By Danielle, New York NY
PROM at 20 weeksDelivery at 25 weeks.
Story added: 2012-06-29

I am the proud mommy of two boys, Rex (2yrs old) and Jack (who became an angel on 3/2/12). My first pregnancy with Rex was really textbook. I got pregnant right away, carried full term. I was 3 days past my due date, induced and delivered a healthy, 8lb 9oz baby boy..who is amazing. Then last fall, it was time to try again for baby brother/sister. A few weeks into the pregnancy I did have some spotting (this was different from my first/no bleeding) and I was a little bit more nauses. But the earlier part of my pregnancy seem to be similar to my first experience. Nuchol fine/blood work fine...was on track. I did however, have to fly to Las Vegas from NYC for a work conference leading up to my 20th week/anatomy scan. I had flown while pregnant with Rex a few times and one occasion was for a babymoon when I was pretty far along, so I didn't think there wud be any risk in flying. While at the conference, I noticed that my underwear was a little wet, but not soaking and i never felt a leak. I brushed it off as being maybe urine. Since at that point, I was visibly pregnant and thot the baby was probably just sitting on my bladder. I took a red eye (never take a red eye...especially when pregnant) back to NYC on a wednesday and went to my scheduled anatomy scan on Thursday. Going into the appointment, my husband and I were both joking around, in good spirits...the tech said she has to leave the room b/c she was having difficulty seeing something. the tech left the room and she was gone for a while...then instead of her coming back, a doctor came back....so this is really where my PROM sorry begins..The doctor who came back said there was a "suboptimal situation...unclear, but there was something wrong with the baby". thick nuchol, heart, ecogenic bowels,the fluid was very low. And they said it would be best to terminate. I told them that until they told me there was something really wrong with the baby, I would not consider a termintation (not sure if i ever wud). Over the next few days-week, we tested the baby for everything. I had repeat sonogram - ecogenic bowel/fine, ruled out. I went to a heart specialist that afternoon to check the baby's heart, all good. the next day, we had an amnio, the results came back a few days later fine. they took some of my blood/my husbands/amniotic fluid and sent it to baylor university to have a microarray analysis done (this is basically looking at every chromosome)..in hopes of finding out "what is wrong with the baby?", again, everything comes back ok. they sent me to get a fetal mri, again nothing wrong with the baby. But throughout all of this testing..the doctors were not diligent about testing my fluid for a leak. I didn't have the dye test. I put myself on bedrest b/c i was convinced it was a fluid issue and nothing was wrong. I chugged water/conconut h20 and prayed. Each positive result gave me more hope. I was also getting biweekly sonogram check to make sure there was enough fluid and the chart the baby's growth. the baby was growing and consistently in the 80%, no growth issues. They was always a single pocket that was borderline oligohynamous. We kept on being urged to terminate, but I had to fight for the baby. Even my husband and I were debating it. It was obviously a very stressful time. Well, leading up to 24weeks (which is legal termination in state of NY), I was scheduled for a second opinion anatomy scan on thursday...I became 24 weeks the following monday. The Tuesday before the appointment, I woke up with blood in my urine. I immediately went to the hospital. they checked the fluid/blood (negative for leaking amnoitic fluid), my cervix was really long and I wasn't dialated. and there was a decent pocket for the baby. my doctor, dr suboptimal and my husband stood over me and ask me why I wanted to continue. I told them that until someone could tell me what was wrong. I would not terminate. Then, thursday came, time for my second opinion! This doctor was not affliated with my dr. or dr. subpoptimal and he was very positive, he said there is nothing wrong with this baby, it has a beautiful brain and he didn't see any reason to terminate...finally, someone on my side! so, we breath a small sigh of relief. I go home to stay on my left side and drink fluid. I continued to bleed, it wasn't a lot of bleeding, but come the weekend, I check in again to the hospital to make sure I wasn't in labor or leaking and they send me back home. then I passed the 24 week mark...no looking back. Again, lite bleeding. Then, the weekend leading up to 25week mark. Saturday evening I started having severe back pain. I woke up on Sunday and it was unbearable. I knew I was in labor. Again back to the hospital...my cervix had shorten from 5 to 3, but no "registered" contractions...they sent me home w/extra strength tylenol,telling me it was a backache. All sunday afternoon and night, I was in pain. On Monday morning, I had a schedule sonogram (so I knew I was going back to the hospital). I continue to labor and then Monday, I went in for my sonogram check...and there is NO FLUID and my cervix was now 1.5cm and I was in labor (Really guys, I thot that on Sunday morning!) I then said I wanted steriod shots b/c if the baby was going to come out early (I had asked a week early, but they said it doesn't make sense until u are delivering in 48hrs), I wanted to make sure his lungs wud have a chance to develop. I also ask for medicine to slow down my contractions. It took a while for them to eventually admit and hook me up to the monitors and get the steriod shots. My doctor thot given that I was passing blood, they I shud maybe let nature take it's course and not slow down the contractions. They ended up giving me the medicine, but it was too late, I was in full fledge labor. My doctor arrived at the hospital examine me and I was 8.5cm dialated. they were able to give me an epidural and I delivered Jack at 6:17pm on Feb 27th, he was 1lb 14oz. and he cried! His lungs were working and he came out alive. After I delivered Jack, my doctor delivered my placenta, which she sent to the lab for testing (a few days later the placenta came back infected). Baby Jack was so sweet and looked so much like his big brother. He came out a little bruised, but after a two day the bruises went away. I was sooo happy to meet him. He lived in the NICU for 4 days and passed on Friday 3/2. He suffered a severe brain bleed. It was of course really sad to say goodbye to him. I was able to hold him while he was passing. He lived for 2 hours and went peacefully. There isn't a day that I don't think about him. He was due on 6/11/12, so June has been a bit of a sad month, but over course, his spirit lives on. Now, my husband I are healing and enjoying time with our 2yr old. We would like to try again, but want to make sure we are ready and have the proper medical team in place. I can say have no regrets about how I fought to meet baby Jack. The four days I had with him and saying goodbye peacefully were so special. I'm hoping to have another successful pregnancy. If anyone in NYC knows of doctors who specialize in pregnancy after prom. Please let me know. thanks for listening and reading my story. God bless you, your babies and angels. Danielle