By April, Maplewood, NJ USAWhen I found out I was pregnant last March, I anticipated an easy/smooth pregnancy -- thinking that the hardest part about it would be taking care of the baby once he/she was born! It was my first pregnancy so I was nervous about being a new mom. My 20 week scan on July 7 went fine, and I learned I was having a girl! At 21 weeks, I happened to be staying over at a friend's house after a girls' night out in New York City, and I thought I had "wet" the bed ... mistakenly thinking that the baby had pressed on my bladder and made me leak a little. This happened several times during the subsequent weeks, but I was busy traveling (made 3 work trips involving long flights) and I just thought it was probably normal. I mentioned the leaking to my doctor during my monthly check up on August 8 ... what a day that turned out to be! She quickly checked my fluid levels and did a test on the fluid, and told me there was a big problem. I remember her saying to me that the best case scenario was that I would go to the hospital and not come out until the baby was born!! At this point I was at 24 weeks and 4 days... so I was completely shocked. I walked the three blocks to the hospital, called my husband, and began the nightmarish stay.... the doctors in labor and delivery told me there was a 90% chance I'd deliver the baby that day -- or within a week -- and I was immediately confined to a bed and not allowed to get up, even to go to the bathroom. We had a visit from the neonatologist, who told us that babies born at 24 weeks have a 50/50 chance of surviving, and the ones that do survive have a 50% chance that something major will be wrong (retardation, blindness, etc.). My husband and I cried together ... and we spent that first night listening to another woman give birth next door -- screaming for hours. My doctor came to visit the next day and told me that she would have recommended I terminate the pregnancy had I come in even a week prior ... but since I was already at 24 weeks, I didn't have a choice but to stay there until I delivered the baby. The hope was that I'd go as long as possible ... but the doctor kept saying the problem was we didn't know about the "lung development" -- and couldn't know for sure until the baby was born. I kept asking what that meant exactly - and she would say it could mean that the baby would have trouble breathing -- or even have "no lungs" ... I couldn't believe I might have a baby that couldn't breathe.
PROM at 21 weeksDelivery at 33 weeks.
Story added: 2006-11-25
They gave me steroid shots and ultimately I was moved to a different area of the hospital where I had a roommate. She had just delivered a baby and there were balloons and celebrations... it wasn't easy. Most of the subsequent roommates I had were also "ante partum" patients, but they were in the hospital for much shorter stays of course. After the first day, they let me get up and go to the bathroom. After about four days, and lots of begging, the doctor let me take showers, but said I should sit down while showering. I had twice weekly scans where my fluid levels ranged from 2.2 cms (when I arrived at the hospital) up to as high as 7.5 cms, but mostly hovered between 4 and 5 cms. I tried to drink a lot of water, but it wasn't easy. I leaked every day and wore a pad -- and the leaking increased each week I was there. That first week, one of the hospital doctors came to say, "Don't think even if you make it to 28 or 29 weeks you are out of the woods..." alluding to the potential lung problem. My husband and I didn't know what to do or say... I cried a lot and tried to think about other things. Luckily I was in the middle of New York City where we'd lived for the past 7 years (before moving to the suburbs a few months before), so I had lots of friends that could come and visit easily. And I had a portable DVD player and internet access... so I kept working as much as I could (I work in public relations and much of my work is email/phone based.) We had just bought a house and spent all of our savings on the down payment, closing costs and moving -- so I was very concerned that my boss would stop paying me ... luckily this didn't happen. The next 8 weeks, I just tried to survive hospital life -- temperature checks every four hours, a series of roommates (some good, some bad), and no privacy. Every morning at 6 a.m. I was awakened by the resident asking about my condition, which changed very little while I was there. It was the hardest time of my life, because not only was I stuck in a hospital away from my husband and home, but I had plenty of time to think about what might be wrong with my baby... it was torture. When I hit 30 weeks, I begged the doctor to let me go home and spend the rest of my pregnancy there on bedrest. She brought it up at the staff meeting the next day and came back saying that they "unanimously" decided it was best for the baby if I stayed in the hospital. Apparently the risk of infection was too great, and if I were to get infected at home, I wouldn't recognize it nearly as fast as if I were in the hospital where they would catch it immediately. I never fully understood why it was necessary that I be at the hospital, especially after four weeks of nothing happening, but I tried to think of my baby and I read lots of the stories/emails from this PROM web site to keep me strong and focused. The next four weeks moved slowly ... I cried every few days and was in a state of despair/depression frequently. Hospital life really started to get to me... and I wasn't allowed outside or off the floor due to "liability issues" ... even though finally my doctor agreed to let me walk down the hall to the patient lounge when I wanted. Finally, at 32 weeks and 5 days, I noticed bleeding one night -- and they moved me immediately to labor & delivery, where I started having contractions. I called my husband and we both thought the baby would be born that night/morning, but contractions subsided after about 6 hours. I was moved back to my room to keep waiting. On Friday morning (two days later, at 33 weeks), I woke up feeling restless and unsettled -- a different feeling than I'd had the entire time in the hospital. I had a feeling I was going to have the baby that night... and so I spent the morning wrapping up a couple of important work projects. That afternoon, a friend came to visit and told me she was worried about me -- I didn't look like myself. About 9pm that night, I started having contractions again. They were strong and regular -- every 10 minutes or so. I told the nurse and was moved again back to labor & delivery. My doctor came to see me and told my husband and me that they wanted to go ahead and induce labor. Since I was at 33 weeks and had been bleeding/contracting off and on for 3 days, they felt the baby was trying to tell us something... and the baby would be safer "out" than "in" at this point. We quickly agreed and two hours later I was given Pitocin and the contractions became very, very strong and painful. I had an epidural a few hours later which took away all the pain, and managed to sleep. Around noon the next day we had a visit from a neonatologist/pediatrician who told us that she and another doctor would be in the room during the delivery and that they would quickly take the baby to the NICU and come back within an hour to tell us how she was doing. She said not to expect to be able to hold the baby. Two hours later, I was fully dialated and the doctor told me to start pushing. About 20 minutes after that, Violet Jane was born ... I heard a small cry from her and knew that she could breathe!! It was the most beautiful sound I could have imagined. My husband and I both started crying... the doctors worked her over a bit, and then let both of us hold her briefly before taking her to the NICU. 20 minutes later they came back and told us she was going to be just fine. They ultimately did an x ray and we learned later that day that there were no lung issues at all! Because she was 7 weeks premature, and small (she was born 4 pounds 6 ounces) she had to stay in the NICU for 3 weeks ... she had to learn to "suck" from a bottle and maintain her temperature, but she never needed help breathing. The time in the NICU was hard -- especially after the first week when I was mostly recovered physically and ready to spend time relaxing with my baby. She developed a colon infection and had to be on an IV ... it was not easy seeing her in the incubator with tubes/needles piercing her skin. But we finally got to take her home, and she's now gaining weight! Her actual due date was November 24, which we just passed yesterday, and she's now over 7 pounds. I couldn't be more relieved and thankful that it's turned out OK. My husband and I are hoping that the next year we don't go through any more trauma, as this year has been extremely stressful for both of us, but we love our baby so much.... she is such a blessing. I went back for a check up with my doctor, and she told me that they are calling Violet a "miracle" -- and that it may change the way they treat future patients, since if I'd come in at 21 weeks when I first started leaking, they would have encouraged me to terminate the pregnancy. She said they didn't have any idea why I didn't go into labor for 8 1/2 weeks, and why I finally did go into labor suddenly... she said they blame it on the full moon...
Please feel free to email me with any questions as I'd love to be a help/resource for other women with PROM if I can.