After going through such a hard time during pregnancy, I would like to share my PPROM success story with other mums who are experiencing this pregnancy crisis to not give up hope. Just keep in mind that babies are trying their best to thrive and if there is a heartbeat there is hope.
In brief, my waters broke at 24 weeks and I lasted 12 weeks before giving birth to my son at 36 weeks by planned c-section. Despite all the concern I had regarding the affect of PPROM to the baby and being preterm, my son was born healthy with no health issues at all. During those 12 weeks, I had been leaking amniotic fluids all along and was in and out hospital many times. Nonetheless, I’ve never given up hope and I strictly followed my PPROM management regimen that I believed lead to such a positive outcome.
If you are on this same journey and I can help in any way, please do get in touch or leave your comments at the bottom of the page. I would also love to hear from you if you’d like to share your experience.
Here is a long version of my PPROM success story….
I was pregnant with IVF and it was my first pregnancy at the age of 34. I was very nervous throughout my IVF journey but it was success on the first attempt.
Everything was going well till I started to bleed heavily at around 10 weeks pregnant and was diagnosed with intrauterine heamatoma with was much bigger than the fetus at the time.
I was bleeding on and off since then up till 20 weeks pregnant when the bleeding was completely stopped. Four weeks later, I experienced a gush of clear water pouring out down below when I was getting up from bed.
First signs of raptured membrane
At first I thought I weed myself, but I was not sure since the leakage has neither color or smell like urine and it was leaking uncontrollably on and off. With my previous problems, I rushed into the hospital to get it check out as I was so terrified that it might be amniotic fluid rather than urine.
At the hospital, they checked for baby heartbeat and movement which were fine at the time, no sign of distress, so it was a big relieve that the baby was fine. No sign of contraction. After lying flat for half and hour the doctor did an internal exam with a sterlised speculum.
The doctor said my cervix was still closed and could not see evidence of leakage from cervix so they did not think it was amniotic fluid. I was sent home with an advice to monitor the leak and to come back if it got worse (more leak) or have any other symptoms e.g. bleeding or abdominal pain etc.
At that point, I was still very concern as it was still unclear what the leakage was and waters broke or membrane raptured causing amniotic fluid to leak out had not been ruled out. On top of that I still continued to leak clear fluid every now and then.
Officially diagnosed with PPROM
Two days later, the leakage was still there, but it was a lot more and actually overflow a maternity pad twice within 10 minutes while I was sitting on a sofa watching TV, so I decided to go to the doctor again as I was pretty convince that something was really wrong at the point.
This time, baby heart rate was still within a normal range, but after another speculum examination, the doctor confirmed that the leakage was from cervix and he could see a pool of clear water there. The doctor ordered a blood test (for any sign of infection) and sent out a vaginal swap to check for infection.
survival rate by gestational age
At that point, I was officially diagnosed with PPROM or preterm premature rupture of the membranes.
My husband and I were very shocked at the time because we were told that there was a high chance that the baby could be born within 48 hrs. More heart breaking information was that the baby born at 24 weeks only have 60% chance to survive and will have many long term complications.
PPROM management after diagnosis
I was admitted to the hospital for 48 hrs in case contraction started. There, I had been given steroid shots (to develop baby lungs) and antibiotics as a precaution to get rid of any infection that may be the cause of the leakage in the first place. Baby heart rate and movement was monitored 4 times a day to make sure that baby was not under distress.
I was also sent for an ultrasound scan to measure the level of amniotic fluid and the weight of the baby. As expected, my amniotic fluid level is far below normal range, but luckily still some left. Baby weight was estimated at ~500 gram, which was around 50 percentile at 24 weeks gestation.
Without any sign of contraction or infection and baby was not being under distress. I was sent home after 48 hours on bed rest in the hospital. I was also advised to come back to the hospital right away if any thing changed, for example, if I had contraction, fever or if the leakage had changed in color/smell or noticed reduced baby movement.
The hospital gave me weekly appointment for follow up. Every two week for ultrasound scan to check fluid level, baby growth and blood flow umbilical cord.
The doctors and midwifes also talked me through complications due to PPROM and what to look out for.
How to manage PPROM at home
At home, I was so nervous that things might not be so stable for long and was so worried about the baby. So I kept praying for the best and alway pay attention to baby movement all day every day. Each day that pass means higher chance for baby to survive and have less health complications.
I had follow a very strict PPROM management regimen that I believed would help me prolong a healthy pregnancy despite PPROMed. My aim was to get to 34 weeks which I was told that it would be safe enough for the baby to be born at 34 weeks.
