My story started on 10th December 2007
when I was just over 14 weeks
pregnant. I was at work walking to
the canteen when I felt a gush of
fluid in my trousers. I thought it
must be blood and dashed to the
toilet. I could see that it was clear
fluid that had soaked through my
underwear. Not normally being an
alarmist, I mopped up and went back to
work, searching the internet for
pregnancy discharges. There were a
few things it could be which were not
likely to be a problem but of course I
also found that it could be loss of
amniotic fluid, which I did not think
for a minute it could be. During the
afternoon there were another couple of
gushes so I went home and phoned the
midwife. The midwife told me to go to
the hospital the following day which I
did, when our worst fears were
confirmed. I had a scan and there was
no amniotic fluid around the baby,
although it was confirmed that the
cervical plug was still in place. The
sonographer and doctor gave us the bad
news and expected me to have a
miscarriage. I was kept in for a
night but then went home the following
day still waiting to miscarry. . At
that point the message from the doctor
was that a) I would probably miscarry
in the next few days, b) if they found
any sign of infection I would probably
have to have drugs to induce a
miscarriage and c) in a very small
amount of cases, with the right
conditions the sack may mend but this
was very unlikely. Their primary
concern was if infection set in as the
womb is now very vulnerable and I
could end up losing the baby and my
womb. So, all in all, not a great
list of options. I had swabs for
infection but nothing was found. The
only conclusion as to how it could
have happened was that the sac had a
weak spot when it was formed.
It was just so frustrating as I was
fine, the baby was fine, it was just
this stupid sack and with no means of
mending it. You just keep thinking
surely there must be something – a
plaster, glue or anything! The baby &
placenta make the fluid and this gets
replenished every 24 hours so all I
need is the sack to keep the fluid in!
Over the next couple of days, I had
blood spotting and my temperature rose
so I was convinced this was the start
of a miscarriage and returned back to
hospital after a few days. I stayed
in overnight and all vital signs
returned to normal. I had another
scan before coming out of the hospital
which showed that the baby was still
there with a strong heartbeat, still
growing and there was a tiny pool of
fluid around the baby’s head which the
Sonographer could see the baby was
ingesting…. So a little ray of light
was ignited. I came out of hospital
that day and my husband and I spent
hours searching for information on the
net, when we found the PROM site which
gave us all the information about
drinking lots, taking supplements,
lying horizontal as much as possible
etc.. and continued to follow this to
the letter for the next 14 weeks. I
stayed at home during this time as we
only live a couple of minutes from the
hospital. I took my temperature 4
times a day for any early signs of
infection and each week I went to
hospital to have a detailed scan to
check on progress of the baby, have
swabs for infection, blood tests and
to get the usual "doom and gloom"
story from the Consultant. Up until
21 weeks, the strongest recommendation
from the Consultant was to terminate
but we could not do that. We had tried
for 2 years to have a baby, we were
not going to give up so easily. The
only thing the Consultant could ever
find was Group B Strepp which I had
antibiotics to keep the level down. I
also have O Rh negative blood group so
had to have Anti D on a regular
basis. Throughout the next 14 weeks
following my waters breaking, even
though we could not see the baby, the
Consultant was skilled at looking at
detail and could see the kidneys
working, a strong heartbeat and was
able to measure the baby, which
continued to grow, up until around 23
weeks where he had 2-3 weeks not
really growing. During this time, I
hardly ever had any fluid at all. Due
to the lack of growth and keeping an
eye on my cervix length, the
Consultant put off giving me steroids
until 27W when I had a couple of
shots. These caused flushes on my
face and body. In the early hours of
Tuesday 18th March 2008 (couple of
days after having the steriod shots),
I had been having minor contractions
which I could hardly feel but got out
of bed to go to the toilet thinking I
needed a bowel movement, then realised
the baby was bearing down. We rushed
to the hospital where Thomas Peter was
born within half an hour at 28+2 weeks
gestation. He weighed 1lb 7oz (660g)
and measured 11 inches and let out a
couple of cries so we knew his lungs
were semi-developed.
The Paedetrician got him ready and
took him straight to the NICU. We were
certainly on a journey of grabbing
hold of Tarzan ropes as I had just had
my steroid shots on Friday and
Saturday so we were right in the
window of maximum effect, just
finished Penicillin so GBS was under
control and as I delivered so quickly,
the NICU at the hospital had to take
Thomas and there is only 20 cots and
usually babies are getting turned away
from here to other hospitals but
Thomas gave them no choice! Thomas
had a lot of ups and downs during the
next 3 days, including his lung
getting punctured by the ventilator
and having to have a chest drain. The
doctors told us he had Hypoplasia but
he had a chance as his lungs were semi-
developed. Apart from that, his legs
were diagnosed with congenital knees
(knee joints that bent the wrong way)
which would have required work later
on. He really fought through
everything but his little body just
could not fight any longer and he
passed away on the morning of the 21st
March... Good Friday!!! This certainly
was not a good Friday. It is ironic as
my hospital appointments were always
on a Friday as well so I will hate
Friday's forever more. . I remembered
from this site not to let anyone rush
me into leaving him that day and spent
over 6 hours cuddling him, washing
him, dressing him and just examining
every little part of his body as this
was the first time we had really been
able to see him as his bonnet attached
to the ventilator had been covering
his little head and he had so many
attachments, it had been difficult to
see him. I just kept stroking him and
massaging his little head. It was the
most peaceful he had looked in 3 days.
When I was examining him, the pain got
worse as I realised he wasn't just a
baby that belonged to the doctors in
the NICU, he was our Son with many
features from both my husband and
myself. As painful as this is, at
least we got to meet our little boy
and spend some time with him. He will
be forever with us in our hearts.
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