was just wind,
only to hear and feel the sickening
thud of the amniotic sac bursting, and
all fluid being lost in one gush.
Although I didn't think there was any
warning sign, with hindsight I now
realise I had slightly increased
watery, milky vaginal discharge for a
couple of days before the sac
ruptured.
On arrival at hospital, my cervix was
closed, I had no signs of infection,
and ultrasound showed that,
agonisingly, my baby was still strong
and healthy, but no amniotic fluid
whatsoever remained. We were just
devastated, but could not bear to end
our pregnancy that night - despite
being advised the outlook for our baby
was really, really grim.
So we went home, and I then lay on my
back for a week, on antibiotics,
feeling my baby move, praying that the
sac would re-seal, but it didn't, and
nearly every time I got up, a little
more fluid was lost. On the 7th day
after PPROM, as I stepped into the
shower, I felt something big come down
into my vagina. It was the umbilical
cord, which had prolapsed. I screamed
and screamed as I felt my baby
convulse, then become still.
On arrival at hospital they confirmed
the baby had died due to cord
prolapse, and this had happened
because the cervix had dilated to 1
cm. The birth was then induced. My
little Angel was still-born later that
evening. After the birth, like last
time, the placenta was retained, it
had to be manually removed under
general anaesthetic in theatre.
When we experienced PPROM for the
first time last year, they could not
explain why it happened, but advised
usit was unlikely to be a cervix or
infective cause. Now we have
experienced PPROM twice, we are just
***desperate*** to know why. It would
seem likely to me that there must be
some consistent, (but as yet
unidentified) medical reason behind
our PPROM, given both have occurred at
exactly the same point in the
pregnancies..and that this would
suggest my risk of repeat in any
subsequent pregnancy might be as high
as 100%??
I have tried to write unemotionally,
but I am just absolutely beyond
devastated to have lost all our babies
to miscarriage. I cannot bear to face
being childless either, but it is
difficult to know how to proceed from
here and time is fast running out, and
we do not have any medical answers on
which to base decisions.
If anyone reading this is involved in
medical research into the causes of
repeat PPROM, please contact me via
this site's administrator.
Thanks for reading this.
|
|
