By Jo, Manchester United Kingdom
PROM at 17 weeks + 1 days. Delivery at 18 weeks + 3 days.
Story added: 2005-04-01

Right from the beginning of my (2nd) pregnancy I didn't feel good. From 6 weeks I was spotting (pinky/brown colour) and experiencing a burning pain in my lower back. I just assumed these things were a normal part of pregnancy. I had my first scan at 14 wks, everything seemed normal. Then at 16 wks, to my horror, I noticed the spotting was heavier and had become a deep red colour. The next day I went to the hospital for blood tests, an internal, and U/S, and the babys heartbeat was fine. I decided to rest up at home for a few days in the hope I would get better. 2 days later (into the 17 wk) my waters broke. The Dr gave me an internal and confirmed that all the fluid had gone, and that eventually the baby would die. I was crying and shaking like a leaf. I stayed in hospital over the next 6 days with my husband to be monitored (babys h/b was still going strong). Only once was I offered the chance to be induced, which I declined as my husband and I decided to give baby a chance and let nature take its course, but if I developed a serious infection then we would induce. The Drs respected my decision. So 6 days later (after receiving excellent care from the hospital) I went home. I tried to remain calm and positive which was very hard at times. However, I was in bed one night (a few days later) and started to feel regular but not very painful contractions which went on for 3 hours, and then they just stopped. So we rushed back to hospital and they kept me in overnight. The next morning they performed a scan, and broke the sad news we had tried to prepare ourselves for - our baby had died. We were devastated! I was induced that day and our baby was born late that evening. The next morning the nurse brought the baby to us which we spent time with (we believe doing this has helped us).

This has been a very traumatic experience and my heart goes out to everyone who has suffered such a loss.