By Lori, Nova Scotia CanadaI was 17 weeks into my third pregnancy (first two pregnancies were normal and normal deliveries) and I was feeling great. I had worked that day and rushed home to change and take my 2 sons to a birthday party about an hour away. While at the party I felt a little gush and went to the bathroom to put on a pad,I thought I had lost control of my bladder. I went back to the party and it happened again. I told my husband it was time to leave and we gathered the boys and headed for home. I told my husband what happened and we decided to go to the hospital and on the way I had a big gush that soaked through my clothes.
PROM at 17 weeks + 5 days. Delivery at 34 weeks + 6 days.
Story added: 2002-04-02
The doctor that confirmed it was my water(through a sterile spec exam)told us it was very rare to happen so early in pregnancy and that in his 18 years of obstetrical practice had never seen prom at 17 weeks gestation. He told us the prognosis was grim and that I would probably miscarry within 48 hours. There was no experienced obstetrician in our area and so he referred us to someone 4 hours away( at the IWKGrace in Halifax). He made the appointment for 5 days away and told us that I would probably miscarry before it. At the appointment we had an ultrasound that showed the baby with next to no amniotic fluid surrounding him, we were then brought to a room and given the news that our baby had a 5% chance of making it to viability(24 weeks) and even if he did his lungs may not be able to work and he would die. We were also told that he may have other deformities such as clubfoot, muscular stiffness and facial deformities. They told us that most people find this too scary and opt to terminate and that this option would be open to me up to my 24th week. I immediately said no and told them that I wanted to continue no matter. The drive home was the worst 4 hours of my life. We cried and and couldn't believe what we were told.On the drive home the baby was very active and I took it as a sign that I was making the right decision. When I arrived home I got on the internet and found this website and hearing the positive stories gave me faith and I decided that I was going to be positive and that my baby was going to make it.
My husband wasn't so positive; because everything we were told was so negative he thought I was going to be devastated and that I should be more realistic. But I felt that I could never be prepared to lose my baby and that being positive was the only way to get through this.I went on bedrest and drank tons of water only leaving the house to go to doctors appointments in Halifax. I was told that if I made it to 24 weeks that they would admit me to the IWKGrace; so every day I would pray to make it to 24 weeks and counted every day as a blessing. So at 24 weeks I kissed my other 2 sons and headed to Halifax. I was given a dose of steroids, celestone, 24 hours apart.The next 10 and a half weeks were the hardest of my life. I was desperately lonely and missed my sons terribly. The bedrest was so hard and on top of that I developed gestational diabetes and pregnancy rash which I didn't have with either of my other pregnancies. I lived for my ultrasounds, but was always both excited and nervous before each one. I never had very much amniotic fluid, just small pockets but the baby was still very active and with each week my baby's chances of living were getting better. I started to bleed at 26 weeks and would bleed off and on up until delivery. The baby was breech and so I needed to have a C-section. At 34 weeks and 5 days the nurse was doing a fetal heartrate check and I had a tightening that made the baby's heartrate drop and the next day the baby had a few more so they decided it was time to section(March 15,2002).
This was one of the scariest moments of my life, I did not know if he would have developed lungs. The ultrasounds showed signs of crush syndrome,smallness to his lungs and they told me they could not tell whether his lungs would be hypoplastic until after he was born. But 5 minutes into the section I heard him cry, the most beautiful sound I heard in my life. They showed him to me before taking him to the NICU. When I was able to see him 3 hours later, I could not believe it. He was PERFECT. He had oxygen for 20 minutes and that was it. He was absolutely beautiful and only needed monitoring. He was given doses of antibiotics because of the prom and me being group B strept positive. He had one heart rate drop and one apnea, which I was told was him acting his age, so he was monitored for 13 days and I took him home on March 28 in time for Easter. He is doing great and I am so grateful that I had found this website and the sidelines volunteer who had given me so much hope. After the pProm we were given only the negative and it didn't seem like there was much chance of having a healthy baby until I found stories just like mine that had a happy ending. I know not all the stories have a happy ending but I look at Jacob and am so thankful. The last three months were so hard but worth every second. I hoped and prayed that I would be writing a happy ending story here to give someone else faith and inspiration.