This is our 2nd PROM story, and it had
a very different result.
My first pregnancy ended by PPROM at 20
weeks and the delivery of my beautiful
little angel, Madeline Marie, at 22
weeks. The months after loosing our
daughter were tremendously difficult.
The questions of Why and How were never
far from my thoughts.
After finding a new 'high risk' doctor
who came highly recommended, we met
with her to discuss what had happened.
She said that even though my cervix was
closed when I ruptured in my first
pregnancy, that it is her experience
that the 2nd pregnancy will often show
an incompetent cervix. She promised to
be very conservative when / if we
decided to try again. So, my husband
and I finally decided to start
fertility treatments again in December
2003, 4 months after loosing our
daughter.
After 3 IUI treatments we were pregnant
again, and VERY nervous. The week
after we had the positive test, we had
a trip planned to Hawaii for a family
wedding and the dr assured me it would
be ok to travel. Half way through our
trip I had a small amount of spotting
that lasted about 5 days. As soon as
we got home, we had an ultrasound to
assure us that everything was ok and
the baby had a heartbeat. She then saw
us every week for an ultrasound and to
measure my cervix. Everything
progressed beautifully, even with our
panicking around the 20-24 week marks.
I wanted to throw a party at 24 weeks
then again at 28 weeks. However, at my
28 week appointment, she noticed that
my cervix was significantly shorter and
a non-stress test showed that I was
having contractions every 3-4 minutes.
So we were admitted and given drugs to
stop the contractions and the steroid
shots just in case. The contractions
never stopped, but I was sent home 2
days later on strict bed rest. I was
to lie flat on my back and only get up
for bathroom trips or showers every
other day. I went back every week for
ultrasounds which thankfully showed no
further thinning or dilation. My
husband was terrific and the baby (we
knew at this point that it was a BOY)
kept me very busy by being so active
and having his daily hiccups!
At 34 weeks I was allowed to get out of
bed for 1 hour a day and with that 1
hour I made my husband take me to the
mall. We had NOTHING for this baby
yet. I was too nervous to get anything
in the beginning and then just when I
started to feel a little more confident
that this baby was coming home, I was
confined to bed!! So at the mall, I
really started to feel my contractions
pick up and sure enough the next
morning when I woke up, my water
broke! I knew right away what it was
and we went right to the hospital. Even
though we were at 34 weeks, we were a
nervous wreck driving to the hospital.
It didn't help that the baby chose this
point to become completely IN-active.
When we got there, I was dilated to 3
cm. Five hours later, Benjamin Allan
was born weighing in at 6 lbs 4 oz.
Not too bad for a preemie. He had some
initial breathing trouble and was
ventilated for a day. He spent 10 days
in the NICU for typical preemie
problems - eating, jaundice, weight
gain. Then the happiest day of our
life came when we were able to actually
bring Benjamin home.
I can't explain how relieved and
overjoyed we were to have our little
boy home with us. He is amazing. He
is now 15 months old and just
perfect. I know our little girl is
looking out for him and us every day.
My heart goes out to every family that
has had to go through PROM. Every day
you are pregnant is a miracle. If you
are in the middle if this, hang on!
There are hundreds of people that are
thinking about you and praying for you
everyday. It is such a stressful
experience; you need all the support
you can get. Make sure you have a
great doctor that will listen to you
and do everything possible to help
you.
Thank you for reading our story.
Angela´s first
PROM Story >>
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