By Peggy, Seattle, WA USAI was pregnant with identical triplets and suffered from atrocious morning sickness. By my 15th week, I was just becoming adjusted to the idea that we had triplets and was beginning to feel better. I had just recently begun to show and went out to the bank to run an errand. I knew I had a partial placenta previa so when I felt a gush of fluid at the bank, I thought -- oh no, it's more blood. When I went to the bathroom to check, it was worse - the fluid was clear. I knew that my membranes had ruptured and I panicked.
PROM at 15 weeks + 3 days. Delivery at 29 weeks + 4 days.
Story added: 2003-01-23
My husband was traveling on business at the time so I was alone. I drove straight to the Emergency Room, shaking - the whole time wondering if this was the end. The admitting nurse was very kind and they moved me to the head of the line right away. Soon I was up in Labor & Delivery Triage. They tested with the nitrate strip - yes, it was amniotic fluid. I called a friend to be with me. Soon the ultrasound arrived and they checked - Baby A had lost almost all her fluid. My AFI was a 3. I would be admitted immediately to the hospital.
The next few hours were filled with scary stories, not the least of which was that they gave me, max, a 10-12% chance of continuing on with the pregnancy. The next two weeks would tell - most people, they said, go into labor within a few days, the rest within a few weeks. They said they might deliver baby A and try to keep the other two in, though sometimes that didn't work. Baby A could die in utero and cause me to miscarry the rest of the pregnancy. There was a high liklihood of infection. Also if I made it to that "gray zone" of prematurity (23-25 weeks) and then went into labor, the rate of disabilities would be high. They said induction was an option as was termination of the pregnancy up until that point of viability. All I knew was, I was not yet in labor, so I would see how things went.
The first two days in the hospital, I was on the postpartum floor because the antepartum rooms were full. I could hear babies crying and wondered if mine would live. I was paranoid about the bedrest - ate completely horizontal and did nothing but go to the bathroom. I took a shower after a few days but it was very short. After 5 days, they said I could go home, basically to wait and see. At this point if I went into labor, there was nothing they could do except try to stop the other two from being born. Here started my journey on bedrest.
Over the next 14+ weeks, I remained in bed except to shower and use the bathroom. By about 20 weeks, my previa had gone but I had started contractions so they put me on niphedipine. More worry. They began to see more fluid in baby A's sac but by 25 weeks, I was back to an AFI of 3. I was regularly checked by ultrasound and although the baby was growing up to week 25, she stopped growing and her sisters surpassed her.
By 28 weeks I was back in the hospital due to bad blood levels and the lack of fluid. I spent 10 days in the hospital before pre-eclampsia caught up with me. When my numbers were bad enough, at 29w4d, my doctor recommended a c-section both for my pre-eclampsia and because that baby had not grown in almost 5 weeks. She would be better outside than in. My peri offered me a vaginal delivery but thanks to the niphedipine and bedrest, my cervix had not dilated at all.
My three girls are now in the NICU. The other two weighed 3 lbs 5 oz and 3 lbs 6 oz. My little Baby A weighed only two pounds even. She is tiny and her lungs are underdeveloped compared to her sisters, so she's been on a ventilator much longer. Her little feet are turned in where you can see how they were scrunched up in the tight sac. However she is fine and the doctors expect her to grow normally and for her feet to straighten with a little physical therapy. She will always be more delicate in her lungs than her sisters, but overall she's doing great. I consider these girls my miracle babies. The pregnancy was extremely difficult but they made it and I couldn't be more proud of my girls.