By Amy, Australia
PROM at 36 weeksDelivery at 36 weeks.
Story added: 2002-10-04

As is the case with many other stories I was having a relativly uneventful pregnancy. The only thing worth mentioning is slight bleeding at 5 1/2 weeks.

On the day before the PROM I had quite a busy day. I was not working and I had been doing alot of walking (shopping) and I also had a check-up. At the check-up the Doctor seemed to press harder to feel where the baby was. At my check-up the week before the baby's head was 2/5 enganged and was still that way at this appointment.

I didn't get to sleep until late and at 3:30am I woke up, rolled over and my water broke. I was in a bit of denial and didn't know whether to wake my husband. I did and we called the hospital and they said come down and get checked out. I didn't hurry as I still didn't believe that it could be happening and that if it was then I probably wouldn't start labour anyway. By the time we got to the hospital an hour later I was having mild contractions and an hour after that I was in 'pain'.

At this stage no-one had done an internal examination and so I thought that I was in for a long ride. I was sent to a room and told to relax. Easier said than done and after half an hour I insisted they take me to the birth suite and once there they felt my stomach and noted that baby was in posterior position (his back against mine) and that would explain the pain. I had to stay leaning forward to see if gravity would turn him, and it did after a while and as soon as he had turned I felt the urge to push.

The midwife said 'wait a minute and I'll see what's happening'. She had a look and said 'OK. I can see the head. You can push with the next contraction'. I hadn't had any drugs and I was glad of that fact because I was more aware of the situation and when my baby boy was born an hour after I started pushing (6 hours from PROM), I was so happy and very amazed that I had a beautiful boy.

He had apgars of 9 & 10 but an hour after he was born they noticed he was having difficulty breathing and was put in a humidity crib and ventilated 24 hours later after a very stressful night for him and us and a transfer of hospitals. After 5 days on the ventilator and 1 day in special care he was allowed to come home with us.

I was not given any reason for the PROM. They thought he might have had a chest infection but all tests were clear and I had no complications such as diabetes or high blood pressure. I guess he was just in a hurry to meet us all.