Excess waters - were you induced or left to wait?

[Ally90]

I am currently 37+3 and have been diagnosed with excess water. There is a small risk of cord prolapse when the waters go.

What was your experience?

Also did your baby have to have a tube put down their throat when born to get a sample of stomach acid, to rule out dual tubes?

Just a wee bit worried and seeing another dr tomorrow and having an ultrasound scan and would like questions to ask

TIA (going to be away from computer for hour but will come back on soon as I can!)

Anyone?

bump

Hi, I was told I would be induced at term due to cord prolapse risk, but to expect not to reach term due to pressure from waters.

In the event I went into labour naturally at 39 weeks but waters didn't go until well into the labour. There was A LOT of waters!

Ended up having an EMCS as although fully dilated, baby was still too far down the birth canal to be delivered by forceps/ventouse. This was probably due to the excess waters preventing the head from engaging beforehand. Has your baby's head engaged yet?

Baby was examined by 2x waiting paeds on delivery however this was more due to meconium in the waters, AFAIK. I was told in advance that the baby would be handed straight to paeds on delivery rather than handed to me. I don't know if they did the tubes thing as they were huddled busily doing their thing with the baby at the resusitaire but after a short while pronounced everything was ok and that was that! No further action.

In the ultrasound a few weeks prior to the birth, the sonographer checked the baby's stomach, kidneys and bowels etc again and measured the depth of the excess fluid. I was classed as severe polyhydramnios. I think they can have an indication of any stomach/digestive problems from the ultrasound as it shows up fluid going in and out of these organs?

Anyway - Baby is FINE FINE FINE, happily! Best of luck for your birth.

PS I was advised that if waters break unexpectedly prior to hospital, get down on hands and knees with bottom in the air and call an ambulance to take you there asap! (to minimise cord prolapse risk). HTH

Hi Ally. I had this condition with dd2.
I was left to wait a bit, but carefully monitored, then induced at 40+4.

My dd did have a tube put down her throat -in her case to rule out any blockages in the digestive system. Unfortunately, I wasn't with her when it happened as I had an ECS -not linked to the excess fluid.

There was no evidence of a blockage. However, dd was diagnosed with reflux at 6 weeks, so this may have accounted for the extra fluid, according to her paed.She grew out of it by the time she was a year old.

I know it's a worry, especially with the risk of cord prolapse. I was also informed that it is a small risk, if that helps. If you feel anxious about it, have a chat tomorrow when you go for your scan. I was induced earlier than normal because of it, so maybe that's a possibility?

Take care. If it helps to find the humour in it -the doctor who broke my waters made references to Niagara Falls -you have been warned!!

Thanks very much. They are umming and ahhhing about baby being breach, second ultrasound since last week, personally I know she's head down, that's where the hiccups are! But she is not/has not been engaged due to excess waters.

Thanks Siblingrivalry. Seeing a different dr/consultant tomorrow with results from earlier ultrasound and I would like to be induced early. Mainly due to my stress levels! I had a fast labour first time (under 6 hours) chances are this one will be quick and what with excess waters, living 40 mins from nearest hospital and arranging care for dd I think my head might just explode trying to do all that while on hands and knees trying to levitate the phones down to floor level at home...either stuck 5 ft up on wall...all internal door handles 5 ft up (kitchen door kept shut to keep out dd and cat) and cordless phone out of way of dd (and me on hands and knees) upstairs...it just feels impossible! Have to call dh home too, which will be at least 10 minutes before he's able to get to me, call doula over an hour away...

As for sticking tube down baby's throat when there is a chance they can just do a scan (going to ask ultrasound person to check tomorrow before I see dr/consultant!)

They did huge amounts of measuring and scanning of the baby and so were pretty convinced he was okay.

I had to have a CS - they wanted to induce me but decided the risk of cord prolapse was too great - there was so much fluid that the baby was just floating away, rather than staying engaged. It was a choice of the CS or staying in hospital until my waters broke which might have taken days as they said it was too dangerous for me to go home.

Don't know about the tube - they took him away to be examined when he was born.

Was all a bit scary at the time but CS went fine and he is now 2 and thriving. Keep telling yourself that they'll be keeping an eye on you and don't google!

