By Mayme, San Francisco, Ca Usa
PROM at 16 weeks + 4 days. Delivery at 29 weeks.
Story added: 2013-12-21

I was pregnant with di/di twins. I had a very normal pregnancy with no complaints until at 16w4d I started leaking amniotic fluid with no other symptoms. I had an ultrasound that day that showed twin A's amniotic sac had almost no fluid. Twin B's sac normal and with good fluid levels. Both babies looked fine otherwise, no distress. The doctor that day told us that we would need to terminate the pregnancy because I was going to probably go into labor anyway, have infection, and risk my chances of being able to conceive again in the future. My husband and I decided to wait it out a few days and see if anything happened. We decided to get a second opinion and were able to find a doctor with experience with pprom. He was great, although he had never seen a successful pprom story from anyone rupturing this early. From 16w4d to 24 weeks I was on partial bedrest at home. I was able to walk around the house a bit and go to the bathroom. Some days I had no leaking, other days I leaked quite a bit. I had weekly ultrasounds that showed minimal amounts of fluid (afi 2 or less) around twin A, but baby always had urine in her bladder and functioning kidneys....so we knew she was getting at least some fluid. At 23w2d I was sitting on the couch watching tv when I started bleeding heavily. We went to the emergency room and I was admitted for 2 nights at the hospital. Both babies looked fine and they could not find the source of bleeding. The bleeding eventually stopped on it's own and I was able to go home until I reached 24 weeks. At 24 weeks I was admitted to the hospital for the long haul. I was given steroids to help develop babies' lungs and antibiotics just in case. I eventually started bleeding again, sometimes light, sometimes very very heavy. The doctors warned me every time I bled that I may have to deliver. Every time my body held on and the bleeding slowed. Eventually they were able to confirm on an ultrasound that baby A's placenta had abrupted and a small part of it was detaching from my uterus. As long as the abruption was stable and my bleeding was manageable, we would keep moving forward and monitoring closely. Both babies were doing fine during all of this. They heart beats never changed and their growth was pretty much on track. Around 28.5 weeks I started feeling different. I noticed my lower back was really starting to hurt and I just felt achy everywhere. I also developed a sharp headache that would not go away with tylenol or rest. I continued to bleed, sometimes with clots and increased cervical mucous I also started contracting. They were never painful, just noticeable. I was convinced that I was starting preterm labor but my doctors disagreed with me. I kept telling them that I just didn't feel right and something was going on. On the morning of 29 weeks, I had my blood drawn to check for infection. Sure enough my white blood cell count was very high. I also started getting a fever, my heart rate and blood pressure also started getting higher. These babies were coming! Baby A was born crying, we named her Colleen Elizabeth. She weighed 2lb14oz, 19in long. Baby B was born crying, we named her Genevieve May and she weighed 3lb 4oz. Im convinced that my babies are a true miracle because when they were born Colleen had her umbillical cord wrapped around her neck 3 times and the placenta around her sack (the one that had been bleeding for 7 weeks) was practically shredded. Genevieve had the cord around her neck once. After delivery, the source of infection was confirmed as chorioamnionitis around baby A and it had just started to spread to baby B by the time of delivery. For months we were told to expect the worst. Baby A would probably not have enough lung function to survive and if she did, she would probably have quite a few deficits. Baby B would be at risk too. Both girls spent 2 months in the NICU and never really had any problems. They were never intubated and were off of oxygen within the first week. They were "growers and feeders" and by the time they came home were both around 7lbs. I wanted to share my story so that I can offer hope to others. I know my story is unique and I am very lucky. I also want to share some of the things I did to help keep myself pregnant and infection free. I do not know if they helped, but it was the only thing I could control during my helpless months of bedrest and worry.... 1. stay calm and stress free as much as possible, deep breathing, positive thinking, music 2. drink tons of water, i drank at least 5 to 6 liters a day 3. high protein diet 4. high calcium diet 5. took vitamin d, e, prenatal, cranberry capsules 6. took probiotics and ate yogurt everyday for active cultures 7. no baths or intercourse 8. took temp twice a day 9. never allowed vaginal exam 10. on days i was leaking or bleeding, changed underwear frequently and use moistened wipes to clean myself 11. while in hospital wore my own clothes and underwear 12. talking and singing to my babies 13. reading and learning as much as i can about pprom and advocating for my babies. many nurses and doctors do not know much about pprom and every mom and baby story is unique. 14. know your body and listen to it