Greetings from Valley Medical Center

Well, just when things started to look like they were getting somewhat normal (oops, I said normal!), a new scare came along. At 19 weeks pregnant, I was on bed rest for 1 and a half weeks like I was supposed to be...I was laying on the couch Sat. May 17 with my cute little daughter asleep by my side, and I suddenly felt a warm gush of fluid. I rushed to the bathroom and discovered my water had broken. Needless to say, Tom and I were scared. We thought it was all over, that the babies would be lost. We called Dr. Paek, the MFM doc at Evergreen, to see what we should do and where we should go. She told me that it didn't look good. There is an extremely high risk of infection when the membranes are ruptured early, and the babies cannot be born until at least 24 weeks. She suggested I call my OB and go to Valley Medical Center just down the street, so I did. Dr. Channel was on call for Doc Oxford...she told me not too worry too much and to come down and they would check things out. We got my friend Angie to come stay with the kids and went to the ER. Every time I stood up, I lost more fluid and I got more and more nervous. We got a wheelchair escort to the Birth Center and were sent to triage. They found both babies' heart beats, they sounded great, and then took a sample of fluid. Dr. Channel left the room to confirm that is was amniotic fluid, and I laid there, crying. As I laid there, more fluid was pouring out and we thought for sure this was the end. I have felt from the beginning that these babies are supposed to be here, and was not willling to accept what we thought was our fate.

I was admitted to the hospital and taken to my room. They started giving me antibiotics immediately to prevent any infection and I continued losing fluid. At around 9:00 they did an ultrasound. The babies were very active, as usual, and their fluid levels were completely normal. Baby A measured at 19 weeks, and Baby B measured at 20 weeks, 2 days. This was good news, but they were still concerned that I might start contracting, and go into labor. They hooked me up to constant monitoring and tried to comfort us. They told us several success stories where women carried their babies far enough, problem free, even after their water had broken. I have never known of anyone breaking their water this early, so was surprised that something could actually change for the better. The hope was to see no contraction, little or no more fluid loss, and strong heart beats on both babies.

I continued losing fluid through Sat. night, but by 6 am Sunday it had stopped. Tom was here with me and we watched a movie and tried to relax. We were still nervous...waiting always does that to me! The nurses continued pumping me full of two different antibiotics, checking my temperature and drawing blood. It was a fairly uneventful night. Tom fell asleep fairly quickly, as only he can do, and I eventually fell asleep. At about 4 AM, I woke up and coughed. Out came more fluid and my heart sank. I kind of fell asleep, I think, but nervous again, and at around 6 AM I lost some more fluid. Tom went to work and came back around 1:30 to stay with me.

Dr. Harding, from the MFM group at Valley, came in to talk to us about what was happening. He told us based on the ultrasound, lack of contractions, and state of the babies, he felt like the situation was getting better. He explained that sometimes after the laser surgery I had, some fluid can leak from the entry hole in the amniotic sack and get trapped between the outer wall of the amniotic sack and the inner wall of the chorionic sack (the outer sack that encloses both babies' sacks) and the hole will close up. This extra fluid is trapped there and when pressure is put on it, it can release and drain. He said there definitely was not a break in baby A's sack, because her levels were normal. She is also closest to the cervix and the pressure from gravity alone would have caused me to lose her fluid, go into labor and more than likely lose both babies. Another possibility was that Baby B's sack was losing fluid through the surgery hole and the hope was that it would seal itself and stop leaking. We were so relieved to here this! He scheduled us for an appt. on Wed. to recheck everything and maybe send me home. :) The rest of the day was uneventful (thank goodness!) No more fluid loss and still no contractions.

This morning at about 6 AM I lost a little more fluid. Dr. Harding checked in at around 8 AM, told me it looked like things were slowing down. I have now gone 13 hours without losing any more fluid and still no contractions! Tomorrow is my appt. with Dr. Harding's office to check fluid and baby growth. If all looks well, I will get to go home :) Wish me luck!