Bacterial vaginal infection causing slow leak?
(If I had to label TMI every time I gave too much information in this post it'd be unreadable, so this is just a blanket TMI warning, this whole post is probably a massive overshare...)
At 23 weeks I bent down and had a gush of discharge/fluid (although, when I say gush, I don't mean like a wave of fluid, I just mean it all came out at once, enough to wet my undies and put a wet spot in an embarassing place in my pants. Embarrassing, because I was at the shops). I rushed to the toilet wondering if I had wet myself, and found thin clear/pinkish fluid on the toilet paper that sort of smelt like chlorine (but I couldn't really be sure if it was the discharge or if it was just the 'really clean toilet' smell lol).
I ummed and ahhed about calling the hospital, and decided if it happened again or I got more thin/clear/pinkish fluid I would ring the hospital, but otherwise I would just mention it at my midwife appointment later in the week. I know that small leaks can happen, and the body is quite good at healing things up and getting on with growing the baby, so I was 'alert but not alarmed'. Well I got more discharge but it was 'the usual' creamy, not thin or clear or pinkish, so I just left it, figured if it was a leak that it probably all healed up nicely. Mentioned it casually at my appointment and they panicked a bit and sent me straight up to the birth suite (a total over-reaction, I decided at the time). Did the usual monitoring, baby is fine, lots of cheeky movements moving away from the monitor and kicking at the midwife who had to keep trying to find the right spot for the monitor, so they concluded the baby was fine and perfectly happy in there. Laid down for ages, they did their test, no amnioitic fluid (I wasn't surprised, I figured it had probably re-sealed, and I doubted that amniotic fluid would still be in there 5 days later). They noted quite a lot of discharge so they did a swab and we were sent on our way.
Got a call the next day, Ob wanted me to come in to the hospital urgently, so I went, and she told me the swab results showed a bacteria that can apparently break down the sac and cause pPROM and premature labour, and said all the things a pregnant woman doesn't really want to hear at 23 weeks. They said the fluid probably was amniotic fluid, and the infection may have caused a small leak that had probably closed by the time they did the swab. Got antibiotics but was told these types of infections are often recurrent because they are caused by normally-occuring bacteria that overgrows and they can't really do much to stop it, and if it's going to come back then I should expect it to come back in the next 3-4 weeks, and also expect fairly constant monitoring of myself and the baby (swabs, scans and blood tests) for the rest of the pregnancy if it does come back, and that it could cause a slow leak since they think I have already had a leak. Go home, rest and try not to cause my membranes to rupture, call if you notice anything else, and at my next Ob appointment (4 weeks from then) they'll work out where to go from here.
Took antibiotics, had time off work, started feeling better. I'm taking Yakult every day, looking after myself etc.
Fast forward to this past Saturday and Sunday - I'm now 27 weeks, and got 24 hours of intermittent period-pain like cramps, backache and a fair amount of weird discharge that I wasn't really sure of. It was mostly thin and clear, sort of like arousal fluid, only not that stretchy consistency, it's more thin and fluid (although sometimes it is just 'the usual' white-ish/yellow-ish creamy stuff) and had a really bizarre smell. Not like urine and not 'bad', sort of chemically? I can't describe it, it's not a usual smell that's for sure. It wasn't pinkish though, which I think I have this weird idea that amniotic fluid is only pinkish?
I'm stubborn/stupid, don't want to waste their time, so I looked up the 'criteria' for calling the midwives ('rupture of membranes', which I wasn't sure if it was or not, and 'abdominal pain', I wasn't sure if they meant PAIN or if cramps counted as pain). I decided on my own accord that pain meant PAIN as in excruciating stabbing pain, which wasn't at all what I was having, so I bargining with myself... "ok, if it's still going in the morning I'll call" ... "Ok, no really, if it's still going by lunch, I'll call" ... "Ok, I'll have lunch and then a sleep and then if it's STILL going, I'll call" ... by that time it had stopped and I was feeling nervously satisfied everything was fine (sort of. Not really, I was stressing, but I hate going to the hospital and sitting around and feeling like a time waster, so I just convinced myself that all was fine, and bargined again that if I was REALLY worried, then I'd go up the the birth suite after my GTT at the hospital the following day. Which I didn't.).
Anyway. Now I keep getting cramps every now and then, which I think is normal but I'm a bit paranoid, and also the thin and clear discharge (that has a bizarre kind of smell) that squirts out oddly at random times. I'm nervous that maybe the infection is back, although putting off ringing and having to go in because I feel a bit dramatic, and also have an Ob appointment this Thursday and I have already bargined that I'll mention it then. I know I should ring now but then I'd have to drag DD down to the hospital and wait there for ages and my partner works in the afternoons and I don't want her to have to take time off for nothing, which is probably what it is because bub is still moving heaps and I generally feel ok, but then I know they'll say "you should have called!" when I tell them. I just hate being a time waster.
Has anyone ever heard/experienced this? Could this be a 'slow leak'? What happened with your labour and birth? I feel paranoid and a bit of a hypochondriac, but also a bit stupid for not calling them.
I've talked to a few people, most have never heard of it, although my mum and sister were unreassuring since they both had the same kind of infection and both birthed premmies (33 weeks for mum - her membranes ruptured at 32 weeks, and 35 weeks for my sister - who also went into preterm labour at 29 weeks and was on medication to stop contractions up until 35 weeks, however her membranes remained intact until late established labour). I didn't have this last time though, quite an uneventful pregnancy first time around, apart from a small bleed caused by cervical ectropian at 22ish weeks.
