On a Sunday night in early March, I
was sitting at my computer, minutes
after having had an orgasm. I had to
pee, and was about to get up to go,
when I felt the gush. It felt like I
peed my pants, but I knew I didn't,
because I still had to go. I
remembered reading something on a
pregnancy week-by-week website about
this pee-your-pants sensation. It had
said that it could be a sign of
ruptured membranes, which was very
rare this early in pregnancy, but very
serious. This is my first pregnancy,
so at that point, I didn't know
that "ruptured membranes" was the same
thing as "broken water." It was late,
and I thought that maybe the fluid was
a result of the orgasm. I decided to
go to bed and call my doctor first
thing in the morning.
I called as soon as the office opened,
and had to leave a message with the
receptionist because I was told it was
busy. At 3:00, I still hadn't heard
from anyone, so I called again. The
woman told me that the gush was
probably related to the intercourse,
but if I was concerned to go to the
emergency room. I was supposed to be
at work at 5:00, but I couldn't
imagine taking any chances with my
baby's health. I called my workplace
and explained what happened (minus the
orgasm part!) and said that I was
going to the emergency room and would
be late for work.
My fiance and I went to the emergency
room at the hospital closest to our
hometown. I knew they didn't have a
maternity ward there, but I assumed
they'd still be able to help, and the
next closest hospital was nearly an
hour away. When I registered, the
receptionist actually laughed at me,
asking "why would you come here?" I
said I was concerned about my baby and
came to the closest hospital! When I
was finally seen, the first thing they
did was listen for the baby's
heartbeat with the doppler. Boy was
it a relief to hear that! Next, I had
a catheter inserted to fill my bladder
for an ultrasound. The u/s tech did
not seem concerned as she was taking
pictures of the baby. At this point,
I still think everything is hunky-
dory.
Around 9:00, my fiance had to leave to
get ready for work, so my dad came to
the ER to sit with me and then take me
home. That's when a doctor came, and
the first thing he said to me
was "Well, I don't have any good news
for you." He explained that he spoke
to the doctor on-call at my OB's
office and that, from the way he
described it to her, she thought that
my membranes ruptured (I still don't
know what this means). He said that
if this were the case, it would be bad
news for my baby because it was not
yet viable and I would go into labor
and the baby would die. He advised me
to go home and take it easy, and
unless I had any bleeding or cramping,
to go to my doctor's first thing in
the morning.
I made it through the night just fine,
and my fiance called off work so he
could drive me to see my doctor. We
got there right when the office opened
and I was seen immediately for an
ultrasound. This tech did tell me
that there was very little fluid
around the baby. My doctor did a
pelvic exam and saw no fluid coming
out. He explained that the rupture
could have healed, or there could
simply be nothing left to leak out.
He gave me 3 options after he
explained the situation to me. The
first one was to go home and take it
easy and hope everything returned to
normal. The second was to be admitted
to the hospital for 48 hours for
monitoring and to be given fluid
through an IV while on bed rest to try
and replenish the fluid. The last was
to set up an appointment with a
maternal-fetal medicine doctor to
terminate the pregnancy. Although I
was never advised to terminate, the
option was certainly mentioned a
lot.
DF and I decided to have me admitted.
An ultrasound after 2 days showed no
increase in fluid, but I was sent home
and told to stay in bed, only getting
up to use the potty chair in my room.
At 18 weeks, we saw a high-risk
specialist in Columbus at an Ohio
State University clinic. At this
appointment I was told my AFI was
around 2 or 3, which is where it
stayed pretty much the whole
pregnancy. We also found out we were
having a boy. The doctor went over
the huge list of risks and gave us a
poor prognosis, but told us there was
a chance. I told her that we were
going to take that chance, and she
told us that she believed we were wise
not to give up!
The plan from there was to have a
follow-up appointment at 22 weeks and
then be admitted at 24 weeks-the point
of viability-as a precaution
because "a pregnancy like mine can
turn on a dime." I actually had to
reschedule my 22-week appointment
because I had a poison ivy rash all
over my belly (my fiance decided to
lay down with me after clearing brush
in the yard). At 23 weeks, two days
before my appointment, I began to spot-
-something that hadn't happened at all
up until this point. I was originally
told that I wouldn't be admitted to
the hospital without having a follow-
up appointment, but they made an
exception, and I was admitted to OSU
hospital on May 1st.
Being at the hospital was hard,
because I was 3 hours from home and
didn't have visitors often as a
result. Most of my nurses were great,
and very knowledgeable, as I was on a
high-risk ward. Some of them were
very pessimistic though and one
actually said on the phone to another
nurse that [mine] "wasn't even a
viable pregnancy." The doctors also
tended to give me all of the worst-
case scenarios and none of the best.
At 28 weeks, I began to have bloody
fluid again (I continually leaked
large amounts of fluid once I got to
about 24 weeks). I was given an IV as
a precaution but was still 0cm dilated
and the placenta looked in tact on the
ultrasound. Not long after the fluid
returned from pink/brown back to
clear, I began having pink/red fluid
again. At 28 weeks 5 days, I got up
to go to the bathroom and a huge gush
of something went into the toilet. I
looked down to see deep-red water. I
told my fiance (who just so happened
to be visiting) that I thought I was
having an abruption and to call the
nurse and tell her I was bleeding a
lot.
The nurse came and put me on the
monitor and I heard my son's heartbeat
going strong, which was relieving. An
OB came to check me and saw that
although I was still dilated, I was
still gushing a good amount of blood.
I was transferred to labor & delivery
where a scan was done to check my
placenta. The diagnosis was partial
placental abruption and the
recommendation was to be
induced.
I was told that I could try for a
vaginal birth as long as Eli did not
become distressed and as long as my
body would react to the pitocin.
There was some concern that I wouldn't
be able to be induced since I was only
29 weeks. I was given drugs to soften
my cervix as I was only 50% effaced.
About 16 hours later, I was started on
pitocin. At one point, the doctor
actually broke my water. Although I
was already ruptured, the tear was
apparently high up in the sac, so she
broke it at the bottom to try and
speed things up. When she did, there
was fluid that came out! Considering
that my last ultrasound showed "no
measurable pockets" of fluid, this
gave me hope that he had enough fluid
to help his lungs and it just didn't
show up on the ultrasound. I also was
given an amnioinfusion right before he
was delivered, because the
contractions were starting to cut off
the flow of his umbilical cord.
Nearly 11 hours after starting
pitocin, it was time to push. Eli
Richard was born at 12:53 a.m. on June
11, 2008. He weighed 2 lb. 12 oz. and
was 15 inches long. He gave us a
little cry when he was born, which
meant the world to my fiance and I as
one doctor told us that he would
either come out crying, or come out
gasping for breath and not make it.
He is now almost a week old and doing
well in the NICU. His lungs developed
past the point of a 15.5-weeker, but
not as far as a 29-weeker. Our son is
truly a miracle--they do happen! I
hope our story inspires other who are
in the position I was once in. Don't
give up hope because the best thing
you can do, and almost the only thing
you can do, is remain optimistic and
have faith. And to anyone who may be
thinking of terminating: Remember
that you might terminate your
pregnancy and regret it for the rest
of your life, wondering "What if?" but
I can guarantee that whether the
outcome is good or bad, you will never
regret NOT giving up on your baby!
God Bless!
http://ourlittlefighter.wordpress.com
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