By Angela Carpenter, Braintree, MA USAThis is our 2nd PROM story, and it had a very different result.
PROM at 34 weeks + 5 days. Delivery at 34 weeks + 5 days.
Story added: 2005-03-04
My first pregnancy ended by PPROM at 20 weeks and the delivery of my beautiful little angel, Madeline Marie, at 22 weeks. The months after loosing our daughter were tremendously difficult. The questions of Why and How were never far from my thoughts.
After finding a new 'high risk' doctor who came highly recommended, we met with her to discuss what had happened. She said that even though my cervix was closed when I ruptured in my first pregnancy, that it is her experience that the 2nd pregnancy will often show an incompetent cervix. She promised to be very conservative when / if we decided to try again. So, my husband and I finally decided to start fertility treatments again in December 2003, 4 months after loosing our daughter.
After 3 IUI treatments we were pregnant again, and VERY nervous. The week after we had the positive test, we had a trip planned to Hawaii for a family wedding and the dr assured me it would be ok to travel. Half way through our trip I had a small amount of spotting that lasted about 5 days. As soon as we got home, we had an ultrasound to assure us that everything was ok and the baby had a heartbeat. She then saw us every week for an ultrasound and to measure my cervix. Everything progressed beautifully, even with our panicking around the 20-24 week marks. I wanted to throw a party at 24 weeks then again at 28 weeks. However, at my 28 week appointment, she noticed that my cervix was significantly shorter and a non-stress test showed that I was having contractions every 3-4 minutes. So we were admitted and given drugs to stop the contractions and the steroid shots just in case. The contractions never stopped, but I was sent home 2 days later on strict bed rest. I was to lie flat on my back and only get up for bathroom trips or showers every other day. I went back every week for ultrasounds which thankfully showed no further thinning or dilation. My husband was terrific and the baby (we knew at this point that it was a BOY) kept me very busy by being so active and having his daily hiccups!
At 34 weeks I was allowed to get out of bed for 1 hour a day and with that 1 hour I made my husband take me to the mall. We had NOTHING for this baby yet. I was too nervous to get anything in the beginning and then just when I started to feel a little more confident that this baby was coming home, I was confined to bed!! So at the mall, I really started to feel my contractions pick up and sure enough the next morning when I woke up, my water broke! I knew right away what it was and we went right to the hospital. Even though we were at 34 weeks, we were a nervous wreck driving to the hospital. It didn't help that the baby chose this point to become completely IN-active. When we got there, I was dilated to 3 cm. Five hours later, Benjamin Allan was born weighing in at 6 lbs 4 oz. Not too bad for a preemie. He had some initial breathing trouble and was ventilated for a day. He spent 10 days in the NICU for typical preemie problems - eating, jaundice, weight gain. Then the happiest day of our life came when we were able to actually bring Benjamin home.
I can't explain how relieved and overjoyed we were to have our little boy home with us. He is amazing. He is now 15 months old and just perfect. I know our little girl is looking out for him and us every day.
My heart goes out to every family that has had to go through PROM. Every day you are pregnant is a miracle. If you are in the middle if this, hang on! There are hundreds of people that are thinking about you and praying for you everyday. It is such a stressful experience; you need all the support you can get. Make sure you have a great doctor that will listen to you and do everything possible to help you.
Thank you for reading our story.
Angela´s first PROM Story >>