By Ersula, Alberta Canada
PROM at 16 weeksDelivery at 31 weeks.
Story added: 2005-08-22

Well , at 16 weeks to the day ,april 23, after IVF,were coming back from dinner and my wife felt a gush. We both thought it was just the baby pushing on her bladder. WE called the healthlink line when the gush happened again later that night. They told us to go to emergency. In emerg the doctor determine it was amniotic fluid with a swb. We were both very scared. He told us the pregnacy was not viable and that the babies were dead. We had an ultrasound at 5 1/2 weeks showing 2 embryos.We had 3 implanted. Anyway.. after wanting to punch a wall or 2.. we asked to see an OB. The emerg doctor left and we were rushed to the L$D area of our hospital. After no sleep we were taken to the DI area and given and ultrasound. There was one strong heartbeat but no waters. The DI doctor gave us the grime outllook. WE were devastated but were sure everything would be ok. The next day the OB gave us the results of the ultrasound. THings were grim but he was positive. My wife stayed in the hosital for 3 days, with regular strips to check the heartbeat. The OB came in again and suggested we terminate. THat was not an option for us in our minds. So he put my wife on bedrest. She did what she had to . WE even moved during this time to a new house. Of course she didn't do anything and that was just fine with me. 2 days after she got out of the hospital our specialist saw her. He again offered termination but we refused saying " We will let the baby decide what is going t0 happen"
we still don't know if the other twin just didn't develop or if the PPROM had something to do with it not being there.
THe specialist refered us to a perinatoligist in Edmonton. WE saw her on june 10. She did an ultrasound and again offered us termination but only after telling us everything that the NICU at THe Royal Alex hospital would do for our baby. WE were 18 weeks at that time She said if we could make it to 26 there was a chance the baby would would survive.WEll we made it to 26 weeks and my wife has had no sign of infection, bleeding or any other problems. She has to stay in the hospital till the baby is born but she is checked regularly.
It's 29 weeks now and the baby is 2 lbs 15 ounces and still in Mom. THe little bugger is kicking and moving and hiccuping and making life miserable for mom but has not decided to come out yet. The doctors are amazed that my wife and baby are doing so well.
GUESS WE SHOULD HAVE TERMINATED EH!!! NOT.
we are so happy that the little guy decided to fight.Will update when the little guy decides there isn't enough room and wants to come out. The doctors will deliver him at 34 weeks no matter what. We have had steroid shots and Rh shots and ultrasounds and an MRI. It showed that the babies lungs were a little small but growing and developing fine. He continues to fight . All the doctors are amazed at his development. I know everything will be fine and our little miracle will come out and scream his head off.
One thing i can say to help anybody that reads this is ...Don't give up . Those little bugger's are tough and its up to them if they want to go on. So let them. Don't terminate if you have faitha nd hope there are always miracles that happen and there are people that want to help them survive. So find them at any cost because believe me it is worth it.This whole episode has brought me closer to my wife and given me a greater respect for the people that want to help our baby. Like i said we will update when the baby is born!!!!


UPDATE:
Well this is an update to our previous story...
Kallee was born on Aug 5 2005 by Csection.. She cried twice and let out a soft mew before the nicu doctor put the tube in. My wife had carried her to 31 weeks after a pprom at 16 weeks. Kallee had a rough first week. She was an ventalation for two days and was not improving. The Doctor in charge of her sat us down and gave us the what if talk. We had to decide if we wanted to continue on support or not. He said that if she didn't improve in 24 hours we would have to look at letting her go. Well that sent us over the top. WE cried and screamed, not at the doctor , but at this whole suituation. We couldn't give up on her ..she had fought for 15 weeks after my wifes waters broke so why should we give up. Right after we got our heads back in order we both went and had a little talk with our new daughter. We asked her to get better and we begged her to hold on. She must have heard us cause at 11:00 pm that night her o2 sats went through the roof. She started to take spontaneous breaths and started to come around. They put her on a high frequency ventilator and she responed well. To this day ..we believe that she heard us. WQe also believe that she was just taking a rest for a couple of days. Why not she had been swimming around in Mom with no water for 15 weeks. i'd be tired to

Kalle is now on high flow o2 and is screaming up a storm until mom or dad holds her. What a great sound it is when she yells her head off. The nursing staff and doctors and RT's all call her a star. She is one tough little girl. Without the support of the nursing staff and RT's and doctors we probably would have lost ours minds.
Hopefully we can transfer her home within the next couple of weeks.
So in closing don't give up, fight for your little ones and they will fight for you.
Keep your spirits high and believe.
WE did and we will continue to for as long as it takes to get her home.
By the way she has no brain bleeds is loving mom's breast milk and loves to be bathed.
So don't give up just fight.