End Diastolic Flow absent last week .......

[shocknews]

Hi, I'm currently 30 wks pregnant with DC3 and had a doppler scan on Friday due to previous growth scan showing 'minimal EDF'. At the doppler scan they droppped the bombshell that EDF was now 'absent' so they were thinking of admitting us with a view to delivering. Thankfully fluid levels are good, baby is normal size and the ctg was 'excellent for a 30 weeker', so they decided to send us for a scan on baby's head and abdo to check there were no signs of compromise there yet. Thankfully everything was fine there too AND the EDF had returned to normal ???????? Can anyone explain why on earth this might happen as my consultant seemed rather stunned too ! I'm now booked for a repeat doppler Tuesday and have had my courses of steroids just in case.

Confused !

EDF can appear absent if you get a poor reading (or for example if baby is compressing cord at time of measurement)as the scan is just a 'snapshot, a moment in time' it can show things to be bleaker than they are...Basically you can make EDF look worse that it is by a poor measurement but is is impossible to make it appear better than it is...So, take your current normal EDF as a positive and try to relax and stay positive (easy for me to say I know!!)I'm a Sonographer and Umbilical artery dopplers despite looking easy to perform can be a nightmare!
Hopefully things will stay positive on Tuesday and if not and they decide baby is better out than in then please don't worry, at 30 weeks you're in a great position and every week from then on in you can tick off, all the better. Keeping my fingers crossed for you, look after yourself and keep your chin up. Xx

Sorry, one more point- with normal growth most centres don't even perform dopplers so you've been unfortunate in having an over-eager Sonographer!! Growth and fluid are good so again, please don't worry. Xx

They've done dopplers as previous dd's were both small (4lb 13 and 5lb 9) at 39 wks and they discovered I was pre-eclamptic with both only when I went into spontaneous labour at 39 wks ! Had growth scans with DD2 but they still didn't pick up her tail-off or the reduction in fluid (staff were covinced my membranes must have ruptured, but as a paramedic, I'm sure I'd have noticed !!). They've done the doppler this time as they were doing a normal 28wk growth scan (at 29wks) and discovered the EDF was 'minimal', on returning the week after for a doppler, the sonographer said it was definitely 'absent' and showed us all the measurements she'd taken. Dr was obv concerned and sent us to fetal management for the brain doppler and there, the majority of the cord was fine, but only a little bit showed absent edf so they've decided it might just be baby breathing etc. Can't help but worry that this was what probably occurred with DD1 & 2 though ....

Sorry for rambling, thanks for your reply !!