By Renate,
PROM at 20 weeksDelivery at 20 weeks + 2 days.
Story added: 1998-09-13

I gave birth to a perfect full term baby boy in February of 1997. I got pregnant with our second child 14 months later. The first half of the pregnancy was effortless and healthy. Then when I was almost 20 weeks pregnant I began to bleed and cramp. The doctors tested for infection and did an ultrasound and could find nothing wrong. As a precaution I was put on bedrest. Three days later when I was exactly 20 weeks pregnant, my membranes ruptured as I was walking out of the bathroom. I was terrified. My mom rushed me to the hospital and my husband met me there. An ultrasound showed that the rupture had been so great that there was no amniotic fluid left at all. We were encouraged to induce labor due to the early gestational age of our baby, the risk of infection, and the lack of fluid. I wasn't ready to give up hope, so we decided to wait two more days to see if our baby could produce more fluid than I lost and reaccumulate a small amount, giving her at least a small chance of survival.

Two days later, a second ultrasound showed that not a single pocket of fluid had reaccumulated. We met with two neonatologists and two OB doctors and they all told us the same thing. If the amniotic fluid does not reaccumulate in 48 hours, that means it isn't going to.

With no fluid, our baby's lungs would be unable to develop past their current 20 week stage of development, and no matter how long I carried the baby, she would have no chance of survival outside the womb. With this knowledge, we made the agonizing decision to induce labor. Our perfect baby girl died as she was being born on August 30, 1998. Our lives have been forever changed by this shattering loss. We named our baby Cara Elizabeth, which means "beloved child dedicated to God." I know that occasionally early PROMS like mine can have successful outcomes if there is some fluid left or that reaccumulates. I am wondering if anyone out there has heard of or experienced a very early PROM with NO FLUID LEFT that resulted in a surviving baby.

I am currently mired in the "bargaining" stage of grief where I wonder if there was anything I could have done differently, and this is a question that haunts me. I rejoice with those of you who have had healthy miracle PROM babies, and to those of you with stories like mine, God has given us this promise:
"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come unto me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"
Matthew 19:14

Renate