By Tharyn Thomas, Gladstone, QLD Australia
PROM at 21 weeks + 2 days. Delivery at 22 weeks + 1 days.
Story added: 2008-01-19

Hi, I've tossed and turned on the idea of posting a story to this board, but I'm at a stage where I feel I just should - if not to just get it out there in writing - but also for others to realise that they aren't the only ones going through it.

On 23rd May 2007, I was getting ready to head into the local hospital for an ultrasound - I had one at 19w4d, but they had found that my uteris appeared to be opening and had sent me directly to the specialist at the hospital. (In this town, given that it's so small - it's not all about OB's - the specialists all appear to be in the local public hospitals)

The specialist had looked at the scans and read the reports and didn't believe that my cervix was opening as such, it just appeared to be longer than normal - but given had I had already carried a pregnancy to full term - he did not believe that I had an incompetent cervix.

So, he booked me in for an ultrasound and wasn't going to give the information of the previous ultrasound to the sonographer as he wanted an unbiased opinion.

So, I went to empty my bladder - so that I could fill it ready for the ultrasound and whilst sitting on the toilet, my waters broke.

With my first pregnancy - as I'd had a DVT and I was on blood thinners - I was having to give birth to my child at a hospital in a town over an hours drive - so they didn't want to risk me going into labour and then having to drive to the town (as the blood thinners may have caused excessive bleeding) - so they induced me. Because of this, I had no idea what waters breaking was like - I just thought that for some reason I was unable to stop myself weeing, then I started to panick.

I tried to stay positive and maybe it was all just in my head.. so I went and had a shower - and the water continued to gush... then I knew that it wasn't urine.

My husband was out of town, so I telephoned my mother and said that I believed that my waters had broken - she arranged for my brother to come and look after my daughter and she came and drove me up to the hospital.

I was a mess, this was now the second pregnancy I'd had that hadn't gone right.

We went in, the doctors confirmed that my waters had broken, I went in for the ultrasound and my waters were decreased - but - I was told by the doctors that most people go into labour within the first two days - after that if you can make it past a week - then there's hope...

I was sent up to Maternity where they were going to look at keeping me at first, then the specialist came in and said that I'd be better off at home as there is less risk of infection in a home environment. But I was to be on complete bedrest for the following four months of the pregnancy.

Having been bedridden for part of my first pregnancy - I knew that at the end the outcome was worth it. My parents organised for me to stay at their place and my husband and daughter came down there to stay also (it's only a few blocks from our place - but with my husband working away as much as he does - I needed someone that could look after my daughter - but also bring meals to me etc).

While being bedridden, I read up on pPROM and I read all of the "green" stories on this board... my hopes were increasing..

I was booked in to visit the Dr on the Wednesday - and I felt that I was getting so close.. I almost felt like I would manage to get through it.

On the Tuesday morning, I got up to go to the toilet and I had a slightly yellowy discharge - I wasn't overly concerned as I was told that if I'd had an infection then I'd smell it - as well as having a tenderness - I didn't have these things, but I wanted just to be sure.

When Mom got home from work, she came down to see me and I told her what I'd found.

She took me up to the hospital straight away and I was put straight into one of the delivery rooms so that the doctor could examine me.

My mother had to head out to pick up my daughter, so she was not present while the examination took place.

At first the examination seemed ok, he was happy that it wasn't an infection. Unfortunately, on further examination - he found that the cord had prolapsed.

He advised me that the baby had died - Mom returned about 10mins later - I told her what had happened and we arranged for the nurses to induce labour so that I could deliver the baby.

My husband was out of town again, I phoned him and he headed straight home. He arrived about an hour before I delivered our little girl, Chloe.

She was beautiful, she was perfectly formed.

I was advised by the Doctors that there was an infection in the amniotic fluid and this was what had caused the rupture - but there was nothing they could have done to have prevented it and there's no way of testing for it without increasing the risk of introducing an infection (by sticking needles into the amniotic fluid every week or so).

In September we got pregnant again and in November I went into the Doctors for a routine checkup, she advised that she had a mini-ultrasound machine that she could use so that I could have a sneak peak at our new baby. I was 10 weeks and 2 days. When she did the scan, it was revealed that the baby had died at about 6 weeks and my body hadn't registered the miscarriage.

We are currently thinking about trying again and I know in my head that both situations were "just one of those things" - but with two of them in just one year it makes it a little harder to remain positive.