By Kellie, Westerville, OH USAMy husband and I were a bit anxious when we got pregnant after our first son was born due to pPROM. He was a 30 weeker due to pPROM at 29w0d. My perinatologist watched me closely for signs of preterm labor and a shortening cervix starting around 16 weeks. Since there was no reason found for my previous pPROM, the doctors told us that it was most likely a fluke and this pregnancy would be fine. In my heart I knew otherwise.
PROM at 24 weeks + 5 days. Delivery at 25 weeks + 4 days.
Story added: 2005-11-23
Around 19 weeks I started to have frequent braxton hicks but nothing was changing my cervix. I went to L&D an u/s revealed that my cervix was about 3.5cm long and thick and that we were expecting a little girl this time around. We were excited but for mostly the wrong reasons.....female preemies usually fair better than white males. Unfortunately after a pPROM pregnancy and premature delivery, the worst case senarios usually pop into your mind first. I went back to L&D at 21 weeks due to unexplained bleeding and was monitored and released. This was the start of my restricted activity at home with a very active almost 2 year old.
The night I was 23w4d I had to go into L&D for contractions and more unexplained bleeding. They did an FFN and it was positive. Also during the u/s my cervix funneled down to 0.8cm so I was admitted to the antepartum unit and given betamethasone steriod injections. Eight days after being admitted to the hospital, my water broke at 24w5d. My AFI was originally at a 6 but seven hours later it had dropped down to 2.1. The AFI u/s that morning also revealed to us that our little girl was definately a little boy and our second son was on the way. This news was a bit of a shock but thankfully not too much pink had been purchased. I was kept in bed on 24 hour monitoring, hoping to add more precious weeks to my pregnancy. We had made it 9 days post pPROM with our first son and hoped we could pull a few more out with this little guy since he would be so premature.
We had two dates that we didn't want to give birth on. The first one was 4 days post pPROM because it was our wedding anniversary as well as my father's birthday. The second date was 6 days post pPROM on June 17th which was our son's 2nd birthday. After a very nice, reactive monitoring strip from 6-8 the morning of June 17th, his heartrate became unreactive and jumped 40 points up to the mid- 180s. My husband had brought our son in at 9:30 to the hospital so we could celebrate his 2nd birthday when the perinatologist walked in and announced that they were keeping a close eye on me and the baby because my white count had jumped and his heartrate was questionable. I knew right then our boys would share a birthday and we would be having a 25 weeker.
Sure enough, they came in at 1 and hooked me up to an EKG to make sure my heart would be okay through an emergency c-section (I have a PFO). The anesthesiologist came and in and told us that I was going to have to be put under general anesthesia due to eating breakfast that morning and that my husband would not be able to be present until after Eli was born. This was incredibly upsetting because it meant neither of us would witness our second and last child being born. I had developed chorio and they needed to get the baby out. They took me back to the OR and Eli was born at 1:47pm by a classical c-section. He was immediately intubated and given surfactant. They had to perform CPR on him and my husband went with him and the neonatologists to the NICU.
Almost 6 hours later I was wheeled down to the NICU to see our 973gm (2lbs 2oz) and 14" micropreemie. His eyes were still fused shut since he was only a 25 weeker and his skin was a scaled red, transparent mess but he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was a rough road through the NICU but after 10 weeks Eli came home on an apnea/heart monitor, various meds, nutritional suppliments, calorie boosters, and thickening agents for aspiration but he was home. Eli is now over 5 months old and weighs in at 8lbs 9oz and is 22.25" long. He's still on the monitor and has severe GERD and aspiration problems but is our miracle. Feel free to visit his website (and his brother Carson's site) if you want to see pictures. We have been advised to never get pregnant again due to our two pPROM pregnancies with no explanation. This is fine with us because after seeing what both of our boys went through in the NICU, we do not want to put another child in that environment. We love our two boys and now have two pPROM success stories.
Kellie ~ Mom to two miraculous preemies
Carson Sterling 6-17-03 ~ Our 30 weeker
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/c/ca rsonsterling
Elias "Eli" Eugene 6-17-05 ~ Our 25 weeker
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/c/ca rsonsterling