By Janet, Coralville, Iowa United States
PROM at 19 weeks + 4 days. Delivery at 32 weeks + 6 days.
Story added: 2006-12-15

I am writing Addison's PROM story with tears of graditude and joy in my heart. Our little Addison's journey started out rocky from the very beginning. Her mother, my niece, and her father had HOPEd for a baby for a long time and finally they were pregnant last May. In July, my neice started to bleed and we were all afraid of miscarriage. We found out she had an endocervical polyp & there wasn't much they could do to stop the bleeding, with it being on the cervix & all. We were grateful that was "all" it was, & her pregnancy continued thru her bleeding. Then Sept 12th, as she was getting ready for work, as a nurse at the University of Iowa Hospital, Jenni felt a gush of water. HOPing, against HOPE, this was just a small leakage, perhaps even incontinence, she ignored the leaking. As the morning progressed the leaking became more prevalent & she couldn't deny it. She went immediately to L&D & called her husband, who came racing to her side. At the time, Jenni was due Feb 4th, and it was Sept 12th. They had just found out they were to be parents of a little girl, about 10 days before PROM. The doctors and nurses were very good and even HOPEful, but they also had to tell them the odds were that Jenni would go into labor within 7-10 days. Like all the other PROM stories, they were told what they might have to face. All they could do was go home & HOPE to make it to 24 weeks. Jenni left work that day & hasn't returned. We scoured the internet & I found this website which has given us all HOPE. Jenni drank as much water as she could each day, but she continued to leak. Her AFI at the beginning was very bleak, maybe 1-2. Each week they did an ultrasound to see if there was more fluid. We inched our way to 24 weeks, and she was hospitalized on 10/11, when our little girl was considered "viable". We prayed & HOPED for another day, another week, another month. Jenni's mom, my sister, was able to stay with her most of the days, and her husband stayed each night with her. We had a sign on her window that said, "The way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time". That was our philosophy, one bite, one hour, one day at a time. The time went by & our little girl continued to grow. Her AFI got as high as 3-4 at one time, (5 is critical). We all prayed and HOPED for our miracle and today, December 14th we received it!. Jenni went into labor at 2:30 a.m., Addison was born C-section at 4:08 and came out screaming and CRYING. Her lungs had developed! The steroid shots had done their job, Jenni had staved off infection and our little, Addison HOPE, is here. She is a whopping 3lbs 15 oz! I wanted all the other families out there to know our story because it can be yours too. Don't give up HOPE as you have read in the other stories on this sight. Continue to pray to our God that He will give you and your family the strength to withstand all that is to come & with God by your side you too will get through this nightmare. May all of you have the miracle we received today & God bless all of our babies.