By Mikki Verissimo, Visalia, Ca USAWell, I am actually excited to share my story. I want to share hope with those of you who seek it on this website. I remember reading these stories over and over again seeking hope. And I did get it.
PROM at 17 weeks + 5 days. Delivery at 32 weeks + 1 days.
Story added: 2007-12-13
I was 39 years old and got pregnant with my husband the first time we tried. I remember thinking Wow that was so easy. Everyone says how its so hard to get pregnant after 35 etc. I couldn't believe our luck. At 6 weeks, I woke up bloody on a Saturday morning. We went to the ER. I got a US. There was a fetal heartbeat. So, the PA told us to go home and take it easy, everything looked okay. And everything was normal for the next 5 weeks.
At 12 weeks, we had an appointment with a specialist to do a CVS test. Because I was over 35, we wanted to test for Downs Syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities. I did not want to wait until week 16 or more for an amniocentisis. My doctor knew my choice would be to terminate if there were problems. I hesitate to print this part, but it is pertinent later in my story. I realize it is not a nice thing to print, however, I know my limits and I know what I am good at. I was very clear about my beliefs to my OB. Also, I am not religious in any way. So, about 5 days before our test, I woke up on a Thursday very bloody and wet. I had a big trial the day before and thought it may have been stress induced. I called the doctor and he saw me that morning. Told me baby looked fine. He saw it swimming around with a healthy heartbeat. He said to inform the specialist. We did and he said to remain on bedrest for the next 4 days prior to our CVS test on Monday. I had no more bleeding.
We did the test. We found out at 12 1/2 weeks we were having a HEALTHY baby girl!! The doctor said that if anything, like spontaeous abortion, were to happen as a result of the procedure, it would occur within 2 weeks. We wanted to wait unitil Mother's day to announce it to everyone (at 14 weeks). We told everyone our great news on Sunday. That Monday, at work, I was sitting in my office on the phone, when I felt a little trickle inside of me. I ignored it. About 2 minutes later, a big rush happened. I was gushing blood. I left work bawling. A co-worker drove me to the doctor. I was bleeding profusely. I was put on bedrest. After 2 weeks, everything seemed normal, so I went back to work at 16 weeks pregnant.
One week later on a Tuesday at about 4:45 pm, I felt a trickle run from inside to outside. I remember thinking, don't panic, you've bled before. Doctor said I might bleed the whole pregnancy. I went to the bathroom prepared to see blood, but...no blood. I was a little wet. I smelled it, thinking, oh no am I already leaking urine. (I had read that is a possibility!) At around 5pm, I felt the trickle again. I called my doctor on the way home from work. He said how much? I said a couple teaspoons full. He said it sounds like urine leakage. I told him, I knew it wasn't because it didn't smell like it, but more importantly, I know when I am peeing! I can feel it. It wasn't urine. He told me to come in in the morning, and to go to the hospital if it got worse that night. I walked in the house and changed from work while I was telling my husband the newest situation. He said, its probably urine. I knew it wasn't. And as I undressed, the fluid was steadily trickling out. I sat down for about an hour holding tissue to my shorts while we talked about what it could be. Finally, when I got up, there was a huge puddle and finally a big gush of water came running down my legs. I started bawling. We went to the hospital. My doctor came there and examined me. As soon as he put his head down to look at me, I saw the expression on his face. I was crying so hard. I said, its amniotic fluid isn't it? He said, I'm afraid it is. I am so sorry. I was hysterical sobbing. I remember asking over and over what this meant. And he just said, it isn't good. I wanted to know exactly what it meant though. Having never had a child before, I didn't really understand the water breaking thing. I really didn't know what was happening. He said the main concern is infection and delivery. He said to go home on bedrest and to go to the hospital if I felt any painful cramping or heavy bleeding or had a high fever. He said he would schedule a home nurse for me to monitor the heart beat and take my CBC for infection watch. Other than that, he said to remain on bedrest until the baby was viable which was 24 weeks. I said and then what? He said and then we shoot for 2 more weeks. And we keep going for 2 weeks at a time. But, first I had to hold on for 6 1/2 more weeks.
I went home hysterical sobbing. I didn't understand what was happening. I was already so in love with my little Tava. We had already named her. I was distraght. After that, I was on home bedrest with home monitoring 3 x's weekly. My OB did not want me in a car to go to his office. We kept our 20 week US. We had an AFI of 6.7. The OB said I might carry to term and then lose the baby because the lungs didn't develop. I remember during this phase of the journey hating my OB! He never told me any of the facts. I was learning them as I went along week by lonely week. I would get on the computer and research the issue. I would read any and everything I could about the topic.
At around 24 weeks, my OB informed me, I was going to the hospital. I remember being shocked. He never told me things ahead of time. It was around that time that I found this website. I had steroids at 24 weeks and at 28 weeks. I had a week's worth of antibiotics. I had an AFI of about 5 the whole time. I had weekly US. She was growing perfectly! I got gestational diabetes. The hospital sucked. I cried all the time. My husband stayed with me everynight. There was little hope. As the weeks slowly passed, I gained a small bit of hope. I bled at 30 weeks for a day.
At 32 weeks, 1 day, I started cramping. I cramped all day. Finally at about 8 pm, I called the nurse. She listened to the baby's HR. I had developed a fever. They called for a crash c-section. Everything was happening so fast. The time had come to find out if my baby was going to be born alive. I was sooooo scared. I cried so hard. And they just kept telling me to breathe. I was put under immediately. When I awoke, mu husband was standing above me and I asked if she was alive. He said yes. Then I asked if she had lungs. He said yes, she has lungs. I cried and cried and cried.
Tava Leigh spent the next 7 weeks in the NICU. She came home just shy of her DD. She spent many weeks on O2. That was her only issue. She had immauture lungs. She is perfect in everyway. She is really a cute, happy 3 month old. She is small, but she is mighty. She was born at 3 lbs, 8 oz and 16 1/4 inch. She is 9 lbs and 21 inches!!! She is everything to me and I have such an amazing and deep bond with her. She is my first and my only. I will never go through this again. I will not put my family, including her through this. especially when it is a possibility and we had such a great outcome. I consider myself fully blessed and complete with her!
It's funny, since I got on this website, I noticed that many (almost all) women were told to terminate. They were given the worst case scenerio and they were mad about that. I was not told anything. Termination was not even mentioned. And my doctor knew how I felt about that! He knew I was kind of clinical about it. He is a Mormon and I used to think maybe he had his own religious views involved. I was mad about not being told anything!! I don't know what choice I would have made if he had told me all of the very real facts about my situation. Today, I know this, I am very grateful for the way it turned out. I am glad that he did not mentuion termination. I am lucky that I had a doctor who kept me in the dark. I went to see him for my 6 week check up and I asked him why he was that way with my Pprom. He said, he knew that if it were him or his wife, they would not have given up hope. And that, my friends is what it was all about. HOPE.