By Tanya, MN USAFirst of all, I want to say that this is a wonderful site. It got me through my 10 weeks on bedrest. I e-mailed people and got such great support from them.
PROM at 23 weeks + 5 days. Delivery at 33 weeks + 2 days.
Story added: 2003-05-11
Here's my story. My water broke at 23 weeks 5 days while I was napping. They told me that 90% of women will deliver within 1 week of PROM. I was devastated. I thought for sure that everything was over. I was taken by ambulance an hour away from my town to a hospital that had a good NICU. To make a long story short, I was there on bedrest for 10 weeks! I was able to get up to go to the bathroom and have a sitting shower daily. When I got to 30 weeks, I was able to take a daily wheelchair ride around the hospital. I was so sick of being in the hospital, the food, nurses, etc. Luckily I had a laptop computer and internet access, so I researched PPROM and got a support group going. It was so great.
I had weekly ultrasounds, almost all of which showed no fluid. At one point, I had an AFI of 10, and I was so happy, but low and behold, the next week, it was back down to 0. My baby was head down the whole time, and I think that helped. I also took everyone's advice and drank lots of water (my dr. said it didn't matter, but I believed it helped). I leaked fluid constantly. They told me that was a good sign because it showed that the baby was continuing to make fluid. The neonatologist came in and explained about pulmonary hypoplasia. I was devastated and feared my baby would have this. I just continued to hope and pray everyday. Then ultrasounds were also off on the baby's weight estimates. A few days before I delivered, the ultrasound estimated my baby to weigh 3 lbs 11 oz, and she actually weighed 5 lbs 5 oz!! I started contracting a few days before my baby was born. They told me that was normal because I was getting farther along. I knew something was about to happen. The contractions started at 5am and I started bleeding, so my dr. decided it was time. My baby girl, Paige, was born at 33 weeks via C-section (due to a previous classical C-section) weighing 5 lbs. 5 oz. She was a huge 33 weeker!! She came out crying, but later had to be put on the high frequency ventilator as the conventional one just wasn't doing it for her. We were so scared because they referred to her as being "very sick". She was on the vent. a total of 2 weeks, and then on to nasal canula, and home 2 weeks later, so she was in the NICU for a total of 4 weeks. She has now been home for a month and is doing great. She is not on any meds or monitors. She's now like a healthy newborn. The neonatologist suspects that she had mild pulmonary hypoplasia but couldn't confirm the diagnosis. She is truly a miracle! For those of you out there on bedrest, don't give up hope and don't dwell on all the negatives you will hear. Take one day at a time and have faith. The NICU experience is very stressful, but you will be able to get through it. A very hard part of all of this was being away from my husband and son. They were able to come and see me but not often enough.
* My first child was born at 26 weeks. I went into labor and was completely dilated at 24 weeks, but was on complete bedrest for 2 1/2 weeks and delivered him at 26 weeks weighing 2 lbs. 2 oz. He is now 2 1/2 years old and is as normal as ever (naughty too)! He has no disabilities except that he just got glasses to correct a lazy eye. Hopefully he won't need them very long.
* The doctors cannot tell me why these totally different premature deliveries happened to me. I wish I knew why and am scared to try to get pregnant again.
God Bless!