Hi, my name is Emma and I am married to
Gareth. We already had a healthy 2 year
old son when I became pregnant for the
secong time.
At 6 weeks into the pregnancy I
experienced some bleeding and was taken
to hospital where a scan showed
everything was fine. So we put it down
to a fluke and carried on with life.
At 11 weeks I had a major bleed and
again was rushed to hospital and again a
scan showed that the baby was fine. So
on we went again.
Christmas came and went and I got a
cold. At 1.00am on new years eve (19w
and 6d), I gave an almighty cough and
thought that I had wet myself, but fluid
kept escaping and after an hour or so
the realisation that my waters had
broken began to sink in, so off to
hospital we went, only this time the
outcome was not so favourable. We were
told that although the baby was
technically fine it would not survive as
I would inevitably go into labour within
48 hrs. The doctor was very unfeeling
and cold towards me as if this was all
my fault, she kept suggesting that I be
induced to get it over with but I
refused.
I was transferred to the ward to wait.
I was still leaking fluid and after
48hrs a different doctor came and said
that I would still go into very
premature labour within another 48 hrs.
This doctor was much better and much
more sympathetic, she agreed with my
plan to wait and see what happened and
to let nature take its course. After
that 48hrs was up, I was pleading to go
home, so after some more consultation
with various doctors, midwives and
specialists most of whom tried to
encourage me to terminate the pregnancy,
I was allowed home on the proviso that I
see a specialist nurse twice a week, had
blood taken twice a week, monitored my
own temperature at home 4 times a day
and generally took it very easy. So the
new regime began, and it is not easy to
put your feet up and rest when you have
a toddler so that part did not work.
All this time I continued to leak
water and had scans weekly. At these
scans I was consistently told I had a
fluid level of 3.5cm and that it was
rare to maintain this level in my
condition. My regular nurse visits were
fantastic, my nurse was great, helpful
and sympathetic. We chatted and she
told me about other patients she had
known with the same problems. It was at
this time, 24 Weeks, that I began using
a Trace machine twice a week as well, to
monitor the baby's heart rate and
movements.
Around the same time my doctor visits
deteriorated to a battle of wills, the
doctor wanted me to terminate and I
wanted to wait and let nature sort it
out, she even arranged a visit with the
hospital chaplain, which did not help as
I am not Christian.
Next she organised a visit with a neo
natal paediatrician, which I think aws
meant to scare us, but just made us want
the baby even more. The paediatrician
told us that the likelihood was that if
the baby survived birth then it would
have severe breathing problems due to
the lack of water affecting the lung
development, it could also have fixed
limbs and misshapen head due to the lack
of water meaning that the baby couldn't
move freely, also it would most likely
have brain damage due to severe
prematurity and that we should be
prepared to live with all this. There
was no question in our minds that this
is what we wanted and so the pregnancy
continued.
At 26 weeks I had 2 hormone injections
to help with the lung development. I
continued with my visits to the nurse
and doctor and the trace machines
continued to show movement although the
doctor did not believe me when I told
her that baby moved around quite a lot
and asked to see the scan photos to
prove that the baby had changed
positions.
I had a couple of infection scares but
they always turned out to be unrelated
to my pregnancy. During all this time I
had continued to lose water constantly
although my fluid level stayed at 3.5cm
but at 32 weeks the water turned pink
which meant that aswell as losing water
I was now bleeding as well.
This time I was admitted to the ward
and monitored very closely, and after 3
days bed rest the bleeding and the water
stopped leaking. The blood had sealed
the water leak in the membranes and I
wsa allowed home again. Unfortunately I
only lasted 12 hours at home before the
bleeding began in earnest and we went
back to hospital. This time I was
attached to the trace machine
constantly, day and night and had to
stay on the delivery ward.
As well as the constant trace machine,
I had all vitals done every 2 hours even
through the night and had regular
consultations with the medical team (my
doctor was away at a conference which
was great!). I got a new doctor who i
really liked and she said that if the
bleeding stopped I could continue to
wait it out but if I kept on bleeding I
would have to have the baby, by
caesarian section.
The bleeding did stop but then started
again so I was booked in for a
c-section. My first son was an
emergency section under anaesthetic, so
I was not concerned, but was excited to
be awake for the birth. All went well
and when the baby came out it cried, a
loud healthy cry, it could breathe.
That was the best sound I have ever
heard, the Special Care Baby team
whisked my son away and five minutes
later a nurse came to see me to say that
he was fine, perfect, 100% normal and
healthy and a good weight at 5lb 1
1/2oz. When i was all stitched up we
were taken to see him and he was
beautiful, a pefect baby boy with big
blue eyes.
I was overwhelmed and angry that I had
bee told, coerced and encouraged to
terminate this perfect child in front of
me. I am so glad that I found the
strength in myself and in my family and
friends to nurture this baby and to give
him a chance.
I now have 2 boys Daniel is 3 and my
PPROM baby is 8 months
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