By Joanne, Shrewsbury, MA USA
PROM at 14 weeksDelivery at 14 weeks + 5 days.
Story added: 2007-08-07

My pregnancy was pretty uneventful and I was lucky to have no morning sickness. On May 17th I went into work like normal, only had these nagging cramps. Nothing major at first. Just bothersome. People told me it was round ligament pain. Then the cramping became a little more intense. I called my Dr.'s office, but the nurse said it happens in pregnancy and to call back if I started spotting. I started spotting and called back. The nurse told me to monitor what was going on and call them in the morning if it was worse. I'd have to assume they thought I was outright miscarrying. I was still at work, but knew something was wrong. I called my husband crying. He told me the Dr's office knew what they were doing and not to worry. But as I was sitting in a meeting, I can't explain it other than to say I had terrible pressure and felt like I couldn't feel my bladder. Luckily, my meeting ended and I drove the hour home in silence. Just saying goodbye to my baby. I got home, went to the bathroom and my water broke. Followed by a lot of blood due to abruption from the sudden fluid loss. The Dr's office told me to go to the ER. Worst advice. They had an old ultrasound machine and could tell us nothing after 4 hours, but that the baby was still there. No answer on if it was alive or dead. So they sent us home. The next day my Dr. had us come in for an ultrasound. I had lost all of my fluid, but the baby was still alive. We heard it's heartbeat again and saw how it had been swallowing fluid. Then she told us how bad the outcome was. It broke our hearts seeing our baby's heart working away with no fluid to help it survive. I was referred to a peri at a different hospital. She confirmed the diagnosis. She told us to take the weekend to give ourselves time to absorb the news, but said it was unlikely the tear would heal itself and that the baby would probably die on it's own in less than a week. Or I'd get an infection and would have to terminate. Contractions started again 5 days later. I called the Dr. because nothing was coming out. No blood, no tissue, nothing, but this time I knew what the cramping was. They had me come in right away. I delivered the baby at my Dr's office and had an emergency D & C. Tests showed I had a low grade placental infection (probably from my water being broken) and they couldn't do any testing on the baby as a result. So today, more than two months later, no idea why we lost our beautiful baby and while we prepare to try to get pregnant again, the fear of PROM happening again is always with me.