By Kim Reynolds, Castro Valley USA
PROM at 20 weeks + 5 days. Delivery at 32 weeks + 3 days.
Story added: 2003-11-12

My husband and I have tried to get pg for 5 years. We did everything from 7 IUIs to 3 IVFs. Well, the third IVF worked and were pg with twins. Unfortunately, one of the twins absorbed into my body around 9 weeks. So we had one baby left. After a day of playing golf, we got home and I felt a gush of fluid. I thought it might be blood because I had been bleeding on and off throughout the pregnancy. When I saw it was brownish fluid, I knew right away it was amniotic fluid. We rushed to the hospital, which is only a minute from our house, and was admitted immediately. I saw the doctor that night and he determined I had broken my water and would most likely deliver in the next 48 hours to a week from now. He also said the baby is not viable until 24 weeks. We wanted this baby so badly that I asked him if there was any chance this baby would survive. He said yes, but the chances were small. We didn't care, we had to do all that we could to save her. So I drank a lot of water and was put on an IV and antibiotics to keep away infection. I stayed at this hospital until I was 22 and a half weeks. While I was there I had ultrasounds that showed I had about 7-8 cm of fluid for the first week and a half after the rupture. Then it started to decline to 4 cm at about 22 and a half weeks. I was then sent in an ambulance to a hospital that had a level 3 nursery. I stayed there until I was 32 weeks and 3 days. During that time I had numerous ultrasounds that showed AFI's with 4cm to zero amounts of fluid.
At 32 weeks and 3 days I started to get regular, strong contractions. I also started to get a fever so my periantologist decided it was time to deliver her. I had held on for 83 days in the hospital, she thought that was enough! We did the c-section that day and when Madison came out she cried and breathed on her own at first. She then needed to be put on 100% ventilation for a day. Then she was put on CPAP and now she has a canula. She has been in the NICU for 5 days and is expected to do fine. She did not have hypoplasia, but had mild respiratory distress syndrome. She is improving every day and we couldn't be more ecstatic. I hope this story gives hope to others, Madison is truly a miracle and fought all the odds.