By Kaki, Denver, Colorado USA
PROM at 27 weeks + 1 days. Delivery at 36 weeks.
Story added: 2002-06-08

My water broke at 27 weeks, after a swimming outing with my toddler and his friends. When I went to the hospital, I was told that I would be there “for the duration,” that 80% of women like me go into labor and deliver within 48 hours, that another 10% do so within one week. At that point, the ultrasound estimated the baby’s weight at 2 lbs 9 oz. I was given steroid shots to enhance fetal lung maturity and antibiotics to prevent against infection, which are given routinely in this type of situation. I also had an amnio done to determine whether there was any infection, which there was not. Miraculously, I survived that first week without going into labor and stayed there another 9 weeks before we induced, at 36 weeks. I never got an infection, and the baby doubled his weight during bedrest, coming in at 5 lbs 14 oz. The doctors strongly suggested that we induce at 34 weeks, which is when they think the baby is not better off inside than out, given the risk of infection. They said the baby would be fine in the NICU and that it just wasn’t worth the risk of infection at that point. However, I opted to go until 36 weeks, since I had not had an infection during the entire time of my hospitalization and felt like an infection likely would be detected early given all the monitoring they were doing of me. I felt very strongly that I didn’t want this child starting his life in the NICU if it could be avoided.

I found this website early during my hospitalization (thank goodness for laptops!) and can honestly say that I couldn’t have survived without the valuable support and advice I got here. It is so important to stay connected with others similarly situated. In the beginning, I was overcome with feelings of worry for the baby, claustrophobia, panic and anxiety while in my hospital room, and I desperately wanted to go home for bedrest. Everyone here convinced me to stay put at the hospital, which made it easier to do. The danger of home bedrest was if the baby was born away from the hospital so early, he might not survive. I needed to stay close to the NICU, just in case. Everyone on the mailing list reminded me of the importance of every single day that baby stays in, and they also had great ideas of how to survive hospital bedrest in general. So our family buckled down, hired a nanny to take care of my toddler, and my husband basically became a single parent. Somehow we made it all work, and it all was well worth it given our healthy little boy.

I’ll also mention my pregnancy history: Four miscarriages (one at 17 weeks with no explanation as to the loss) and one full-term pregnancy with no complications. I took progesterone during the entire first trimester of the PROM pregnancy and spotted at the end of the first trimester. I went on bedrest for about a week until the spotting stopped. (I was told when I PROMed that many PROMs can be preceded by spotting in the first trimester). The PROM baby was delivered at 36 weeks with no complications.