By Anne, Dudley, Ma United States
PROM at 33 weeks + 4 days. Delivery at 33 weeks + 5 days.
Story added: 2003-02-16

After 2 years of infertility, my husband and I became pregnant in October 2000. I remember how excited I was when I got the positive-it was barely visable and I had to squint to see it. Because we were seeing a Reproductive Endocrineologist to get pregnant, I had my HCG levels and Progesterone levels monitored. That is how I found out I had low progesterone. They immediately put me on Crinone 8% and my levels went up to normal. From there, my pregnancy seemed to progress smoothly. When I reached my 12 week mark, I breathed a sigh of relief. Everything I had read/heard told me that I was now past the danger point. On January 3rd, 2001 at 13 weeks, I started to bleed pretty heavily. I called the doctor, then went to the emergency room. After about 4 hours, I finally stopped bleeding and had an u/s. To my joy and relief, I had a little baby moving around inside of me- the heart still beating.

After that scare, everything once again progressed normally. When I reached 28 weeks, I once again started to bleed pretty havily. I made yet another trip to L&D where they put me in Triage. The doctor who was handeling triage was very young and didn't know anything about bedside manners. He was hurting me, trying to do an internal and wouldn't stop. They finally admitted me, after determining that they had no idea why I was bleeding. I was having contractions, though, so that was a good enough reason to admit me. After spending the night in the hospital, they sent me home the next day with no special instructions and I went about my regular lifestyle.

On May 28th, I cleaned and sanitized my whole kitchen and thought nothing of it. When I went to bed that night, I read for a little while and then rolled over to go to sleep. About 30 seconds after I rolled over, I heard a pop and felt a huge gush. I called to my husband and we rushed to the hospital.

When I arrived, they admitted me immediately. They hooked me up to monitors and determined that I was once again having contractions. They did an internal to see if I had indeed ruptured my membrane (and I had). Then they did an ultrasound to see what position my son was in (head down). They also took a sample of my amniotic fluid to test if his lungs were developed. Then, they left me alone- checking up on me from time to time to see if I was feeling any contractions yet.

I finally convinced someone to check me to see if I was dialated at all (as they had yet to check). The nurse checked and told me that I was 4cm. At around 6cm, they finally got the results back that my sons lungs were not yet mature. They gave me a steroid shot (OW!). I also chose to get some nubain at the same time.

About an hour or so later, I got another shot of nubain and was dialated to 8cm. An hour after that, I was 10cm and ready to push. I pushed for about 15minutes and Aiden came into the world. My husband got to cut his umbillical cord, which was special for him.

The NICU team took Aiden right over to the warmer. I don't really remember a lot after that. I do remember that they told me he weighed 4.15lbs and was 18 inches long. I heard them call out his birth time 6:54 AM. Then, they let me hold him for a minute and whisked him off to the NICU.

The first time I saw Aiden, was later that day. He was bright orange with Jaundice. They let me hold him, which was wonderful. I couldn't believe he was mine.

He spent 2 weeks in the NICU. His main problem was first learning to suck/swallow/breathe. But, in addition to that, the nurses kept tube feeding him because it took him to long to finish eating and they didn't have the time to sit with him. Whenever myself or my mom came to feed him (which I tried to do at least 3times daily) he ate just fine, it took him a little while though. They finally decided to let him eat on demand instead of every 4 hours on schedule. At that point, he started eating really well and came home within 4 days. He weighed in at 4.13oz when I brought him home.

Aiden is now 21 months old. He had some initial problems with GERD (gastro-esophagul reflux disease)but that cleared up by the time he was 5 months old. He now weighs 40+ lbs and is 37 inches tall. No-one believes he was almost 7 weeks early.

My second Prom pregnancy