I had a normal first pregnancy up
until 18wks,4d when I stepped out of
my husband's truck and felt a gush of
fluid. I thought I had peed my pants!
I told my OB and she said not to worry
about as I (at the time) had a good
AFI.
At my 20wk US, however, my AFI=0. I
was admitted to a perinatologist who
worked me up for PPROM and I had
negative ferning tests (a positive
ferning test reveals amniotic fluid IS
leaking), so they sent me home on
bedrest because my pregnancy was
not "viable" until I hit 24wks.
At 21wks,5d, I awoke in the middle of
the night to pee and noticed that my
underwear were soaked with bright red
blood. I immediately called 911 and my
husband, who was at work. They rushed
me to our nearest tertiary center and
I was told that at least half of my
placenta had detatched (placental
abruption). My contractions did,
however, stop during the next day and
myself and the baby stabilized. I
never received an amnioinfusion, or
antibiotics. (Although looking back
now, I don't know why. I didn't know
enough then to ask either.)
So I remained in the hospital with a
consistent AFI<1 every week. I
delivered at 26wks, 5d after the
remaining portion of attatched
placenta gave way and I had a complete
abruption and lost massive amounts of
blood.
I gave birth to a 2lb, 2oz baby girl,
Lilly, who was very sick. She required
the oscillator ventilator, which was
maxed out on it's settings and the top
dose of inhaled nitric oxide as a last
ditch effort to save her. She had a
left sided pneumothorax (collapsed
lung), persistent pulm. HTN, poor
kidney function, bilateral
intraventricular hemmorrhages
(grade4), PDA, ROP (grade3), a scare
of NEC, BPD, and more I can't
remember. She remained ventilated for
1 week, wore CPAP for 6 more weeks,
and nasal cannula O2 for 5 months.
Being a nurse made it a little easier
to navigate NICU, but it is a culture
shock for sure!
She is now almost 4 and is a spunky,
loving, brat! She wears glasses for a
flotie eye, but has no other eye
problems (the ROP resolved on its
own). She is down to one medication,
Singulair, and the pediatric
pulmonologist believes that she will
outgrow her lung disease. She
otherwise has no social, speech, gross
or fine motor delays. She is petite,
but still tall for her age (My hubby
is 6'4"). She by all means looks like
any "normal" 3 year old girl...
But if you look closely you'll see the
scar and indentation under her left
arm where her chest tube was, the
scars up and down her legs where they
attempted to put a PICC line in.. She
is my miracle baby, yes, she hates it,
but I still call her my baby.
If you are scared and in a similar
situation, just stay positive and take
it day by day. It is VERY easy to
become sad and overwhelmed.
I am currently 9wks pregnant with my
second and scared as well. The
perinatologist is already talking
about placing a cerclage even though I
had no apparent cervical problems with
my previous pregnancy. I'll take it
day by day..
Contact me if you would like to.
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