By Lisa, Des Moines, Iowa USA
PROM at 15 weeks + 1 days. Delivery at 24 weeks + 1 days.
Story added: 2007-08-11

We had tried 8 months to get pregnant with our second child. We were so happy to see a positive test! The pregnancy started out with problems early on. I had spotting that my doctor contributed to a couple of polyps, one of which was on my mucus plug. At 15 weeks I awoke to find myself soaked. I attributed to wetting myself during my sleep as it was not a large gush like I would have expected with PROM. I went to the doctor anyway. The ultrasound showed normal fluid levels and everything ok. Two days later I returned for a follow-up and the fluid level was nearly 0, I believe they measured it around 2. We were devastate. We were told the horror stories and that the chances for survival were minimal and the risks to me were great. We decided that it wasn't our decision to decide the fate of our baby's life and continued the pregnancy. I was at home on bedrest for 9 weeks. At 24 weeks I started to feel stomach cramps. For fear of having an infection I went to see the doctor around 3:00. He decided to admit me to the hospital for monitoring. My husband took me home to pack up a few things and by the time we headed back to the hospital, about an hour later, I was having extremely painful contractions. I was admitted into labor & delivery. After the first check of my cervix the nurse said I was 6 cm dialated and the baby's foot and cord were coming out. I was sent for an emergency c-section. This was the scariest day of my life, everything happened so fast. I awoke a few hours later to find that my daughter was born alive weighing 1lb 9oz and was being taken care of in NICU. She was a tough little girl and fought hard, but her lungs were not up to the challenge. She survived 13 hours. Our hearts are aching so badly and we miss her so much. But we feel so lucky to have had her in our lives, no matter how short of a time, and know that we did everything we could for her and she did everythign she could for us. SHe has made us so much stronger. I encourage anyone going through this to take as many pictures as possible and hold their baby as much as they can. Also, keep as many mementos as you can, ask for plaster casts of your baby's hands/feet, several foot prints and more. Our NICU gave us tiny diapers and some of the tiny items they used to take care of her, and they have helped us get through this so much.