PPROM at 14 weeks and 5 days

Mum Charlotte, shares her experience of what happened when she started to leak water in her pregnancy,

In December 2023, the day before Christmas Eve, my partner and I found out that we were pregnant with our first baby. The best Christmas present we could ask for after a few years of difficulty conceiving and living with endometriosis for the past 10 years that had caused complications.

Sadly At 14 weeks and 5 days our world turned upside down, I stood up to go to the toilet and felt a gush of fluid, the fluid had leaked through my clothes, instantly my gut told me something wasn’t right.

As this was my first pregnancy i was unsure if this could be a normal symptom or not so tried not to panic. I called the midwife team at my local hospital who suggested I should go to A&E to be checked out, but was told this was very unlikely.

After 7 hours in hospital and a few tests later we were that I had tested positive for leaking amniotic fluid and confirmed that my waters had broken (PPROM). This was something we hadn’t heard of before and had no idea what this meant for us and our baby. The doctor explained to us that due to my waters breaking it was highly likely that we would lose the baby in the next 24/72 hours and to go home and wait for a miscarriage to happen. I was in complete shock, I started uncontrollably shaking and crying, the consultant just kept saying she was sorry. I was offered a termination because they explained if the baby did survive he would probably have major difficulties with development, growth restrictions and be born very prematurely.

We were told one of the main risks if we continued with the pregnancy was myself and the baby were at high risk of infections including sepsis that could result in harm to myself and the baby. The last option we were given was to go home, take each day as it comes and hope for a miracle, which is what we decided to do, we were never giving up on our baby.

We went home and I frantically started researching help on what to do and this is when I came across Little Heartbeats, even though the information on PPROM happening at 14 weeks was very limited, I read others success stories and hoped that this could be me. The statistic we were told was we had a 1% chance that we would ever meet out baby.

The next few months were the hardest of our lives, I was on bed rest for the next 3 months, drank 3-4 litres of water a day to try and replenish what I was losing each day and only standing for showers & to go to the toilet. Each day felt like a year, just sitting and hoping that our baby boy would make it to the next day. We knew that viability in the UK is 22+4 (but 24 is where they want you to get to) and anything before that date there was nothing anyone would do.

From 14 weeks to 24 weeks we just waited and prayed for a miracle. I continued to leak fluid throughout the whole pregnancy, but somehow managed to replenish the fluid that was being lost. We had a few dips in the fluid and a scare at 18 weeks that I was showing signs of labour, but somehow our baby boy kept going. I followed a strict routine everyday to make sure that I was healthy, hydrated and doing my best to avoid infection.

We were in hospital every 3 days for full observations and on top of that had more scans for growth, doctors appointments and community midwife appointments. As we got further along in the pregnancy I started to move around slightly because I knew I was then at risk of DVT. Trying to resume some normality after being in bed was so scary, I felt like I might be putting the baby at risk by changing the routine but I knew I needed to do it to keep us safe.

At 37 weeks we were told that the infection risk was too high and were advised to have our baby. On the 7th August our precious boy was born, weighing a healthy 7 pounds 4. He spent a week in special care with suspected sepsis, mucus on the lungs, feeding issues and respiratory problems, but is now back home with us and enjoying life in the real World.

He’s still being monitored closely due to weight loss and reflux issues, but is a healthy baby. We’re so glad was didn’t lose hope at the start and decided to give our baby a chance. We both felt so lost and felt like we had nowhere to turn to and were constantly given negative information from the hospital regarding our chances of making it.

We weren’t given any stories of hope until we came across Little Heartbeats. They kindly sent me a care parcel to my house with advice, success stories and guidance with hospital appointments. I don’t know what we would’ve done without their help. I was fortunate to have an amazing partner who cared for me throughout the whole time.

He never left my side and supported us every step of the way, even when he was juggling working a full time job and caring for me. I don’t know what I would’ve done without him.

We were also both so lucky to have amazing family and friends around us who helped us through each day, we will always be grateful for their love and support.