Polyhydramnios (too much amniotic fluid)

fauxshelley

This is my first post on this board, but I have had complications from week 16.  My baby has abnormal mosiac karyotype, but he is hanging in there and getting stronger everyday.  His current issues are a kidney problems and I was just diagnosed with Polyhydramnios (too much amniotic fluid).  Now I have to go the Peri every week and have an ultrasound. The doctor said it put the baby at a higher risk of preterm labor and stillbirth, so its important that they check him every week.  He said between visits to make sure he was moving a good bit, and if it slows down, to call the ob immediately and they would send me to the hospital.  He told me that babies don't normally die suddenly in utero, but it is usually over a day or so.  If he is in distress, they will have to do an emergency c-section. 

I asked him what causes high amnio fluid, and he said it could be because of gestational diabetes (which I don't have), something related to his chromosomal abnormality, or sometimes it just happens and they don't know why.

I shouldn't have googled it, but I did, and I am freaking out now.  According to March of Dimes these are the complications associated with Polyhydramnios.

• Preterm rupture of the membranes (breaks or tears in the sac that holds the amniotic fluid; also called PROM)
• Umbilical cord accidents
• Polyhydramnios may also raise the risk of pregnancy complications, including:
• Preterm delivery
• Placental abruption (the placenta peels away from the uterine wall before delivery) 
• Poor growth of the fetus
• Stillbirth
• Cesarean delivery
• Severe bleeding by the mother after delivery

 

He really doesn't need anymore issues.  Does anyone have experience with this?  I need someone to talk me down from the ledge.

Thanks, Shelley

 

ECUPirate04

I just delivered my daughter who lived for 10 minutes due to a condition we knew about prior to delivery. 

Sometime after 24 weeks I developed this condition and I'm almost 100% certain it is what caused me to go into labor early and have her at 35 weeks.

I did have a c/s because of a marginal placenta previa that was causing some bleeding but I also believe it was only causing bleeding bc I was dilating early bc of all the fluid.

She wasn't stillborn and I didn't have an abruption.  There was also no excess blood loss (the doctor told me this after my c/s).

 The reason for this condition in my case is because my daughter couldn't breathe therefore she also couldn't swallow fluid in utero which lead to me having excess.  The last known numbers I have were 32.  Most doctors like it at 20-25 at max.

 

heme

I had too much fliuid with DS and it caused me to PROM at 33 weeks and 4 days. Today he is a healthy 17 month old and doing great.

There are things that they can do -  as to even drain the fluid if it gets too high, put you on bed rest.

Try to stay positive and go to the hospital/doctor when your gut tells you. There is no wrong time you'll just be send home if all is well.

GL!

yellowb

Do you know what your numbers are? As a pp said, anything under 25-26 is okay, though still on the high side. I just got out of the hospital and there was talk of doing a 'decompression amnio' to reduce the fluid, but they will only do this if my numbers are higher than 30. Thankfully, I was only at 21.

I'm going in 2x/wk for u/s and fetal monitoring. It's scary, but the chances of fetal demise are still very, very low. Do they think your high fluid is due to his kidney issues (i.e. he's not processing the amniotic fluid well)?

They aren't sure why my levels are so high. I've been on bed rest since week 25 and on full-pelvic rest since week 17 for unrelated issues. Like I said, it's really scary but do-able. I'm so tired of worrying about this pregnancy. I'm just trying to focus on the positive (and what I can control). Take care. 

fauxshelley

The dr told me my amnio level was 30.  I asked him what was normal, and he said it varies with gestational age.  I asked about the kidney problem being a cause of the amnio level being high, and he said possibly, but sometimes they just don't know.

Lucky428

My sister had this problem.  After her water broke, labor stalled.  The baby never came down and she hardly dilated.  They think it's because of the extra fluid, he was too buoyant to get down.  They did a c/s.  No complications for either mom or baby. There was no explanation for why she had polyhydramnios.

GL to you!!

g_belle

i was diagnosed with it about one month ago.  I went in for an NST yesterday and baby wasn't holding still long enough to get a good check- so they sent me over to L&D just to check me out.  Turns out I was having contractions and was already dialated to 1 cm at 32 weeks.  Last night was a bit scary- I ended up with stronger/regular contractions and dialiting to 4 cm.  They put me on sterroids for baby's lungs and drained some of the fluid.  My ultrasounds from last night put my fluid levels at 26.  The good news it- the baby seems perfectly healthy so far and my contractions have almost stopped.  I should be going home on Friday morning and hopefully baby will hang tight for at least a few more weeks.

My doctors keep stressing that polyhydramnios, although it ups the risk for several things, does not mean we won't go home with a healthy baby.  They are just going to keep an even closer eye on me now and I'll probably be on bed rest.  

 I had to stop googling when I was first diagnosed- it's too scary/stressful.  Trust your doctor and ask lots of questions.  I always like to have my husband/mom in the room when I"m meeting with the dr. so they can ask questions that I didn't think of.  GL!