Late Polyhydramnios 37 weeks pregnant

[Danielle1311]

Last week DH and I went to see the midwife and were told that my fundal height was measuring 40/41 at 36 weeks pregnant.

We told her that at our 33 week appointment another midwife told us we were measuring at 37 weeks & we knew baby was a big boy. The midwife said that the other lady had not noted this down (she noted that I was 34cm!). Turns out the first midwife should have referred me to hospital and hadn’t. So the second midwife made us attend a growth scan, we had the appointment yesterday. The sonographer commented on how large I was looking (as most people do) and we were joking about our wee tank of a boy! The sonographers face dropped as she took the fluid measurement.
I’ve attached a photo of the graph. The fluid max AFI should be 24/25 and I’m measuring 37.

We had to see a consultant who explained that there was little to be done now and that it’s good that baby is big because he’s managing to keep himself in place. She also said he hopefully has avoided risks and that it’s remarkable I’ve got to 37 weeks pregnant. I understand that there is some give in these situations but we (especially DH) are quite shocked that something was wrong. I’d been very poorly, sore and struggling - I thought I was being a wimp for many weeks and could barely get through a day without feeling low from how difficult I was finding this pregnancy. To hear that there was an underlying reason makes me feel so numb.

I’ve been told that if I go into labour then I have to be mindful of cord prolapse and a few other problems... hopefully logic helps me out over panic when I do go into labour!

He is also back-to-back and has never been in the right position this entire pregnancy. I also understand the “wait and see” thinking but now I have severe polyhydramnios and a back to back baby with a very large head (see charts).

My husband is adamant we should press for something to happen now but I would really appreciate opinions beforehand. I don’t want to cause such a fuss and trust that all will turn out ok - am I being too soft?

Thank you in advance.

You might want to move this to another forum where you will get more helpful responses.

Thank you! Have done!

Clearly not woken up yet...

Have you been tested for gestational diabetes OP? Polyhydamnios can be a symptom of GD but at 37 weeks it’s too late for a glucose tolerance test. If I were you I’d want to discuss this with a consultant though, perhaps you can monitor your blood glucose at home for a few days to see if it’s within normal limits because if you do have diabetes you will need to discuss induction.

When are you going back to have the fluid checked again? If it’s increasing I would speak to the consultant about the possibility of an induction of labour using a ‘controlled rupture of membranes’ as in some cases this can be used to reduce the risk of cord prolapse

Of course I don’t know the details of your medical history and your consultant may have very valid reasons for not considering this but if I were you I’d want to have that conversation with them.

I have an emergency GTT test tomorrow to check diabetes. Then more assessments on Thursday morning - this is to check baby’s inner workings.

I carried the post over to the pregnancy topic - I’ve written a bit on this today. See: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/3329014-Late-Severe-Polyhydramnios-diagnosis?noti=1#80038884

Thank you very much for your response!

Update: saw consultant on Thursday and ended the day with a baby boy. It was decided to do a c-section there and then. His head seemed lodged and it was very unlikely he would turn from the back to back position (so induction would likely have resulted in a section anyway).

He has been in intensive care since then - despite being 4 weeks early, he weighed over 8lbs and he really struggled to push out all the extra fluid in his larger lungs. Normally after a section a baby might struggle to breathe because they haven’t had the fluid squeezed out of them as they would during vaginal birth. However, his head position and the severe polyhydramnios made this much worse and the long stint in intensive care would not normally have happened given his size and the section. He is progressing well and his respiratory levels are slowly improving.

Thank you for the advice, it was very much appreciated.

Congratulations on your little boy OP. I hope you are all doing OK and he is recovering well X

Glad he’s here safely OP, hope you’re recovering well and he’s out of NICU soon. Congratulations

Congratulations OP, glad to hear he's doing well, take care.