Water Broke, Wrongly sent home from the hospital

My daughters birth story went far from the way I imagined it to be. Fortunately we are both healthy and doing fine, but things could have gone very differently. My water was leaking. I went into the hospital to get checked out and WAS SENT HOME. Naturally, I ended up going into labor about 30 hours later - but infections were already present with a low grade fever, high fetal heart rate, infection “chorioamnionitis” confirmed post delivery from placenta. Like I mentioned, thankfully we are ok. However, I am curious.. has this ever happened to anyone else? If any, what actions can be taken now?

Dec 26th, 39 weeks pregnant - Middle of the night, I get up to go pee and felt a small gush. About a 12” diameter of fluids on the floor below me, I was certain it was my water. However, skeptical some because it wasn’t a HUGE amount. I remember googling -how to know for sure if my water broke 😞 I woke my husband up and showed him. We headed to the hospital to get checked. No contractions or any other signs of labor. I definitely thought my water must have been leaking, just needed to confirm that. They checked, my water was still intact. They did a test (inserted something to swab & microscopically checked) my water hadn’t broke so they claimed and sent me home. I felt frustrated, overwhelmed, confused, uncertain.. put partially crazy too because they said I must have wet myself & kept saying it’s totally normal, but wasn’t my water. Was sent home and spent the day feeling 39 weeks STILL pregnant and now a tad bit silly for “wetting myself”.. Throughout the day, I was very wet but it wasn’t like I had constant leaking. Still worried that entire day about the what if’s, but was scheduled the 28th for an induction with my doctor so was trying to accept the whole time that I must have accidentally wet myself.

Afternoon Dec 27th - Throughout the day I had some extra wet “discharge” but wasn’t a constant leaking and no other gushes. Later that afternoon, I started to have contractions but they were light and irregular the first 30 minutes or so & then things really picked up. The contractions becoming more regular around 5 PM, we started our way back to the hospital. As we were packing our things, I noticed I had a fever with the shakes/chills. I was so worried at this point as it confirmed my worries -infection. We hurried back up to the hospital (1 hour drive). On our way, my water broke and that time I knew for sure because it wasn’t a light amount like the first time. It filled the seat of my car and was enough to trickle down my leg. 🙈 Contractions were picking up intensity, close and fast, less than 5 minutes apart - all of this happened in less than two hours time from 5 PM at the start of the first contractions. When the nurse checked me she said my water bag was still intact & no further dilation. I about lost it. I was in so much pain, I knew this was the real deal. I KNEW I didn’t “wet” myself. But I was already in labor to the point that they were monitoring my heavy and regular contractions, breathing through painful contractions and was laboring. Also, the fever was present so they admitted me right away without hesitation this time. In my own head I was wondering still, how could that not have been my water? IT DEFF HAD TO HAVE BEEN THIS TIME. Relieved they were finally admitting us, but still confused. They tested us for covid & did blood cultures. The first hour of us being there they thought I had covid. I felt strongly that wasn’t the case bc we had quarantined from everyone the past couple weeks. Rapid results came back, it wasn’t covid.

Fast forward some. Labor progressed quickly! She was born on the 28th a little after midnight. I was dilated still at a 2 BOTH times I had gone to the hospital, but from 6 PM that night on the 27th to just a little after midnight things went painfully fast and our sweet girl made her arrival. I did have a low grade fever at the hospital when I arrived so they started me on antibiotics right away. They preventatively started her on antibiotics as well due to presence of the fever. She was healthy, fever free and all of her lab results were coming back with no signs of infection 🙏 . After I delivered, my low grade fever disappeared and I was feeling great. They continued antibiotics on both of us and decided we were going to need to stay longer due to the risk of possible infection. We ended up having to stay at the hospital 5 extra days. It was confirmed that the placenta had chorioamnionitis; that my waters truly were have leaking from the first time I went to the hospital and all of those hours in between. 💔☹️😓 So much guilt and so much sadness knowing this all should have been avoided. Yet, thankful that my baby girl was here and was HEALTHY. Praise be.

I had many discussions with ALL the doctors and nurses. Many, many questions. They claim since my water bag was still intact even the second time they checked me on the 27th (after the larger gush) that it was likely a small tear in an upper membrane. Supposedly those are harder to detect. They have explained that the test they did, did not show any amniotic fluid. That it’s possible since it was such a small tear that when they did the check- there was no amniotic fluid present. Which makes some sense with the way it was a small gush at first and then nothing further. Yet, in my mind, this isn’t something that should have been missed??

I’m wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else? If so, what’s your experience like? Are there any actions I can take? I have tried moving on and just being thankful that my baby girl is healthy but it still bothers me so damn much. It shouldn’t have happened like this. Any advice or thoughts on whether there’s any steps left to take?

Thanks in advance!