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Premature Rupture of Membranes (PROM) and Early Labor |
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Many miscarriages begin with cramping and labor-like symptoms, but “Premature Rupture of Membranes”, or PROM and Early Labor are usually associated with babies that are in the second or third trimester. Early labor can often be treated with drugs that relax the uterus and women are placed on bed rest either at home or in the hospital. Sometimes, however, the baby comes anyway. PROM is defined as your water breaking prior to 37 weeks, the age that is considered full term. Most women who have leaking or gushing amniotic fluid will be placed on antibiotics and placed in the hospital because the risk of infection is very high. Once an infection comes, the baby will almost always have to delivered. Babies must weigh 500 grams, or about a pound, to survive. Babies that do not survive after 20 weeks are considered a stillbirth, rather than a miscarriage. PROM is thought largely to be caused by infections or inflammation of the uterus or fetal membranes. How these infections come or why they cause the membrane rupture is not completely understood. Pelvic exams and yeast infections are NOT considered to increase your risk for PROM. PROM tends to recur. Knowing you are at risk and taking all the appropriate precautions is essential to keeping your baby in the uterus as long as possible. Fortunately, even though PROM cannot always be treated or prevented, advancing medical techniques and drug therapies can relax or stop uterine contractions that can rupture the membranes and can often keep a pregnancy intact until the baby can be born safely into the world.
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