I was leaving home to pick up my 2
year old from creche when I suddenly
felt a little water leaking...
initially I thought that I had an
accident - never would have imagined
it to be my amniotic fluid. I quickly
tried to read up about the situation
but couldn't really find anything that
would help me identify whether it was
my waters, so I left to pick up my
daughter. When I got to the creche I
had a huge gush of fluid - confirming
that it was indeed my waters that had
broken. I was taken the the gynae's
rooms, at the hospital. The baby was
fine.
I was admitted to hospital where my
gynae shared the various scenario's
with me, I could go into labour within
48 hours, 1 week or usually deliver by
2 weeks. I was given one course of
cortisone. That was the start of
exactly 4 weeks of bedrest in
hospital. I continuously
leaked/drained amniotic fluid. My
baby was however well. I was put on
progesterone and adalat (spelling!)
retard to prevent contractions. I had
nst's run three times a day. I also
had weekly scans. Blood tests were
preformed every 2 days to monitor my
white blood count for any signs of
infection. I was only allowed walk
for toilet breaks and to shower. My
husband and daughter would push me
around the hospital on a wheelchair to
get me out of the room. About 2 and a
half weeks after the prom my amniotic
fluid was slightly pink, I shared this
info with the sisters and gynae who
weren't at all concerned. About 3 and
a half weeks after the prom my baby
turned into a breech position and
that's when the leaking of the
amniotic fluid got a lot worse, I
seemed to leak most of the day. On
the day of my baby's birth she was
particularly quiet. I went to the
toilet and saw that the pink amniotic
fluid was back - I shared this with a
nurse who said that it was fine. But
the whole day the pink amniotic fluid
continued. I found another nurse and
informed her that the blood was
definitely coming out with the
amniotic fluid and not when I was
urinating. They then contacted the
gynae, he informed me that we would
deliver the baby that evening. When
he was stitching me up he said that
the cause of the bleeding was placenta
abruption due the the lack of amniotic
fluid, the uterus shrinks causing the
placenta to come away from the
uterus.
My little girl was born weighing
1.96kg's with Apgars of 8 and 10. She
was sent to ICU where she was only on
oxygen for a day. She is still in
High Care (3 and a half weeks later)
but she is incredibly healthy, the
only problem is with her sucking. She
is now on 2 bottle feeds a day, and
we're hoping that she will be home for
Christmas. The gynae said that the
stress in the womb after the prom
aided in her lungs maturing!
The bedrest was worth every minute. I
was the longest 4 weeks in my life...
I think that the worst part of it was
not knowing when things would go
wrong... and the fear of whether my
baby would have long term problems.
The gynae would also not commit to
when he would draw the line and
deliver the baby, in hindsight I think
it was to prevent me from building up
my hopes and being let down...
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