By Gemma Nunan, NSW Australia
PROM at 17 weeksDelivery at 33 weeks + 2 days.
Story added: 2004-05-04

I awoke at 2am to feel my waters gushing out. I knew something was wrong, phoned delivery suite who told me to get to Emergency dept. There I was told I was about to miscarry, prepare for a D&C.
All I wanted was to have a cup of tea and a cigarette & a chance to think.The Dr's said I had to be NBM for D&C.
I refused D&C unless I developed infection - I wanted to let nature take it's course.They kept me in emerg, finally I saw head O&G who said I could wait & see. Either I would go into labour, or need D&C due to infection, or preg may continue but outcome looked very grim with no measurable fluid &still leaking- 95% chance baby's lungs wouldn't grow & he would die at birth.
Although I was only 17wks I had already felt my baby moving & had an ultrasound at 13wks which showed he was a boy. I already loved him so much, he was a planned pregnancy & I just couldn't give up when he still had a chance of being OK (<5% but better than odds of winning lotto & people do that everyday).
This was the hardest decision of my life.A crystal ball would have made it easier to decide & justify my choice to others who were unsupportive of my decision.
Instead I put my trust in God to do what was best for my son.I knew He would not let my baby or any of us suffer more than we could bear.
Even though i chose to continue preg, at no time did I feel determined to have the baby or certain of the outcome.I had prepared myself for more heartache & horror at any moment. I felt so guilty for putting family & friends through this, guilty for wanting to continue a preg that would most likely end in my poor baby suffering either a painful death or a painful life.But I just could not terminate unless I had to (infection).
Although preg was planned my partner of 6yrs left a week after we found out (4/40). Hosp made me ph him to tell him of PPROM, he said he didn't want anything to do with me or baby. As I have 7y.o. daughter I stayed with my mum & her partner so someone could be with her if I miscarried during night.
Preg cotinued, fluid kept leaking different amounts all the time with no pattern or cause. I always leaked more if I lay down- so I didn't, I slept with 8 pillows in a sitting position.
At 23 wk I was referred to specialist hosp with NICU, Dr's said outcome very grim again offered termination. This was despte my fluid levels returning to normal(9cms) for 3 wks.
They said staying in hosp would not change outcome of preg
& might not have been good for my overall health as I had no family or friends nearby.
So I stayed at mum's with my daughter & animals, kept paying rent on my house & drove an hour to hosp each week (sometimes twice a week) for checkups.
At 26wks I woke up bleeding alot. I had a checkup that day & was admitted to delivery. It was not labour so they gave me 2 X steroids incase & sent me home.
At 27 wks I was still offered termination!? My placenta had torn which clotted only when baby didnt move. I was leaking more than 5 maternity pads(soaked) each day but baby kept growing & moving a bit each day too. Bleeding changed from day 2 day, fluid loss got worse as baby grew.
All this was upsetting for everyone even people I had never met, very few agreed with my choice not to terminate.
I felt I couldn't think straight. Throughout all this I saw 12 different Dr's(public patient) who all said slightly diff things - do drive - dont drive, yes antibiotics-no antibiotics.... I felt temporarily insane.
At 33wk checkup(New Years Eve) 1pm Dr saw no fluid on u/s,
fetal monitor same, no warning of my labour starting in 4hrs so we drove home 100kms from nearest NICU.
At 5pm I started to feel tight which was frequent since I ruptured so I wasnt worried. Usually these tightenings would relax after 1/2 hr but not this time, by 6pm I was concerned. About 7.30pm I felt first pain & started timing at the second pain, they were not regular or getting worse.
Ihad a shower then I just knew that I was in labour even without regular pains.I got to nearest hosp ASAP, pains still were not reg but now I couldnt even walk. I was to transfer out quickly but my treating hosp had no room left in NICU so we had to find other hosp which took time, then we had to wait over an hour for an ambulance as it was New Years Eve& they wre flat out(70+ calls in 55mins). By time ambulance arrived I was 4cm dilated &fully effaced.
In the ambulance the midwife told me they would pull over when I needed to push as it wasnt safe to deliver whilst moving.I asked if she could intubate & bag my baby till we got to the hospital. She said no.
So I shut my eyes & mouth & prayed I would not have to push till we got there. The only other words I spoke were to ask the ambo's how long till we were at the hosp?
We got there in half the normal time with lights and sirens.
We arrived at emergency at 2.12am my son was born in delivery at 2.19am
He made a little noise trying to cry. I touched his arm, cut the cord & watched the Drs work on my baby to save him.
I saw he stopped breathing, the Drs stabilised him to transfer to NICU then he stopped breathing again & his heart stopped too. Those brilliant Drs at Westmead got him back then took him to NIC.
I had to wait 2 &1/2 hrs to see him. He was just so perfect, 2230gms, 40.5cm long, hc 30cms.
Drs said just wait & see, he had a good chance but there was still risk of infection(swallowed meconium) & lungs may still collapse when taken off the ventilator.
L.J. came off ventilation at 30hrs, off CPAP after another 30hrs. At 6 days he was transferred to my local hosp special care nursery.He had not had a bleed into his brain, he was tolerating tube feeds & had even tried a suck, IV fluids were stopped. By day 16 he was all breastfeeds & growing well, he had not had an apnoea since 3 days old.
On day 18 I brought home my perfect baby boy. He is now 4 months old, he can see & hear & smiles all the time.
He was hospitalised again at 9 wks old for surgery to repair an inguinal hernia which was unrellated to PPROM.
Also he suffers terribly with colic which is slowly improving. He still has to have specialist checkups due to his prematurity & we wont know if he has learning difficulties until he is older,but I feel he is perfect.

I share my experience in the hope that it may bring comfort to someone. I only found this website a couple of months ago& it was still of comfort to me to hear that Drs from all around the world said the same as my Drs.
My prayers go out to every family who experience PPROM.
Especially those who lost their little angels.
I still dont know why this happened to me, any of it
I just thank God for every minute I have with my loved ones.
If anyone wants to email me feel free add is ; gnugnu@dodo.com.au