Hospital wants to send me home after PPROM. I don’t want to go. Help.

[CatsEye99]

Posting for traffic. My waters broke at home and were bright red, and I was 26 weeks with DCDA twins. I called an ambulance and was rushed to hospital where I had a huge gush of red fluid. I was counselled about preterm birth and given steroid injections. I saw a neonatal doctor who stated the most important thing was to deliver at a hospital with NICU cots.

Despite severe agonising pain, a week has passed and I haven’t given birth. Twins aren’t distressed and my observations are fine.

However I feel incredibly unwell. I keep burning hot and turning red but my temp is not raised. I feel like I have the flu or another illness. I have no energy and can barely move due to pain. Codeine won’t touch it. A midwife told me to have a hot bath which I am sure is contraindicated.

The staff want to send me home. I have stated I do not want to go home due to me living an hour from the hospital and the risk of infection, cord compression, preterm delivery and stillbirth. I do not want to lose my babies. I want to remain in the unit with NICU like the doctor advised.

Can anyone give me any advice? I can’t find any info on this anywhere and feel like the staff are fobbing me off.

Handhold from me OP

Handhold from me too. Hope you get seen soon with some assurances that all is ok with your twins x

Hi, I PPROM-ed at 26 weeks and delivered later that week. I also bled a lot. Do you have a low lying placenta?
I know it feels incredibly scary but feel free to ask me any questions. Broadly speaking (and I mean broadly, ignoring the irritating midwife) they have handled you correctly. You have had steroids, your CRP was low and there was no imminent labour.
However what is different for you is that you are in pain and there is intermittent bleeding. If those weren’t there it wouldn’t be unsafe to go home. The risk of contracting an infection in hospital is very high which is why for early PPROM-ers like us they don’t like keeping us in hospital.

I hope you get some answers soon. Please feel free to PM me with any questions. My 26 weeker is a toddler who has caught up with his peers and other than getting a few more coughs and colds than usual is fine. I wish you all the very best. I remember very well how scary that time was.

Also handholding. Hoping all is all well with your little ones xx

Thank goodness you are in the best place to be checked out and taken care of! Well done for having managed it all so well, and a handhold for you tonight.

Thanks everyone. Not seen anyone yet. Just been reading threads on preemies and trying to get my head around all this.

I had three losses before these babies and my eldest was a NICU baby (although not premature) so I should be used to having complications but this is uncharted territory.

My placentas have moved up so aren't low now.

(one for each baby & one for you!)

Personally I have no experience of hospitals etc for my DC but I know you’re in the best place you can be and already the best mum possible for those unborn twins. Keep resting, keep asking questions.

Thanks. Still waiting. Starting to get worried.

I remember a doctor requesting a doppler scan when I was in hospital having DD3 to check the blood flow via the umbilical cord and plaventa in case of cord compression.

It took a lot of chasing and pressure from him and from the midwives before the ultrasound scanning department finally sent for me

Keep up the pressure. When you see the doctor or consultant again then mention to them that you still haven't had the requested scan

Good luck. I know it is heavy going having to constantly push for everything. That is the way things are though

And don't be worried about using your buzzer during the night if you are getting more worried.

I suspect because I had a recent scan someone non medical at the ultrasound dept decided that I didn't need it...

Apparently the doctors have been rang and should be on their way soon to discuss the blood loss.

I feel like I'm about to cry. I can't feel my babies much and I'm still waiting for this doctor who shouldve appeared by now. I have loads of pain and pressure and feel terrified.

I have been awake nearly 24 hours as last night my waters went at 3am again and I couldnt sleep after that.

Keep buzzing the midwives. They need to keep up the pressure on the on-call doctor to come to you urgently. Maybe they could put it monitor on you for now, so that there is as much information as possible available when the doctor does arrive.

I don't understand how they haven't managed to find a doctor. I understand one may be busy but surely they have on call teams

I've spoken to someone and they are bleeping them again. I also have a cannula that should've been changed hours ago but requires a dr due to me being a pain to cannulate...no one has done it yet.

I don't know what they have. I guess ideally there should be on-call teams 24/7, but wouldn't be surprised if there aren't enough of them.

Apparently they're all tied up in theatre.

This can happen. There really aren't enough of them. In an ideal world there would be enough doctors for theatre and others to visit the wards if needed. Sadly, there are not.

Hope they get to you soon.

so sorry you are having this nightmare time. Sending a hugs and hope a Doctor comes to see you in the next few minutes xxx

Handheld from me too OP. I hope a doctor cones quickly.

Thank you.

I feel upset not only for me but for everyone who needs a doctor including the poor woman who's had to go to theatre. Doctors shouldnt have to be rushing between patients.

I had booked a planned cesarean to avoid all of this. After having such complicated pregnancies previously I had hoped to have a calm experience without the awfulness of the late night labour ward. That didn't work out the way I had imagined!

Still nothing.

Yes this can happen unfortunately. The austerity cuts have had real time consequences for the NHS and consequently for us. I can answer a couple of questions though:

• CTG monitoring at 26 weeks is v imprecise. When i went into labour they found it very hard to get a proper reading. This is even more true if your waters have broken.
• Reduced foetal movement is a side effect of a very PPROM. There isn’t much fluid for the babies to be floating around in unfortunately.
• ultrasound scans will be diagnostic at this point. With every bleed they made sure they heard heartbeats with the Doppler. They weren’t fussed about scanning because it wasn’t necessarily providing them with new information. The only reason I needed an urgent scan was because I was at high risk for a few incredibly serious complications.

I had a C section for a 26 weeker. Despite the chaos beforehand the C section was fine. He screamed his tiny lungs out and even opened his eyes. As I said do ask me any questions you may have and good luck.