PPROM Baby, Born @ 32 Weeks

PPROM Baby, Born @ 32 Weeks


CLICK ON ARROWS to the right for full (P)PROM story: Bennett on Day 28 in the NICU, now weighing 4 lbs., 10 oz., born at 32 weeks gestation, weighing 3 lbs., 5 oz. at birth. This video is for all you (P)PROM moms awaiting the outcome of your pregnancies. In June of 2010, my water broke at 19 weeks (PPROM) and after hospital admission, the perinatologists and OB/GYNs recommended terminating the pregnancy, citing that I would likely get infected, hemorrhage or deliver within the first week. We chose to continue the pregnancy and prepared ourselves for fetal demise (if delivered before 24 weeks gestation) or for a severely disabled child (if born before 28 weeks). Although I never replenished amniotic fluid and my AFIs remained critically low (0-2.5 cm max), the pregnancy continued for another 12 weeks as I remained hospitalized on bedrest for 90 days until I went into labor at 31 weeks and 6 days. We knew that even though we'd made it gestationally farther than any docs thought possible, chances were high his lungs would be hypoplastic at birth and we would lose him in a matter of hours post-delivery. Born by emergency c-section, Bennett was unable to breathe at birth, diagnosed with Pulmonary Hypoplasia, was intubated and put on a high-frequency ventilator. Also diagnosed with Pulmonary Hypertension, he was hooked up to Nitric Oxide. After just four days, he was extubated, taken off the NO and put on CPAP ventilation. After just a day on CPAP, he was weaned to a nasal ...