By Greta, East Providence, RI USA
PROM at 14 weeks + 2 days. Delivery at 19 weeks + 5 days.
Story added: 2015-10-14

I found out I was pregnant on May 15th, 2015, and everything progressed normally up until week 13. Early that week, I began to have a lot of thick, deep-yellow mucus upon wiping when using the bathroom. It was making me a little nervous, but it was my first pregnancy, so I figured it was just something that happens. Approximately 3-4 days later though, I wiped and there was blood. It was the first bleeding I'd had, and being extremely nervous about it, I bumped up my next prenatal appointment to the next day. When I went, everything was fine and I felt better knowing that bleeding during pregnancy wasn't that unusual. I also had a vacation planned and was leaving in a few days, and it gave me some reassurance that I'd be fine to travel. This was on a Thursday. Two days later on Saturday, I was still bleeding. I went to a cookout and expressed my concerns to a few of my close family members. They all said they experienced bleeding, so while that reassured me a little, I had started to have an odd aching feeling very low on my abdomen, just above my pubic bone. As the day progressed, it became more noticeable. When I got home, I called the on-call doctor. I waited for a call back until about 1am and it never came, and I finally fell asleep. The next morning, I called a few times, until finally a doctor called me back. The pains had subsided but the bleeding seemed to have increased a bit, and I was supposed to fly across the country the next evening. She advised me to get checked at the ER. At the ER, my internal exam was fine and so was the baby on the ultrasound. I was cleared for travel and they said the bleeding appeared to no longer be active, just old blood. I left feeling relieved. I went out to lunch with my mom and fiancé and ran some errands. I felt much better mentally and physically. This was July 19th. After being home for about an hour, I was standing in the kitchen with my fiancé while we waited for dinner to finish cooking. Suddenly, I felt a gush of fluid out of nowhere. I went in the bathroom to check my pad, expecting bright red blood, but it was only pinkish fluid. I went back out into the kitchen, feeling uneasy. Moments later, another gush. I expressed my concern that it was amniotic fluid, though I didn't understand how it could be. I called the on-call doctor and was told that it was likely just liquefied lubricant from my internal exam, because rupture at 14 weeks was extremely rare and I was fine on exam 3 hours earlier. I thought maybe she was right, but in my heart I knew she was wrong. The leakage continued through the night, and when I went for a visit the next day before leaving on vacation, they concluded that I had absolutely no fluid remaining. Not only was I not traveling (and thank God it didn't happen while I was away), but I was instead deciding, not if, but *when* to terminate my pregnancy. I declined termination and opted to let nature take its course, but I continued to be badgered about terminating up until I was about 17 weeks and started seeing an MFM. Once I was with an MFM, the process was a lot less difficult mentally. To make a long story short (or to make a long story less long, sorry), I ended up having to be induced at 19+5 weeks after an umbilical cord prolapse. It fortunately happened while I was at the hospital. I had been admitted the night before with what I imagine were contractions, although they'd stopped by the time of the prolapse. They predicted that the baby died before labor due to the cord's compression. I hope that that's the case so that it was easier on him that way. I'm still glad for the decision I made, but it was a very rocky road. I had a severe bleeding episode at 18 weeks and the entire process was very tough physically and mentally. Bed rest is tough on the body and I had several trips to the ER for various things, usually bleeds. The loss is also absolutely traumatic no matter how prepared you think you are for it. It does help, though, knowing that you did everything you could. For those who are going through this now and reading this, I wish you all the best. Listen to your body and only make decisions that you feel comfortable with. As far as what caused the pPROM, they don't know. "Fluke" has been the only answer anyone can give me. They said the bleeding episode likely weakened the sac, but no one knows for sure. The placental pathology didn't indicate an infection as the cause, and as far as they know, I don't have an incompetent cervix.