Have just been diagnosed with excess amniotic fluid at 38 weeks - any advice/reassurance gratefully received!!

[pansyrose]

Have had a scan due to my bump size being excessive. It has always been on the outer scale of large and finally (after badgering) they agreed to a scan as the worry was that the baby was enormous.

The baby is averagely to big, not at all enormous, however they have identified that I have excess anmiotic fluid (polyhydramnios) which is why my bump is huge.

I have done the usual stupid thing to do - Googled and frightened myself to death with all the possibilities. I am only reassured by the fact that all scans and other tests have come back completely clear and the baby appears to be extremely healthy. They never tested me for diabetes as apparently I don't fall into a diabetes risk category but I haven't had any other symptoms of diabetes so hope that's not it. Too late now to do anything about it anyway if it is/was diabetes.

Has anyone else had this excess fluid thing and how did it turn out (only good stories please, I am soooo worried.

TIA.

I had excess fluid and never found out till the end of pg as well my baby was big 9lbs 14,i was never tested for diabetes either but i have just been tested this pg. My birth and baby where all good and healthy placenta was huge apparently as well. i never really experienced any problems down to it except the fact that when my waters broke it was a huge ammount! and i was massive when pg always measuring 4 weeks ahead of date.

Thanks Pinkbump3. That's reassuring. I have always measured 4 weeks ahead of date too. I am just so worried (1st baby, can you tell ).

Bump...

the fact that all other tests were clear and you have not had a pre term labour are all really good

have you been advised to be induced or are you being advised to wait for spontaneous labour

is your baby engaged at all?

I had this with DS, although it wasn't picked up until I was induced and the waters kept coming and coming....

It didn't seem to make any difference, but during this pregnancy they've told me that they suspect I had gestatational diabetes last time, due to the polyhydramnios and the fact that DS was on the large side at 37 weeks. I do have GD, but so far so good!

DS is now 2.3 and a healthy little chap. He is tall and skinny and shows no sign of being on the large side. He was jaundiced after birth, but this isn't uncommon.

Relax, it'll be fine. Now they know about it they can monitor you.

Same story here - enormous bump and lots of fluid, and had a scan at 38 weeks - DS was big, but not that big (9lb2oz) and no problems were detected. I did end up with a CS because I didn't dilate enough for his big head - but all was well. It doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem, it can just be the way your body does pregnancy. A friend who was pg at the same time as me had literally almost no bump at all - I still have no idea where she was keeping that baby! - and hers was fine too. Good luck, hope everything goes well for you.

Thank you both Lulumama and llareggub.

They are inducing me on my due date. The baby's head isn't engaged although it is in the head down position. Baby is very active (always has been) which I am told is a good sign?

I am just so worried as I know that it can be an indication of various things, although the Down's test came back at a 1:4800 risk and the other scans are clear ie brain, stomach, bladder etc. They checked all these organs again in the scan and found nothing untoward. I am just hoping that I have excess fluid is all but Google is not good in these situations, I knew it was a mistake to look.

All they have said is that if waters break in the meantime I should get myself to hospital due to the rare possibility of cord prolapse. Having Googled this I now know I will be putting myself in the Trendelenburg position and calling an ambulance to get to the hospital asap...

Oh gosh, I hope I wake up tomorrow all calm. Everything looks better in the mornings.

I have had this with all 3 o mine and all have had happy outcomes. Apparently in about 80% of cases there is no reason why the mother has made so much fluid, and of the remaining 20% many are due to gestational diabetes, for which you are not high risk.

I was told that if my waters went it would be spectacular and I should go to hospital asap. The main risk is of cord prolapse where the head is not engaged to act as a bung - what happens is that the force of the waters leaving can cause the cord to become trapped. If this happens, dial 999, open the front door then get on your hands and knees with your bum in the air to take the pressure off the cord. There will still be time and it is HUGELY rare anyway.

I googled and frightened myslef to death on it but it turned out fine each time. Be prepared for a big one though - my first was 9lb 13 at 41 weeks!

All the best.

Thank you snowleopard. I have my fingers crossed I have the same happy outcome.

I have a friend who's bump at 35 weeks was the same size as mine at 22 weeks. She was absolutely tiny. In the end baby was born at full term but 6.5lb and fine, I guess different people just do pregnancy differently.

Why did I have to Google though (smacks hand away from Google)... there's absolutely nothing I can do about it if there is a problem. Part of me wants to run to the hospital and get tested for everything but a) this is daft b) its too late and c) it won't change the outcome...

ok.. i was going to say about assuming the position and dialling 999 !! so hopefully, you will get through the next two weeks and all will be well.. waiting is horrible.

Thanks you SybilFaulty. Is reassuring to hear that you have had it several times and all have turned out to be fine.

X post pansy.

If your scans have shown a working stomach and bladder, then that is a lot to quell your fear as you know the baby can swallow and can wee. The fact that your baby is very active may also be a good sign, as sometimes babies who have problems may be much quieter in the womb (or so i've read - many o my friends with quieter babies were fine though). Your nuchal risk is really very low and so the overwhelming chance is that you are one of the women who just grows them watery!

Take care and try not to be too anxious. And STEP AWAY FROM GOOGLE!

I also had this. I was booked for an induction because they were so worried about my waters going but actually they wouldn't do it because my DS never engaged so I ended up having a CS. They said I could wait to see if my waters broke naturally but wouldn't let me leave the hospital! So I decided to have the CS that day.

My DS is fine and wasn't even quite small (under 7lbs) even though they said he was a whopper. Oh and I googled too - you can't help it can you? The likelihood is that everything is fine

Thanks Lulumama. The doctor said "if waters break, try to go to hospital soon as you can make it". I will be taking no chances though and would definitely call an ambulance asap should that happen.

