Subsequent pregnancies after PPROM?

[Mybobowler]

I’m wondering if anyone has any experience of a second pregnancy after a PPROM the first time around? Having temporarily taken leave of my senses I’m starting to ponder the remote possibility of having another baby in the next year or two, but the prospect of it happening again makes me feel pretty nervous.

My waters broke unexpectedly at 34 weeks – no infection present and labour didn’t start, so after two days I was sent home with antibiotics, frequent monitoring and a scheduled induction at 37 weeks. I went into labour a fortnight later and DD arrived a couple of days before I was due to be induced, so she was fortunately only slightly preterm. No time on SCBU, but she did need repeated phototherapy for jaundice.

No one ever discussed possible causes for the PPROM, and I have no idea how it would affect my care in a subsequent pregnancy or if it’s likely to happen again. The only other person I’ve known this happen to was a lovely woman I met in hospital, who had had it happen twice – the first at around 30-something weeks and the second even earlier. Obviously every pregnancy is different, but I’ve never had the chance to discuss this before and I’d be interested to hear about other people’s experiences. Is this the sort of thing I could request a debrief on from the hospital?

If you’ve had PPROM before then there’s an increased risk of it happening again, though it depends on what the cause was (or even if the cause is known) so in most cases you would be under a consultant for extra monitoring and checks during any future pregnancies. There’s a bit of information here at the end of this leaflet, though it’s not particular detailed: www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/patients/patient-information-leaflets/pregnancy/pi-when-your-waters-break-early.pdf

In your shoes I would try to get in touch with the team who looked after you last time, they know exactly what went on and will be best placed to answer your questions.

If it helps, my 1st was born at 34weeks due to prom, im 35 weeks tomorrow and still pregnant!

@Spuriouser - thank you for your reply, I think I'll contact the midwifery team and see if someone can go through it all with me. It'd be nice to understand it a bit better - it feels like such a blur now, and the focus at the time was more on preparing us for a preterm baby, rather than understanding what had happened.

@Sleepycat - that's wonderful news, I hope your baby stays put for another few weeks. Good luck and congratulations!

And on that note ive just had my bloody show so not holding out much hope! X

@Sleepycat oh dear, that's a worry - hopefully it's not the start of anything imminent. I'll have my fingers crossed for a few more weeks for you, good luck!

Hi I pprom with my 6th at 18weeks I kept it to my self an never told a sole, silly i now but at first i never thought any think of it . I was very lucky and got to 33 weeks and gave birth while on a haven holiday site in wales in may 18 .
Then in December 18 i went for a cervical cancer tests to find out in fact i was 15 weeks pregnant with baby number 7 , the shock just smacked me straight in the face .
So we carried on to have the baby and deal the cards that where delt, not thinking it would happen again I just carried on then boom 18weks it happened again but this time I couldn't keep it to my self as it was worst then the first time it happened , then once I got to see my midwife at 22+3 she sent me straight to hospital to get checked out , that's when I got by old I need to stay in and start antibiotics straight way after 48 hours I discharged my self as I had 6 other children at home that need me plus my partner was self employed so I could stay ( else the Bill's eoulfnt get payed ) so of home I went .
Then bang on my 24 weeks the contractions started and they weren't stopping for toffee . After making the 999 call I got to hospital and gave birth to a very tiny lifeless baby boy that weighed 1lbs 14oz , it tuck a team of 15 nurse, consultants nicu staff half an hour to bring him round then he got rushed straight off to nicu its wasnt till 3am I got to see my son . He was so tiny , skin was see though . We got told every day to prepare our selfs for the worse and he even had to sleep with shock paddles on him to bring him back if needed . His phosphate levels where 8.8 and if they each 9 he go in to Cadillac arrest hence the paddles. We had 125days of what only I can decried as a real live nightmare.

My Miracle baby boy came home on the 24th of july 19 and was born march 19 he did 9 weeks in liverpool womens hospital to after a two week stint in stoke royal hospital where he was born. With out the amazing team in liverpool my son would never of made it home . Hes doing really well .
Hes ng pump feed as his chambers dont close and could drown if he was a bottle . Hes got 4/5 stage rop so hes classed as blind at the moment but hope surgery can fix this . He also failed 3 hearing test but were told this could also change too . The meds are unreal we have to give him but that a small price to pay and hes got metabolic bone disease also but this will be long term. Like I say this is a small price to pay AS MY MIRACLE BABY BOY BEAT THE ODDS AND IS HOME ALIVE AND WELL .
I HOPE MY STORY HASNT SCARED YOU BUT AT LEST YOU NO MIRACLES DO HAPPEN . AN I HOPE THINKS GO OK FOR YOU XX

Hi OP,

I had PPROM with my first at 36 weeks, they ended up inducing me and delivering him by forceps because they argued risk of infection wasnt worth waiting any longer- and actually they were right as we both ended up with sepsis still!

With my second son, PPROM happened again but at 28 weeks this time - he was born via EMCS due to distress.

During that pregnancy I kept asking if I should be worried about PPROM happening again and everyone kept dismissing it.

I'm now pregnant again and my consultant (different hospital) said that it will happen for a 3rd time with her bets being that it will happen earlier.

Not sure any of that is really helpful, but I guess all I wanted to say is no one knows why it's happening with me. It's not a weak cervix, it's not infection, it's not GD. Consultant said it's just what my body seems to do.

@Twittlebee I'm sorry for being so slow to reply - I've been neglecting Mumsnet!

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, sounds like you've really been through it. So bizarre that they can't find a cause. How's your third pregnancy been so far? How was your second DC, after such an early arrival?

I guess I'll just have to accept that it's unlikely to be something I can predict, and if we want another baby I'll just have to take my chances! I have promised myself to get around to asking for a debrief from the hospital though, I think it would just be helpful to talk it all through. A year later, I think I need to accept that the whole experience has affected me more than I thought it had. Not a trauma as such, just something that I find it difficult to stop thinking about.

I had PPROM at 36 weeks with first. Second my waters went spontaneously at 38+2. I felt so overdue even though I wasn't

@Fairyrainbow - hah, I can totally understand that, I can't imagine being full term! Interesting that it happened twice with you too. Did your midwives or doctors ever suggest why, or do you think it's just one of those things?

Just one of those things I think. No one mentioned or seemed concerned by it.

I had pprom with my first.

I went for the debrief at the vbac clinc early in my 2nd pregnancy. Honestly if you get a chance go. They talked through my previous birth and the reasons it went like it did- although the conclusion was there was nothing definitive- it may have been a placenta issue, it may have been GBS, a combination of things, or something else entirely.

It really helped me assess the risk though. Especially with the idea of waiting for natural labour and a vbac. In the end because dd have been severely ill with her birth complications, and there was no reason, therefore nothing could be done to prevent it this time, i went for an elcs. They also did it slightly earlier than the norm as I couldn’t face those last weeks not knowing if the baby was ok (basically if i hadn’t gone for a check immediately after pprom and found dd in distress the outcome may have been different).

Good luck.

Follow up from my last comment OP, I had my DD 2 days later at 35+1!

@Sleepycat oh my gosh, congratulations! Thanks for the update - I hope you're both doing well, despite being ahead of schedule

This thread would suggest that PPROM strikes twice!