I delivered early. But Why?!.

Reason for the early delivery was infection...Sounds simple, right? However the reason for my body to develop infection in my placenta is still a mystery to this day.

Infection was identified very easily shortly after I stepped into the hospital. However, it took 72 hours to find out the type of the infection. Different type of cultures were set up in the laboratory: for blood, urine and placenta. After 72 hours (2 days post delivery), we found out that it was a placental infection. (Chorioamnionitis)

I visited three doctors to understand why my placenta was infected during my pregnancy. In case I wanted to get pregnant again, I needed assurance: "This won't happen again."

I was not able to get that assurance. Each doctor told me the same thing: Infection is one of the most common causes for early delivery. However, to be able to know what caused the infection is impossible.

One of the doctors was very explanatory during my visit. He drew me a diagram which is very similar to the one below explaining that infection can be either internal or external.

Source: lecturio.com/concepts/chorioamnionitis/

Internal infection is caused by something within placenta. For me, I was initially pregnant with twins and one of them vanished. (vanishing twin syndrome) It could be one of the reasons for an internal infection along with many others.

External infection can be caused by either bacteria migrating through vagina or bacteria in blood spreading to placenta.

For my specific case, there was no way to tell which caused my unexpected delivery.

But I had to ask "Can it happen if I get pregnant again?"

The doctor answered "Every pregnancy is unique. Just because you delivered early this time does not mean it will/won't happen again"

So, it is one of those things that I have to let go and leave in the hands of faith when/if it comes to that:)