By Kristina, Oregon USAWhen I first discovered I was pregnant, I had some mild bleeding, which I've since read may be linked with PROM. At the time, however, I was told that some bleeding was common in early pregnancy, and that the baby would either miscarry or be fine--There was nothing to be done.
PROM at 20 weeksDelivery at 25 weeks + 2 days.
Story added: 2006-01-01
Our baby didn't miscarry, but at 20 weeks into the pregnancy, I went to the emergency room with what felt like mild contractions, about 5 minutes apart. I was examined and told everything was fine and that what I was feeling might be gastrointestinal. The following evening I had a headache, and sat down to watch a movie with my husband. When I got up from my seat at the end of the movie, liquid gushed out of me. This wasn't a small amount of liquid. I'd read that amniotic fluid smells like Comet cleaner, but this liquid had no smell at all. I wondered if maybe I had some sort of infection.
After a rather sleepless night (where the liquid kept pouring out of me), I called my doctor and met him in the emergency room. He tested the fluid, but the test was inconclusive. He also looked at the fluid under a microscope, watching for the "ferning" that typifies amniotic fluid. The fluid did not fern (I later learned that amniotic fluid often does not fern when looked at so early in a pregnancy). Finally, the doctor did an ultrasound. Even I could see that the amniotic fluid around our baby Anastasia was down to nothing. I was sent home and told to stay on bed rest until I could see specialist a few days later.
The day I saw the perintologist was the worst day of my life. He had nothing to say that was positive. He explained to me how important amniotic fluid was to the baby at this stage, and told me that she would probably not be able to breathe at birth. He also said that if she somehow managed to breathe, she would probably have bone malformations, because there was virtually no amniotic fluid to protect her. I was in utter shock.
The specialist advised me to "terminate the pregnancy," which I immediately refused to do. He told me that I would probably then miscarry within two weeks. With that, he sent me home for more bed rest, and told me to look for signs of infection and see my obstetrician weekly.
Our daughter (who we now named Anastasia) didn't miscarry, and I did not develop an infection, so the plan was to admit me into the hospital at the beginning of my 25th week, if Anastasia made it that far. At this time, I would be on hospital bed rest, and would get steroid shots to help Anastasia's lungs develop. When I questioned why I couldn't do all this sooner rather than later, nobody gave me a straight forward answer, other than the idea that the baby wasn't "viable" until 25 weeks or so. This was upsetting, but the fact that Anastasia hadn't miscarried in two weeks gave me some confidence. I was going to carry this baby at least until 25 weeks, I decided.
When the end of week 24 arrived, I once again felt contractions. When I called my doctor, he sounded glum and said, "Well, at this stage, I don't think we'd attempt any heroics--no C-section." I mentioned contraction-reducing drugs, and he said yes they could do that, but that they rarely worked well for a woman whose water was already broken. But once I got to the emergency room that night, the contractions subsided. Since I was scheduled to check into the hospital the following day, my doctor decided to admit me that evening instead.
The following day I had one steroid shot. The next day I had another. And so I settled in for what I thought would be a somewhat long stay in the hospital.
The day after the nurses told me the steroid shots had done all the good they were going to do, I started having contractions again. They came and went, but eventually became pretty strong. My doctor prescribed a contraction-reducing medicine. This worked well for a day, until I got up to take a shower...and then the contractions started up again. They continued to get stronger, until I was in real pain.
My obstetrician came to the hospital at about 5:20 pm, and preparations began for Anastasia's delivery. The doc did an ultrasound to see if the baby was still breech; she was. He did a physical exam to see if I was dilated; I was not. I told him I wanted a C-section, because I felt it was best for Anastasia. He didn't like the idea of doing this (because of what it would mean for future pregnancies), but he consulted my perintologist, who concluded he should go ahead with a C-section, just so that I would feel everything possible had been done to save Anastasia. I believe they fully expected my baby to die.
At 5:57 pm, my doctor pulled Anastasia out from me and handed her to the neonatologist. He stuck a tube down her throat and tried to resuscitate her. I later heard from a nurse who was present that they had a difficult time getting oxygen into Anastasia's lungs, and felt sure this baby was not going to make it. But they were (once again!) wrong. Anastasia was resuscitated. She weighed 1 lb. 13 oz., and had no malformations. She was born at exactly 25 weeks and 2 days...And, I understand, one week after abortions are legal.
Initially, Anastasia was in a private room, hooked up to a ventilator that did all her breathing for her. The pressure of the oxygen being pushed into her made one of her lungs "pop." She had emergency surgery to prevent air from escaping through the hole, which has since healed. Anastasia was also diagnosed with Chronic Lung Disease, and PDA and PFO (heart murmur), and was treated for the latter with medication. She graduated to a ventilator that only breathed when she didn't, and then started breathing on her own with a CPAP machine. Almost immediately, she was transferred to a Vaportherm machine that gave her less oxygen than the CPAP. We were now allowed to hold her.
She was moved to a "public" part of the NICU, and just sailed along--until she started having a lot of Bradys (where she stopped breathing and her heart rate dropped dramatically). She scared the nurses several times, and had to be "bagged" (oxygen hand-pumped into her mouth). The neonatologist tested her for infection, and it came back positive. This, they said, was probably why she was having trouble breathing again.
So she went back on the ventilator and was treated with antibiotics. About ten days later, she quit the medication, and was back to her usual self. She gave us a few other scares; once she aspirated, and later on, was diagnosed with ROP eye problems (that, so far, have not required surgery or intervention).
133 days after she was born (and one month after her original due date), we brought Anastasia home. Although the doctors all believed she'd go home on oxygen, she didn't. Instead, she's an 11 lb. 5 oz. wonder, and looks like any other healthy newborn. Even the most doom-and-gloom neonatologist at the hospital smiles and calls her "the miracle baby."
Don't lose hope. Your baby could just as easily be on the positive side of those horrible statistics you're hearing!
www.kristinaseleshanko.com/baby.htm