Thanks Spicemonster. My fluid was meant to be above the top level that is normal, not too much extra but the midwife and registrar felt and were umming at how much fluid they was (not helping my worries at all!). I feel that it would be logical to keep me in (due to distance from hospital and quick first labour) or induce and release waters gradually or cs. Maybe another hospital will have a different policy?

DId you have a huge amount of excess waters?

I was enormous at the end - had very deep pools (that's how they measure it) and they reckoned I had about twice the amount of fluid most women have (cannot remember for the life of me how much that is now - a litre?). Anyway, was all prepared for induction and totally not expecting CS. I think just go with the flow (pun intended!) if you can. The fact that you have another child and live a way from the hospital may well affect the way they decide to manage your condition. Sure it'll all be fine but totally understand your anxiety

I was mentally prepared for induction and CS purely because I heard that some (not all of course) inductions end in a CS anyway.

I packed enough stuff for 3 days in hospital including big pants (to go over potential CS scar), several nightdresses, books and the nintendo DS, lots of clothes and nappies for baby, lots of snacks/drinks (if you don't eat them your birth partner will!)

Obviously as Spicemonster said they will manage your condition taking into account all the factors of your case, I also recommend going with the flow as I didn't then "fret" for a certain birth and just kept focussing on getting the baby at the end of it all. ( a super midwife was also key though, I was lucky to get one such).

Good luck!

I had this - was only just above the line on the graph but was still advised could go into labour early, risk of cord prolapse and PPH etc...

Wasn't offered an early induction (would have refused anyway), went into labour naturally 2 weeks late. Waters went during a VE and there was a lot!

Labour was long (2 days) as the extra fluid meant my daughter never fully engaged so there wasn't enough pressure on cervix to dilate at a decent speed.

Ended up with forceps delivery under epidural as she had turned into an awkward position during the labour (consultant reckons this was because the fluid levels allowed her freedom of movement). I pushed her out myself but the forceps were needed to rotate her as she came down to allow her head and shoulders to come out.

I did have an episiotomy and a third degree tear, and lost a fair amount of blood but this was prob due to forceps rather than extra fluid as my bump wasn't particularly huge.

My daughter did need help to breathe on arrival and was thoroughly checked over by the neonatologists for a couple of hours after birth, but this was nothing to do with the extra fluid, more the trauma of a forceps delivery after a very long labour.

One thing to bear in mind which I wish I'd known - if you're hoping to remain active during your labour you may have a fight on your hands to stay off the continuous monitoring machine - they like to put ladies who have extra fluid on this I'm told because it's the quickest way of them knowing if the cord has come down. This had a big effect on how I dealt with my labour as I'd banked on being active...

When you have your ultrasound they'll be able to measure the pools of fluid to work out how much 'extra' over the norm you have and will thoroughly check the baby for any abnormalities - although 90% of the time these would have been picked up at earlier scans. The only one they can't really check for on the ultrasound is a blockage in the baby's oesophogus so your consultant will probably recommend the 'tube down the throat' check at birth which is very quick indeed.

Have you been checked for gestational diabetes? This can cause extra fluid, and I was checked for it when my excess fluid was picked up. Didn't have it though - I think a large number of cases of polyhydramnios are incidental and no cause is ever found. Try not to worry yourself about it and DON'T Google... there are some scary and VERY rare complications associated with it which just aren't worth worrying yourself with. Most of these exceptional cases are those who have had excess fluid from early on in the pregnancy rather than those who have it picked up toward the end.

Sorry I've rambled a bit, hope this makes sense!

Hello,

Today I went for an emergency scan, to be followed tomorrow by blood tests. The fluid was off the scale and baby is measuring very big. The doc thought it's simply the babe's size which is causing the excess (abdominal cavity on the 97th centile!)

It's soooo uncomfortable and I feel like such an invalid. I've another scan in 2 weeks and there's no plan to induce, although I think the doc suspects she won't see me at the scan. I've also been warned to expect a lot of water! Still hoping for a natural water birth and the doc seemed hopeful.

I terrified myself on Google last night. Really bad move.

F