By Sara, North Olmsted, OH USA
PROM at 28 weeksDelivery at 30 weeks.
Story added: 2004-10-24

I awoke around midnight 28 weeks into my pregnancy. I felt a strange pop and a warm, wet fluid as I sat up. My husband woke up as I was heading to the bathroom. I knew immediately that my water had broken, but kept hoping and praying that it was just urine leakage.
My husband woke up to me saying, "I think my water just broke! What do we do?"
He called my OB who assured us that it was probably just urine, but we should go to the hospital to be checked out just in case.
Sure enough, I learned that I had PROM at 28 weeks and would be admitted for observation and bed rest for as long as possible.
I was given massive doses of antibiotics to ward off any potential infection(s) (none present when I was admitted) as well as steroids to help our son's lung development.
Two weeks passed when I noticed an odd discharge. My OB decided it was most likely the beginning of an infection and about one hour later, I was in the delivery room for an emergency C- Section.
Will was born at 30 weeks weighing 3lbs. 13oz. - a decent size for his respective age. He was immediately rushed to the Level 3 NICU where he was intubated and give Surfactant to help him breathe easier.
We learned that he was suffering from BPD as well as Reflux which made his recovery take longer than usual.
He slowly transitioned from the ventilator to C-PAP to a nasal canula. All in all he spent almost two full months in the NICU. We were able to bring him home on Valentine's Day weighing 6lbs. 8ozs.
We took him home with a host of medical equipment- nasal canula/oxygen, Pulse Ox monitor, Apnea monitor, and medicine administered twice a day for the Reflux.
There was never a determination of why I experienced PROM. No signs of infection, no problems with my placenta. The odd thing is that the very same night I had PROM, four other women came in with the same thing. One of the nurses mentioned that they generally only see a couple cases every few months, but very rarely a cluster like that. She also mentioned that she read there could be a correlation between PROM and a sudden change in weather pressure. I have tried to investigate that myself, but have found no real evidence to back that up. Anyone else heard of that?
Despite his rough beginning, Will is now a healthy, vibrant little boy about to turn two this December. He is the light of our lives and people cannot even believe all that he went through when they see him racing around and chatting up a storm.
We were so lucky to have the amazing care of the medical staff and support of our families during those most difficult months.
Now the question to have another baby is our big dilemma, especially after the stress and worry we have already been through. I am not sure we could handle going through all of that again although I would love to have another child at some point. Any advice or thoughts are welcome! :)
It is so nice to have a forum to share our story and hopefully provide some encouragment to someone who is going through what we did. I know we felt somewhat alone (even though our family and friends were so supportive.) There is just no way anyone can truly understand the circumstances unless they have been though it as well.