Premature Rupture of Membranes

Hi Corilee,

I am so sorry to hear about your little girl. During my first pregnancy, my water broke at 26 weeks and my daughter, Daisy, was born two weeks later. She spent 9 weeks in the NICU... like you, they never quite knew what made my water break. I didn't have any infections, when they looked at my placenta after she was born they couldn't find anything wrong.

A fluke.

Don't you just hate that? At least tell me WHY it broke so I can avoid that if I ever have another.

Which I did.

Last year I had a healthy, full term little boy born close to 38 weeks... well, 37 according to the docs but according to my body more like 38. They actually had to break my water the second time around, and trust me, I spent the majority of those 38 weeks worrying that it would break on its own.

PROM is such a mystery, my ob (who was wonderful) said that actually labor itself is the biggest mystery and they have no real idea what causes it to happen. I just wanted to share a little bit of my story with you because yes, I had a preemie due to PROM but I was able to have a full term child as well.

Thinking of you and your family - if there is anything else I can do to help let me know!

Take care,
Sam J.
Mom to Daisy (she'll be 3 this year!) and Caleb (7 months)

I'm sorry for your loss. Wow, your story sounds JUST like mine. I have a 2 year old son. My pregnancy with him was post dates requiring induction and having my membranes artificially ruptured. I lost my daughter Madeline, my second pregnancy, at 22 weeks in April due to PPROM. I too have asked a million questions to as many people as I could find and have not found any answers as to why my membranes ruptured. I have been told it is a fluke but I do not believe that. I think that medicine has just not found the cause yet. Perhaps in 10, 20, 50 years, they will know. As for reasons they have identified...infection, incompetent cervix, and certain risk factors...I guess all we can do is to strictly monitor for those and make sure they are not a factor. However, it seems there are still no guarantees and the chance of a repeat PPROM is 25% (although this number is high it includes PPROM at later dates in the pregnancy too, like 32 or 36 weeks when babies have a much greated chance at survival.) The Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor I spoke with has also recommended progesterone shots. After my April loss I had an early miscarriage but it seems to be an entirely different type of thing. I have been willing to try again and still have faith that I will have another baby. I am currently 7 weeks pregnant. Let me know if you want to talk.

Lisa

Hi Ladies,

I have such a similar story, i had early prom tat 20weeks, and stayed in the hospital for two weeks but my son did not make it. My doctors have recommended tht the nest time i will get a cerclage done, so hopefully we will start trying again. But since after i had the baby i have not stop bleeding, and i into the sixth week, i talked to my doctor, and she said it usually takes between 2-46 weeks, so i should not worry, she also checked my pelvis and said everything looked normal. W e want to start trying right away, but hoping i will stop the bleeding soon.

Corilee,

I too had PROM. It was later determined that mine was due to an infection. However, before I got those answers, I kept getting the fluke comment. The OB that delivered my son just told me it was a fluke and they would never know why. I didn't like that answer and went to someone else. She went over all my charts and came to the conclusion it was probably infection. Knowing that, we are going to monitor this pregnancy very closely for infection. I am currently 10 weeks. If you aren't comfortable with the answers you have been given, seek out a second opinion. It can't hurt. I wish I had a success story to go along with this, but we won't know for another 30 weeks, hopefully! Hang in there and don't be afraid to ask questions. Good luck!

Hugs and Love,
Aimee

Hi Corilee,

I am terribly sorry for the loss of your precious baby girl. My daughter was born at 26 1/2 weeks in 2005, due to PROM, as well. After a completely normal pregnancy, my water broke at 24 weeks, and I was hospitalized. She was actually born healthy, but died from an infection while in the NICU about a month later. Like everyone else has said, I questioned how this could have happened after every check up was good.

Unfortunately, the doctors were not able to provide any explanation and that certainly made it very scary to contemplate another pregnancy in the future. Two and a half years later, though, after having a miscarriage that was unrelated, I am now at 33 weeks. Despite some complications along the way, in many ways this has progressed like a "normal" pregnancy. And, for various reasons which I will spare the details (smile), I have not been able to be as cautious as I probably should be - I have been more physically active that I expected during a subsequent pregnancy, and I am only taking 1 of the expected 3 medications. And yet, so far, so good.

It is frustrating to me that this pregnancy is going so well when my daughter died after a "normal" first pregnancy, although that surely sounds very odd to phrase it that way..."frustrating" that a pregnancy is progressing. I simply mean that I think it is hard for us to accept that our child dies for no apparent reason and then witness the same process produce a healthy baby. It's difficult to understand the "why's."

But, take our experiences as proof of a tiny bit of hope. If and when you decide to try for a subsequent pregnancy, take all the precautions that you can. I think that is the most we can do.

Sending you lots of strength and peace,
-Valerie, Mommy to angel Caitlyn Greenleigh