By Natalie, USAMy water broke with baby #4 at 22 weeks 1 day. My husband and I were both devastated, and the thought of having to deliver my baby who was alive was even more heart breaking.
PROM at 22 weeks + 1 days. Delivery at 32 weeks + 1 days.
Story added: 2010-12-22
I was advised to induce labor, there was no measurable amount of fluid around the baby and since I had no history of pregnancy problems I was in my 20's and we could just try again. We knew that our faith in Jesus was so much more powerful and that as long as my health wasn't in jeopardy and the baby was alive we wouldn't terminate. I stayed in the hospital the first week on heavy antibiotics to prevent infection and told not to move ( by a sweet nurse who said she'd only seen a good outcome this early once before). At the end of the week they did an ultrasound and I had 3 cm of fluid. I was wheeled to labor and deliver because my baby was now considered viable if I did deliver. I received 2 betamethasone injections, and stayed on bedrest. At 32 weeks 1 day, also Memorial Day I delivered, vaginally a healthy 4lb 4oz little girl, who breathed on her own, was perfectly formed and nursed the same evening ! Praise God ! I had to deliver after 10 weeks because they said that would be pushing it for infection. My baby always measured 2 weeks bigger and despite what the Dr's thought is now a healthy 2 year old. No developmental delays, no malformations. I rec'd no other "help" other than 24 hour monitoring for her heart rate, and weekly sonograms and amniotic fluid level checks. I never had more than 4.6 cm of amniotic fluid, but she stayed head down. When I did deliver my cervix was 4cm long and I was half a cm dialated.
She stayed in the NICU for 13 days as a "feeder baby" and then came home.
I believe if more women knew they had the choice to fight for their baby as long as they could Dr's would try harder too.
For baby #5, I had a preventative cerclage at 15 weeks and delivered at 35 weeks, with this pregnancy #6, I had a preventative cerclage done at 13.5 weeks