By Lilly, Utah USAERICA’S STORY
PROM at 16 weeks + 4 days. Delivery at 37 weeks + 4 days.
Story added: 2006-06-09
The first day of the sixteenth week of my pregnancy my membrane ruptured. It was December 25, 2005 we, my husband and I and our 1½ year old son, were at my parents house having breakfast when I felt a little leaking nothing serious. Awhile later I again I felt some more leaking, this time when I sat on the toilet there was a gush of water, and it just kept leaking. At first I wasn’t too concerned but then it happened again and the leaking had not stopped, I began to wonder if my water had broken. My sister a few years before had her membrane rupture at 17 weeks and had given birth at 25 weeks to a 1lb 9oz baby boy that had died at 6 weeks from an infection he had gotten in the hospital. So I was aware that these things did happen and had some idea of the possible out come. I called our insurances nurse line and told them about what had happened, they did not seem to be to concerned since the fluid was clear, no blood or any thing like that, they assumed that I had just wet my self, but they did suggest that I call my doctor and tell him what had happened, I called and got the on call doctor he told me that I had better come and get checked out but since I was only 16 weeks I would need to go to the emergency room. A few minuets later he called me back and told me to come to labor and delivery. When I got there they did a ferning test and it was positive, they looked for pooling and that was positive, the doctor also said the fluid looked green, and they did an ultrasound, there was very little fluid. My membrane had indeed ruptured. I was admitted to the hospital and told what my options were. The doctor said there was a 75% chance that I would go into labor within 48 hours, and even if I was able to carry this baby to term there would be an 80% chance that its lungs would still not be developed enough to live. And if the baby did live it would most likely be born very premature and possibly have brain damage and/or constricted limbs from not being able to move around. So my options were to have them induce labor, or let nature take its course.
After my sisters experience I did not go into this thinking that my baby would be the exception and everything would be fine. We knew that this was our Heavenly Fathers child and if its life was to be a few minuets, a few hours, or a few days, or of it was to be handicapped, we would do all that we could do and pray that His will be done. Of course we hopped that every thing would be fine.
After 48 hours I was discharged from the hospital. My husband took me and my son to my parent’s house to spend the next 8 weeks until I could be admitted to the hospital. I was to go once a week to my doctor and every three weeks to see the specialist, and to take my temperature twice a day. The first time I went to see my doctor he did not even want to do an ultrasound, he told me that he had never seen one of these cases turn out good and he had even lost a mother, and he just wished the whole ordeal was over for me. After that appointment I cancelled all of the rest of my regular appointments and only saw the specialist.
From when my water broke until delivery I had from 3 to 6 contractions an hour. One time when they had started getting closer than this I had went into the hospital, and they had told me that the only thing they could do for me was watch me or induce me, they would not do anything to stop the labor, nor would they try to save the baby until after 24 weeks. After this if I felt that the contractions were getting stronger or closer together then I would have a couple of glasses of wine. Three different times I was told the baby was not growing when this happened I would take a tablespoon of a mixture of five different seeds, soak these over night and eat them in the morning. I would do this until I felt every thing was fine then I would get lazy and stop, as long as I took the seeds the baby grew, and when ever I stopped it would stop growing. This was some thing one of my sisters had been told to do for her baby when she had been diagnosed with IUGR.
The five seeds are chia, alfalfa, flax, sesame, and red clover. Another thing I noticed was as soon as my water broke my skin went extremely dry so I took large amounts of oils: wheat germ oil, vitamin E oil, and a good fish oil. These are also been known to help lung problems, so I figured they couldn’t hurt. This baby needed all of the help it could get.
At 24 weeks I was admitted to a hospital in Las Vegas, NV, this was about a three hour drive from where I lived, so we moved to Las Vegas and rented an apartment, we figured if the baby did make it, it would be in the hospital for awhile, and all of its doctors would be in Las Vegas. The specialist I had seen in Utah referred me to a specialist there, who also told me all of the possible out comes. He also said that once I was admitted to the hospital I would be there until delivery, he also questioned wither I would be willing to have a c-section for a baby that most likely would not live. We let him know that we were willing to do what ever we could. He did an ultrasound before admitting me, the fluid level was just over 2cm, which was the highest measurement we had had. He said they would do another ultrasound every three weeks since the fluid levels would not make any difference on my treatment they were not worth doing more often than that.
A couple of weeks after I was admitted I stopped leaking, I did not take this for a good sign because I had went a week without leaking before and when they did the ultrasound they could not find any measurable fluid. At about 28 weeks they did another ultrasound and the fluid measured 7cm, and he told me that my baby was a girl until this time they had not been able to tell what it was, my doctor said I might have resealed. After a couple of days they did an amnio dye test, where they injected dye to see if any leaked out, none did. At about 29 weeks I was discharged from the hospital on complete bed rest and was to go into the doctors office for fluid measurements twice a week. At this time the outcome was starting to look a lot better. I also have a blood clotting disorder that required me to have my little boy 6 weeks early because he was under stress. He weighed 3lbs 11oz. and this baby looked to be even smaller. Every week my doctor was amazed to see how much more lung tissue he could see, and how much she had grown and we continued until 37 ½ week when he did a c- section. We still had to have her at a level three neonate unit, with the neonatologist standing by, “just in case”. She let out a good cry, but started to turn a little blue so they took her to check her out for a couple of hours then they brought her to me and said she’s perfect. She weighed 5lb 7oz, and was 17 in long. The doctor acted about as excited as I was to be having this baby, he told every one about what a miracle she was, and how glad he was to be proven wrong.
I don’t know wither the seeds or the oils really helped but I felt better doing all that I could do. I do know that it is not our decision who lives and who dies, I am thank full for all of the prayers on our behalf and acknowledge that they have been answered. We have been blessed.
If anyone would like to contact me they are welcome to email me at lj13@email.com .
All of the stories on this sight were an encouragement unto me, thank you for sharing your grief and your joys. For letting me know that I was not alone. Thank You!