Dark amniotic fluid on scan 40w

[samilicious]

Has anyone had dark fluid identified on a scan post-DD before? Advised it may be meconium as I'm 40w+2 so baby likely to be developed enough and full of 💩

If you had dark amniotic fluid identified by sonographer, was it meconium in your waters or something else?

Just trying to get the most info to decide what to do next and as usual with women's health, not a lot of info out there

Oh and planning a home birth but planned and chose to transfer/induce in a previous pregnancy that was supposed to be a home birth so big on advocacy but flexible for what's best for baby

And otherwise low risk pregnancy, despite having a TFMR a few years ago 👼

Absolutely birth in hospital.

I don't think a home birth is advisable in this situation. It can be very dangerous if meconium gets into the baby's lungs.

Wasn't asking for advice on what to do, just on people's experience if this has happened to them before?

Have you been referred for further advice? Surely the possibility of meconium means your baby is at risk now and needs a hospital birth?

Still low risk as it can't be confirmed - spoken to a few doctors and midwives but they don't have much information, hence me asking on here

Have u spoken to your midwife. I was rushed to hospital in an ambulance and monitored because menconium is very dangerous and you may need to be induced.

They don't know it's meconium with any level of certainty, hence doctors keeping me low risk and advising me to wait and see when waters break.

Priority is getting baby here safely as possible. Hospital and loads of intervention will likely lead to a longer labour and more distress for baby (according to NICE guideline statistics that NHS use), which will be even more lethal if meconium is present

Hopefully someone else has had this picked up on a scan before and it's not just me!

OP, I mean this kindly and genuinely don’t want to scare you, but as someone who has a close friend that has just lost her baby last week days before delivery, I’d be pushing to find out why you are low risk just because they “don’t know” if it is meconion or not.What if it is, and the worst happens because they can’t make a decision? Im Sorry, I know that’s not what you want to hear but I would urge you to challenge and advocate as much as possible. My friend didn’t lose her baby to meconium but watching and seeing the utter grief she is now facing, I would hate to see someone else go through it.

I don't want to scare you but, I've known 3 people who lost babies right at the end of pregnancy. Until then id thought it was rare! One was in the hospital waiting for an elective section when it happened, but it kept getting bumped for emergencies. Id want that baby out by any means necessary

I'm sorry, but I would be insisting on a further scan and some monitoring. We were in NICU with my youngest, and some of the poorliest babies there had meconium.

OP- Didn't they suggest another scan or further monitoring? It seems very odd they just said to wait and see till the waters break? 😕

So they can't confirm that it's not meconium either?!? Please insist on close monitoring, at the very least

I’m really not sure why they aren’t giving you clear info, there will be a clear protocol about how you should be managed ,depending on all the relevant factors . They are the ones who know your medical history and findings! Please ring and ask for more info .

I would not be happy with that response. Meconium is dangerous. I would expect to be in hospital, being monitored, and induced rather then letting birth happen naturally.

Priority is getting baby here safely as possible. Please go back to hospital and insist on further monitoring.

Did they discuss more about what they mean by 'dark' amniotic fluid on your scan? All amniotic fluid is black on ultrasound. Unless they can somehow see thick deposits of it all over (which I would be very concerned about) then I don't see how describing it as 'dark' = meconium. Interested to learn more but never heard of this.

not sure that's the most helpful post - hypoechoic amniotic fluid is indeed a (not terribly common but still easily googleable) thing. The main differential at term IIRC is mec (not normal) or blobs of vernix (normal). Until the waters rupture either spontaneously or artificially you can't tell which it is. Guess the questions the OP needs to consider with the team are - are there benefits in the baby staying inside any longer/are there other signs the baby's struggling/where's the best place to plan to labour/what does the OP consider acceptable/unacceptable in terms of risk.

I didn't necessarily intend for my post to be 'helpful' as such, just my limited understanding was that AF is dark on ultrasound and as I said was interested to learn more. Following the thread to learn. A quick Google seemed to say more up to date evidence suggests that the echogenic amniotic fluid was found to be vernix once membranes had ruptured.
I wouldn't personally even consider a homebirth if any notion of mec so definitely agree lots to consider, especially as not very far postdates to explain the mec.

If there is any concern regarding meconium in the waters then this is not a low risk situation. If you are not keen for an induction could you at least have daily CTGs to monitor baby? You certainly need further monitoring rather than just a wait and see approach, I would be calling your maternity triage line now to arrange this.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to prioritise baby's safety and give birth in hospital but whatever.
My sister had 2 knotted cords and they said if she wasn't in hospital the babies would have suffocated.
I was supposed to have an easy low risk labour but ended up with high blood pressure and had to have an epidural to lower it as baby was taking ages to come so we were both at risk. They nearly did a c section on me
Why the hell would you chance it.

My friend had meconium in her waters when they broke and an ambulance had to take her to hospital . The risk is too high.

I would ask a second scan / second opinion but the safety is priority.

Honestly if there’s any realistic prospect of that being meconium I would ask to be induced straight away. You’re overdue so no prematurity worries, so why ‘wait to find out’ when the baby could be slowly getting very unwell.

If there was any risk I would have a hospital birth

My waters did not break at all. The midwives finally broke them after an hour of pushing (and 18 hours of labour). There was merconium in the waters and my baby had to be delivered very quickly. Luckily he was absolutely fine.

Just wanted to share my experience, as waiting until your waters break might leave things too late.