By Jean, New York USA
PROM at 16 weeksDelivery at 39 weeks + 2 days.
Story added: 2003-05-31

I got pregnant after suffering two miscarriages, and 3 IVF's. I had an amnio done at 16 weeks, and it went very smoothly, no problems at all. I stayed off my feet for 24 hours, and then some, as recommended by my doctor. About 34 hours or so after the amnio, as I was getting dressed to go out, I felt a big gush of fluid. At first, I was not sure whether I was imagining things, and then a moment later, I felt another gush, and another gush. My pants were completely soaked through. I immediately called my doctor, who at first seemed to think it was just post- amnio paranoia, until I explained that my pants were completely soaked through, and that I had emptied my bladder shortly before it happened. She told me to get in bed immediately, and to stay there, and to just wait and see what happened. That night, around 2 a.m., I was laying in bed trying to sleep, when I again felt a huge gush of fluid, even bigger than the first. Now I was really frightened, because this was 9 hours or so after the first gush, and it seemed like a bad thing that I had another gush so far after the first one. I waited until morning, and called my doctor. She told me to stay off my feet, and to come into her office the next morning (this all happened over a weekend). So Monday morning, I went to the doctor's office. It had now been more than 30 hours since the last gush, so I was feeling better. Another doctor in the practice did an exam. He did a fern test, and found no sign of amniotic fluid, so I think thought I'd made the whole thing up. But then he did an u/s. On Friday, when I'd had my amnio, there had been lots and lots of fluid. The baby had been doing flips and basically swimming around. Now, the baby looked shrink wrapped, and the AFI was just 5. And this was 30 hours after the last leak, so I'm sure it had been even lower. I was put on very powerful antibiotics, and told to go on bedrest for the rest of the week, and to come back at the end of the week. I didn't experience any more leaks, and a week later, my fluid levels were almost back to normal. I know that PROM as a result of amnio usually reseals, but it was a very frightening experience, and I thought that if anyone came here looking for an amnio story, my story might help. My baby was born at 39 weeks, after my water broke (and it felt exactly the same when my water broke then as it did when it broke at 16 weeks). He was perfect, and huge. In fact, at the end of my pregnancy, my fluid levels were borderline abnormally high.