Thanks spicemonster.

The thing is, all the signs have been there for such a long time. Bump has always measured outside the outer line on the green notes graph. Every time I have gone to the MW from 30 weeks onwards I have commented on how big the bump is, how active the baby is and how it moves around so easily. It has been in all sort of positions from breech to transverse to cephalic, posterior and anterior (suggesting lots of room/fluid to move around in??) and never showed a sign of engaging.

At 35 weeks at a meeting with the doctor (which I asked for and got by chance otherwise it would have just been a MW meeting), I asked if I could be tested for diabetes and was told "no, because you don't fit an "at risk of diabetes" category."

I also asked if my large bump could be due to excess fluid rather than a big baby (this was despite knowing NOTHING about excess fluid, it was just an educated guess that the bump was either baby or fluid) and was told (by the same doctor) that it wouldn't be excess fluid as they would be able to feel that, it was definitely the baby. Hence the suggestion of scan nearer term.

At this same 35 week meeting the doctor went to show the consultant the growth chart and asked if I should have a scan then, plus one at 38 weeks. He said there was no need for a scan then (at 35 weeks) so I didn't get one and the doctor recorded this on my notes "consultant advises no need for scan".

Gosh I feel better for offloading. I must focus on the positive: there are no indications of any abnormalities and lots of people just have excess fluid without sinister cause. End of.

I too had excess fluid. And when my waters broke, man did they whosh and whosh.
They were already monitoring me very closely becasue of my diabetes, and like you nothing else was of concern, all organs were fine.
So please try not to worry.

AND like others, re baby size, being told thst thir babies were bigger than they turned out ot be - Kings kept telling me what whoppers ds1 and ds2 were. Both of them turned out to be about 7lb !!!
Remember that it is only an estimate. Never fact.

Pansyrose - my friend was told the same thing and like you (and all of us!) immediately googled and scared herself half to death.

Happy to say that yesterday she gave birth to the most gorgeous, healthy little girl

Thanks oblomov and Feeltrapped.

Surely if they had suspected anything wrong with the baby they would have flagged it up. She must see 1000's of scans every year and at 38 weeks everything was very clear and easy to see.

Calming down a bit now. There is absolutely nothing to suggest anything is wrong with the baby so I really should just assume things will be fine - no point worrying cos it won't change a thing anyway.

Also all your stories help as it shows that plenty of people can have excess fluid and in many/most cases there is totally nothing to it.

There are people with a lot more sinister pg symptoms to worry about than just excess fluid after all. It's like reading up on side effects of paracetomol or cough medicine - if you believed you'd get most or any of the side effects listed you'd never ever take it!!

bump... any more positive stories/experiences out there re polyhydramnios?

I had this with my dd and found out at 36 weeks. I was huge and measuring 47 weeks!

I have to say my consultant was quite cautious and I was admitted for the remainder of the pregnancy and dd was delivered at 39 weeks by c-section (although this was due to unstable lie, she was very active and kept turning and also a previous c-section). They were quite happy for me to go for a vaginal delivery right up until a few days before.

The main worry was cord prolapse if my waters broke. They did once mention the possibility of draining off some of the fluid although I think the risks of this outweighed the slight benefits.

Dd was 9lb 4oz - I think they expected her to be much bigger. The only downside for me was how uncomfortable I got and the amount of people who asked when my twins were due! My sister actually had twins who were both around 7lbs when born and she got nowhere near the size I did.

I hope everything goes well and you are reassured by the stories on here.

I had excess fluid with ds2, was tested for diabetes (negative) and had scan at 38 weeks that showed baby was a normal size, i was huge i tell you, farking enormous, and so so uncormfortable becuase of the size of my bump, so my constulatant agree to induce me a at 39 weeks.

When my waters broke there were floods and floods of it (i swear i saw Noah sail past in his Ark) it was spectacular, i never knew one person could hold so much fluid, i was stood on a ward and it just keep coming, my mum and my sil watched with their jaws in their laps

Later on when i was in full labour, they came and told me 'we have to break your back waters now' i was like waaaaa you mean theres more? i was thinking my baby must be tiny

Anyway ds2 was born a bonny 8lbs and perfectly healthy

Stay away from google and good luck with the floods, tell your birth partner to take some wellies

Thanks listenglisten. The consultant (or registrar, I think he was) I saw didn't seem too concerned about it all except to say that induction on due date was best than leaving it til the usual 42 weeks before acting.

He didn't explain or even say the term "polyhydramnios", or explain anything about it, he just said "excess water could be caused by anything such as infection or diabetes but in most cases probably nothing". I got the word polyhydramnios from reading the scan report in my notes - the sonographer had typed it on her report. Hence I google PH cos it's not been explained to me and... you can imagine the panic!

Was there any cause of your PH do you know? did they run any tests? In my case they aren't as it's too late for any management or treatment anyway, he said (great hey).

Also, did they do the nasal gastric tube thing or any extra checks on your DD once she was born?

Thanks, as you can imagine I'm worried (far more worried about the cause and whether or not the baby is fine than the cord prolapse thing.

Thanks vinegartits as well, x post (the gas man is here and keeps asking questions about things I know nothing about, so taking ages to type a post out!)

I so hope I am one of the 65% who just carry more water and there's nothing wrong. It's awful to spend the last of the pg in fear but then some people spend the whole of their pg's in fear of very real concerns so I should be grateful. DH is completely unfazed, I wish I was as blase but then he happily watched TV/emailed etc last night instead of Googling