The outcome was far better than I ever thought of, I lasted until 36 weeks when a healthy baby boy was born by planned c-section. Although he was born without any complications, he was a little on a small size with a birth weight of 2.3 kg (5 lbs).
My husband and I were over the moon the moment we heard him screamed in the operation room. Not long after, the nurses placed him into my husband arms that was when I first saw my son’s tiny little face. Yes, he was alive and well — the most happy moment in my life.
I have written everything I did or did not do to survive this pregnancy crisis on my other blog post, ‘How I manage through PPROM and have positive outcome‘
Complications I experienced after PPROM
During those 12 weeks, my mind was pretty much focus on baby movement, my well being, and the color/smell of the leakages. There were many occasions that I felt that I needed immediate medical check up and I always followed my instincts and went into the hospital without fail.
I went for a check up every single time I felt baby move less than normal. Every time it turned out that baby was still fine, but I would rather be safe than sorry at the point.
There is hope as long as there is heartbeat…. And I have to try my best to help my baby thrive.
Urinary tract infection
At 26 weeks, I was on another session of antibiotics to treat cystitis (infection in urinary tract), which actually was detected from my urine sample from 24 weeks. And because I was already on antibiotics for 10 days since PPROM was diagnosed, they had to redo the urine test to reconfirm the result.
Thrush
At 28 weeks, I experienced on and off tummy pain which I believed was a mild contraction for one day. Two days later the leaking fluid turn a bit pinkish with a small streak of red blood. I was panic and rushed into the hospital for a check up.
This time, I was admitted to the hospital for observation one night in case things progress negatively. Luckily, everything went back to a stable state on the next day – no more contraction, leaked fluids turned clear again. On top of that, no sign that baby was under distress.
At the hospital, the doctors did an internal examination to check if my cervix was still closed and lucky enough, it was. During that process they also did send out a vaginal swap to test for signs of infection.
A few days later after I was sent home, the hospital called me to report that the swap showed I had thrush. The doctor then prescribed me with anti-fungal pessary and cream for treating thrush.
Bacterial vaginalis
One week later (at 29 weeks), the doctor gave me another session of antibiotics. This time was to treat an early onset of potential bacterial infection detected from the vaginal swap last week. The doctor told me that it was a border line bacterial vaginalis, but given that my membrane was raptured it was safer to give me another set of antibiotics to prevent the infection to spread pass the membrane through to the baby.
Food poisoning
At 30 weeks, I had a very bad food poisoning while PPROM and it lasted for 3 days. I had very bad diarrhea and vomited a lot. I could not eat anything for two days and could barely drink without being sick afterward.
Intrauterine growth restriction (IUR)
At 27 weeks, the ultrasound scan showed that the baby growth had dropped drastically from being at 50 percentile in weight (last scan at 24 weeks) to 10 percentile. For some unknown reason my baby has slow down in growth rate despite good blood flow through umbilical cord.
It got worse at 32 weeks scan, baby estimated was at ~1.9kg, which was at the 5th percentile in weight for 32 week gestation. And at 35 weeks, it was estimated at 2.1 kg.
I was lucky enough that this happened toward the end of my pregnancy journey… My doctor wanted me to deliver the baby at 36 weeks at the latest because the risk of infections outweigh the risk of complications from being preterm.
The end of my pregnancy journey, the birth of my son…
For every week that passed by, I felt more and more positive because it means that my baby has a better chance of survival with less complications. However, I was still very concern about how low level of amniotic fluid since 24 weeks would affect my baby once born. There is nothing I could do apart from pray for the best.
I also came across 34 or 36 weeks dilemma regarding when to deliver a PPROM baby. After some discussions with specialists, we ended up aiming for 36 weeks if there were no signs of infections or baby under distress. Baby will do much better at birth if born at 36 weeks compared to 34 weeks.
My doctor suggested induction at 36 weeks, however I asked to deliver the baby via c-section instead because I was scared of not having things under control during induction.
I did not think I could handle all the unknown and pressure from induction and vaginal birth.At this point, I would prefer to deliver baby as quick as possible under an controlled environment and know exactly what is going to happen and when. Really I just want one less thing to have to worry about if possible.
I was give steroid shots (to help develop baby lungs) a few days before the operation. I was still leaking amniotic fluids till the last minute.
Everything went well on the day. My son was crying within the minute the doctor took him out. My husband and I were in tears with happiness and joy. My son was a bit small at birth (birth weight is 2.3 kg) but he is very healthy and has no health issues at all.
I hope my story gives you some hope and some ideas of how to survive PPROM. Feel free to contact me or leave your messages below if you have any questions or if you think there is anything I can help with.
Remember that as long as there is a heartbeat, there is hope.
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