By Courtney, Houston, Texas USAThanksgiving 1999 was rapidly approaching and my husband and I were looking forward to visiting my parents in Atlanta from our home in Houston. I was pregnant with our first child, a little girl, due January 9, 2000, and we were looking forward to showing off my growing tummy...
PROM at 32 weeksDelivery at 36 weeks.
Story added: 2000-12-18
my parents' first grandchild!
The Monday before Thanksgiving I went into work and mid morning felt my pants soak, all of a sudden. Every time I moved I leaked more, and I knew my water had broken. I made a call to my OB, they said Come on in--NOW", and headed home to let my husband drive. We were remarkably calm ---I was 32 weeks pregnant.
The OB confirmed that my water had broken --he could see ferning in the fluid --and sent me immediately over to the hospital. They were so nice, hooked me up to a monitor, gave me a shot to develop the baby's lungs, shots to stop contractions, started me on antiobiotics, and then sent in the neonatologists who started telling us about all of the problems our daughter would have if she was born, as they expected, in the next 48 hours. They scared us to death and I started to cry.
My husband started calling family and we started to focus on the small goals - --let's get ONE day more to let the steroids take effect, ONE day without contractions.
Five days later, we were the success story of the L&D ward, no baby, no infection, no elevated temps or decreased activity of the baby. They started talking about us lasting longer... our next goal: 34 weeks. My husband and I were without insurance and we asked that we be allowed to go home ---he is a stay-at-home and would be there to take care of me. Reluctantly, my OB agreed as long as we had a visiting nurse come every day to do an hour monitor on the baby and take my stats, so off we went.
I sat in bed for 28 days, leaking amniotic fluid, unable to wear pants or really move at all, but somehow I never developed an infection and my body replensihed enough of the lost fluid to keep our daughter safe. I took my temp every four hours, took a mild tocolytic every four hours, saw the nurse every day, and went in every four days or so for a biophysical profile and an u/s check of the fluid level. Our goal became 36 weeks, and at 36 weeks they took me off the tocolytic. Twenty hours later we were in the hospital.
The night before we went to the hospital I couldn't sleep well, couldn't feel the baby move as much. At 5:30 am I decided we just couldn't wait for the nurse's opinion (she was due at 8 am) and off we went. At the hospital they did a check under the hood, and saw I was still at 0/0. The monitor confirmed I was having mild contractions, and my doctor decided to deliver. They started me on pitocin at about 8 am, no drugs. The next five hours were quite unpleasant ---they wanted me to progress some before giving me the epidural, and it hurt like hell. I was only at 2 cm at 1 pm when we sent for the anesthesiologist.
AHHHH, after my epidural we got to relax some. What a miracle!
At 11 pm I was at 10 cm and it was tie to push, and at 11:40pm on 12-12-99 our daughter was born. She weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz, had an inital apgar of only 6, second of 9. She just wouldn't give a yell when she arrived, and was a little dusky; they were concerned about her lungs and whisked her off to the NICU. And she was fine!
24 hours later, just before midnite (when the fee for another NICU day wopuld rack up) they let us take her home. It was windy and cold, a barren December night, but when we arrived home it felt like the warmest most comfy place in the universe.... we stayed up all night watching her sleep, marvelling at how small she was. We had to feed her every 2 hours for about a month, and keep track of every cc she ate--but she moved along great and is perfect! We just celebrated her one year birthday, and our next child, another girl, is due April 25, 2001.
My doctor has put me on preventative bedrest at 22 weeks, and I hope to carry my second daughter "all the way" this time. Ultimately, they have no idea why I ruptured...but his time we're going to takje some extra precautions! (and this time we have insurance)
Courtney