By Paula Johnson, Gurnee, IL USAAfter over 5 years of infertility, we finally conceived twins via our second IVF/ICSI cycle. We were both just thrilled to be completing our family all at once.
PROM at 19 weeks + 1 days. Delivery at 19 weeks + 1 days.
Story added: 2003-08-11
Other than a couple of early spotting incidents and severe morning sickness, my pregnancy was extremely uneventful until the morning I reached 19w1d. I had suspected something wasn't right, but couldn't put my finger on it. I felt crampy and had had some odd discharge for the past few days.
We had our level II ultrasound scheduled for the next day, and I couldn't wait to find out whether we were having boys, girls, or one of each. Unfortunately, we never got there. I was at work and went to use the restroom. While I was there, my membranes prolapsed and the sac broke. I barely had time to register what had happened before I started to cry hysterically and told the other person in the restroom to call an ambulance.
I was taken to the hospital, where an ultrasound was performed. My water had broken around the B baby (farther from the cervix) and the baby's heart rate was slowing down. I asked over and over whether either of my babies could survive, but no one wanted to tell me the honest truth: that both babies needed to be delivered due to the risk of infection, and their chances of survival were nil. If it had been a simple case of PPROM, there may have been a chance, but I was already dilated to 3 cm by the time I got to the hospital.
I had sporadic contractions throughout the day until I finished dilating at about 11:30 that night. I started to push, and my daughter Grace was born at 11:45 pm. She weighed just 8.8 ounces and was 9.25 inches long. Even though she was the baby with the ruptured sac, she was born with a heart beat and lived for nearly 2 hours.
In the meantime, her brother Adam was delivered with the help of Pitocin at 2:01 am. He was also born alive but only lived for about an hour. He weighed 9.3 ounces and was 9.5 inches long. We had both of our perfect little angels baptized, then cremated and buried at their grandparents' cemetery plot. Not a day goes by that I don't think of them.
Afterward, I was diagnosed with an incompetent cervix and told that I would need a cerclage with my next pregnancy. The next pregnancy turned out to also be a PPROM experience, but one with a happier ending.
Bless all the little PPROM angels, both on earth and in Heaven.
Paula's PAP Story