By Melinda, Hempstead, NY USA
PROM at 17 weeks + 2 days. Delivery at 21 weeks + 4 days.
Story added: 2004-12-10

I was 17 weeks along when my water suddenly broke late in the night. I had been feeling pain earlier along with back pain but did not worry because 2 days prior was told all was well. My cervix was close, my placenta was where it should have been, "don't worry" they said. I had been spotting on and off from the very beginning which is why they had checked my cervix, again they said don't worry. Well, i listened to them and went to sleep. When I woke up i felt a trickle down my leg and had tons of mucus discharge. I went to the ER where they told me my water broke and the baby was too small to survive. They asked me to induce labor and i said no. If there was a slight chance my water could accumulate i was waiting. I was in the hospital for 3 weeks after that. I had no contractions, no dialation and the baby was strong according to the daily sonos i had. I was also on antibiotics daily to avoid infection. They sent me home on the 4th week with a nurse and a home attdandant. I lasted 4 days. On March 6, 2004 i began to have pain. I went to the ER and they monitored me for several hours and then sent me home saying i was not dialating. A few hours later I went back and they admitted me. I still was not dialating but the pain was ongoing. They gave me morphine to help ease it. This lasted 5 days. On Wednesday March 10, 2004, exactly 9 months ago today, my doctor told me i was showing signs of infection, they had to induce. All the doctors came in to see me and pretty much tell me that my son would die. Justin was born at 4:58pm. He never opened his eyes, he never cried, he never took a breath, however he did have a heart beat so he was not considered still born. He also has multiple joint problems on his elbows and knees due to no amniotic fluid all those weeks. His heart stopped beating at 9pm. Till this day, the docs can;t tell me what happened so I am left to come to my own conclusions daily. I am also 16 weeks pregnant and scared to death that it may happen again. I see high risk doctors but to be honest i don't believe them anymore. They said things were fine before amd they weren't. All i can do is hope and pray that i can carry this one till full term.
Thanks for listening to my story, it helps to talk about it.