By Leslie, Silver Spring, MD USAMy pregnancy with my first child had been difficult, but did not include PROM. With that pregnancy I went into Preterm labor at 26 weeks and dilated to 3cm. I was on bedrest for the remainder of the pregnancy, but delivered a healthy baby boy at 38 weeks.
PROM at 18 weeksDelivery at 37 weeks.
Story added: 2006-01-12
The story of my PROM began about a week before I had it confirmed that I had indeed started to leak amniotic fluid. I was out with my husband and son at a flea market and felt like I had wet my pants. It never crossed my mind that my water might have broken, I simply thought it was bladder control issues because it was my second child.
A few days later I mentioned the event to my doctor at a routine appointment. He agreed that it was probably a bladder issue, but said he should test for leaking amniotic fluid just in case. A few minutes later he returned with a serious face. He said, "You've ruptured your membranes. Your baby only has a 5% chance of staying inside of you long enough to survive. Most women in your circumstances would terminate. What do you want to do?" My husband and I were stunned. I started crying. I said I couldn't decide anything right then.
The doctor sent us to the hospital for an ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed a baby girl with a beating heart and lots of fluid around her. At that moment, I knew I just had to wait it out and pray for the best.
We had a lot of support from church, friends and family. We had to put our son (then 18 months old) into day care for a while so I could stay on bedrest. That was the hardest part of it all for me, being away from him. That and constnatly feeling like I would lose the precious baby girl inside of me. But, weeks went by and after a few weeks I was no longer testing positive for amniotic fluid (they did both ferning and nitrizine tests). The doctors shrugged and suggested I must have just resealed. The perinatologist also agreed that although rare, it appeared the membranes and healed themselvs.
I carried my daughter to 37 weeks (on the nose). They had to break my water during labor! My daughter is a daily reminder to me that you can't always believe what doctors tell you and that faith will carry you through more than you can imagine.
I am now 32 weeks pregnant with our third and I haven't had any problems other than a little PTL (nothing significant...only dilated to 1 cm). Our son was diagnosed with leukemia last March, and I have to say I think a lot of the strength we've had dealing with his illness came out of the experience of fearing the loss of our daughter.