By Mary, Ireland
PROM at 21 weeks + 2 days. Delivery at 34 weeks + 1 days.
Story added: 2007-12-04

At aged 30 and 32 i gave birth to a baby boy and then a baby girl. Absolutely problem free pregnancies. When I turned 34 we decided we would like one more and as usual i was pregnant in a month or 2. Got to 15 weeks and out of the blue with absolutely no warning my membranes rupured. Went to the hospital, had a scan and was told that my baby had absolutely no water and no hope. Having never had an experience like this before i believed them utterly. Unfortunately i delivered him 4 days later. My miscarriage was put down to one of those things and i buried my little Justin i a baby cemetary.

We decided to get pregnant straight away and after a few months was pregnant again. Had some bleedng from week 10 and having been told that lots of miscarriages were caused by chromosomal abnormalities had a nuchal scan a 12 weeks that dd not give good news. My odds were 1:3 and two excruciating weeks later when i returnred for an amnio another little baby boy had died and had to be delivered and buried. Another devastating miscarriage.
I decided on one last throw of the dice and got pregnant immediately after my first period. In hindsight i don't know where i got the courage. Spent the first few weeks praying to get to 15 weeks and at 12 weeks had an excellent nuchal scan. Once i got to 15 weeks i thought i was home and dry but at 19 weeks started to have some discharge. Went to the hospital where i was diagnosed with an Incompetent Cervic and was given an emergency cerclage. I was 4 cm dialated and my waters were bulging but a courageous doctor decided to give my baby a chance. Went home to rest as much as possible but at 21 weeks and 2 days i ruptured. Was scanned in the hospital and only had cord filled pockets of water left. The doctors decided to act conservatively and not remove my cerclage. They would do fortnightly scans and swabs and see how it went. They again gave me very little hope. I live in Ireland where abortion is not available under any circumstances so was never given the option of terminating my pregnancy which i would not have considered anyway.
At 24 weeks i was given the steroid injections and at my fortnightly scans never had afi's above 1-2cm. i was never hospitalised and never went on bedrest but went sick from work and left the house aslittle as possible.

At every scan my baby did well and continued to grow and defy the odds. She never had more than 2 cm of fluid ad i the last few weeks had virtually none. I leaked profusely and constantly, stading up or sitting down made no difference. Every week when i arrived at the hospital they looked shocked to see me. I monitored my temp about 10 times a day at home and never got another infection. As my baby was breech they decided to give me a c section at 35 weeks but my baby had other ideas. At 34 weeks and 1 day i went into spontaneous labour and delivered my breech baby girl naturally. Once they had removed the cerclage in the delivery room (with no pain relief!) they decided to take me to theatre to deliver her. She didt have the patience to wait and was delivered again with o pain relief on the operating table!. She cried immediately and needed nasal oxygen for one hour only. Again she shocked the doctors. She was in the NICU for 2 weeks only and mainly because she developed jaundice. She did have dislocated hips and had to wear a harness for 6 weeks but that is now corrected. That may have been caused by her breech delivery just as much as by the severe oligohydramnious she endured for 13 weeks!. She is now 8 weeks old and here beside me cooing and smiling. After a year and a half from hell i finally have my third and final baby!. Many times during my prom pregnancy i wished that i lived in a different country where i would have been given better care but my baby survived in spite of this.
If you are reading this and are in my shoes the only piece of advice i can think of to give you is dont grieve for your baby prematurely and believe in him/her and know that you are a wonderful mommy doing everything in your power to ensure his/her safe delivery. Im sure you are having good days and days filled with total despair as i did but the more weeks you can give him/her the better his chances are. Me and my miracle daughter Isabella will continue to hope for you. Mary