My mom was out visiting us in October. She helped prep the nurseries and she took care of our yard. Since I was still retching on the regular and puking on the occasional, DH and I were so grateful for this. Mom was scheduled to fly home the day I hit 17 weeks, and then come back for Xmas. We took her out to dinner the night before she left.
That night, I woke up in the small hours of the morning with intestinal cramps. I spent quite a bit of time on the toilet, then went back to bed, and got up a bit before 7 when I heard my mom up. I went to start toast, and realized I had to run to the bathroom again. When I got there, I had more intestinal cramps, but just when I thought that was done, there was another big cramp, and a gush of air and water. I got scared for a minute, and tried to tell myself that I’d just farted and peed simultaneously. I told myself I was just getting scared for no reason, and I’d feel silly about it later. I sat still for a while, and when no more water came out, I stood up slowly. Still no more water, so I cleaned up and went back to the toaster. DH came downstairs right about then and started to make eggs for breakfast.
While standing at the toaster, there was another gush. I could feel it soak through my pants. I ran back to the bathroom, confirmed that it was clear fluid, and yelled to DH and my mom that I think my water just broke.
No surprise, they weren’t expecting to hear that from me. I was trying to keep my shit together, so I told DH to get my car keys and my wallet from upstairs, and I was going to grab a towel, head to the car, and call my OB while DH drove me to the hospital. My mom grabbed her suitcase and we headed off, while I left a message with my OB’s answering service.
The on call OB called me back while we were en-route, and told me he’d make arrangements to have me admitted straight to L&D triage, where they’d do a swab and potentially an ultrasound. DH dropped mom and I at the curb and the front desk ER staff got me a wheel chair and navigated the maze up to L&D. When we got to the triage front desk, I could only manage to get the words “I’m 17 weeks pregnant with twins” out before I started sobbing too hard to add “and I think my water just broke.”
They got me into a triage room, got me undressed, and at first things looked mostly dry. When the nurse went to do the swab test, the water started coming again. She sent the swab to the lab. I told her that I’d never before so badly wanted to be told that I’d peed myself. Eventually the results came back: amniotic fluid. DH, mom, and I were taken back down to the u/s to see exactly what was going on.
The u/s screen showed right away: both girls still had heartbeats, and both girls were still moving, but one baby no longer had any fluid. The sonographer told us that it was Baby B, Zoe, whose water had broken, which was a shock to everyone. Usually the lower baby’s water will break. I was sent back up to triage after that.
At that point, the doctor from my practice came in. They told me they’d admit me for observation overnight, and so MFM could consult with me in person on Monday, but that there wasn’t anything they would do to stop labor if it began and chances were pretty good it would. MFM later reiterated this – that the risk to me of trying to keep the babies inside once labor started after pPROM was too great. DH and I got no say in the matter. We were told that I’d most likely deliver within the next 48 hours, and the most likely cause of the rupture was infection.
Somewhere in there, my mom caught a cab to the airport. We were taken to a room in L&D, and had the most amazing nurse, Jeni, with us for most of this time. Like many of the nurses, she held my hand, gave me hugs when I needed them, and was so incredibly compassionate that I’ll always be grateful.
We called my MIL, and she arrived late that evening on the first flight she could get. I sent my dad and step mom a text to tell them what had happened. They reached out to DH, told him they wanted to come out too, which they did. I was so incredibly grateful for all of their support. The day before my water broke, DH, my mom, and I had gone to Babies ‘R Us to register. Mom found this absolutely adorable stuffed giraffe, and bought it for the girls. At some point, DH went home and brought the giraffe back, to watch over us. This is as unflattering of a picture of me as possible, but you can see LBG (Little Blue Giraffe) keeping an eye on things.
At that point, the waiting game began. I was told to monitor my temperature every four hours. Anything over 100.5 would indicate infection and require me to deliver. So would any foul smelling discharge. I had lots of clots and bleeding, but nothing that didn’t just smell metallic.
The next morning came with no fever, no discharge, and no labor. 24 hours past rupture was the first milestone, so we were thrilled. MFM came and told us that it’s so rare for Baby B’s water to break that they couldn’t predict what would happen. I might already have an infection, since that’s the most common cause of pPROM. If I didn’t, then Baby A, Alexis, might block infection from getting in, allowing them both to make it to term.
Then the MFM shared more bad news. Babies need amniotic fluid for lung development. Unless Zoe had an AFI of 2 or greater (fluid level), her lungs probably wouldn’t develop, and she’d likely die at birth. With this knowledge, we were sent home for home bedrest. By the time I left the hospital, I had a horrible rash over both of my hands. Red, painful bumps. I was also in an incredible amount of pain from my digestive system, as I kept having bowel movements and cramps every few hours, which had already triggered hemorrhoids and a fissure. I knew 48 hours was the next milestone, and I just prayed we’d make it.
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