Tara Vigarino knew something was off when she woke up at 17 weeks pregnant in a puddle of fluid.
There, the news she received wasnt great.
I was a basket of emotions, Vigarino says.
It was not at all what I was expecting to hear.
Once a week, she would visit her ob/gyn to see how the baby was doing.
Eventually, Vigarinos doctor recommended that she visit a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic who specialized in high-risk pregnancies.
She made it, and was hospitalized at 23 weeks.
Vigarino gave birth to a baby she and her husband named Dominic two months before her due date.
Hes totally free of all tubes and hes breathing on own and eating on his own.
He needs no assistance.
Luckily, Vigarinos condition is pretty rare.
There are definitely dangers, she says.
The biggest one is that the baby will be born prematurely.
Depending on the age of the developing fetus, this obviously presents problems.
The mother is also at risk of developing an infection, she adds.
Risk of cord entrapment is very high.
Even if someone doesnt want to terminate the pregnancy, things generally dont go well.
What causes PPROM in the first place?
Streicher admits that experts arent totally sure, but says genetics or an infection could play a role.
However, Schwersenski says every case of PPROM is different.
If the tear would have lost all fluid andnotre-accumulated, things may have ended up very, very differently.
Singh stresses that it’s important for women who suffer from PPROM to get their questions answered.
Vigarino says she hopes her story can help other women in the same situation.
“You could go on to have a healthy baby.
Vigarinos story is scary, but Streicher says that women shouldnt freak out about this condition.
This certainly can happen, but its not something that people should worry about, she says.
Photo Credit: All Photos Courtesy of Cleveland Clinic
