Anyone Diagnosed with High Amniotic Fluid Levels During Pregnancy?

Good Lord...is everyone trying to scare M., or what?? I had anmiotic fluid levels that were above average also, but I had a wonderful labor and delivery experience. My doctor induced me a week early (39 weeks), and once my doctor broke my water and I got an epidural, it was smooth sailing until my son dropped low enough for me to push. I only had to push for 17 minutes. If you're really concerned about what to expect during labor, I would recommend talking to your doctor and/or the perinatologist. They will give you the best answer based on what they know about your condition, instead of a bunch of worst-case-scenario information that will just raise your stress level. If you have a really good team of doctors working with you, they will do enough sonograms to make sure that you have a safe and healthy delivery. Good luck!

I just had a baby back in January. I had the same problem. My amniotic fluid levels were above average. The real problem is during delivery. The concern is that the cord will fall before the baby. The doctor's can drain some of the fluid before you deliver so as to make the chances of a prolapsed cord are slim. It can definitely make you uncomfortable, but just take it easy. If the doctor's think their is any concern, they will take proper measures. Have they said if you will be delivering vaginally or ceserean?

This was my second time around. I was 2 weeks early, but induced. I was huge and miserable, partly from all of the extra fluid. I went into the hospital the night before, was given sleeping medicine so I would be rested. The next morning, I got an epidural and my son was born by noon.

Is this your first?

I had it with my daughter. She presented posteriorly during delivery which means she was sunny side up instead of sunny side down. Made for some hard back labor but once I got the epidural it was fine and she was fine. No complications.

During my 2nd pregnancy I had Polyhydrominos which means 2 times the amount of amniotic fluid. This is when the baby is unable to swallow amniotic fluid causing a large amount of excess fluid. I ended up being on monitors alot and had the 2D sonograms. The NICU was in there and they had to put tubes down my babies throat. I did hemorage afterwards and had shots in my legs and stayed on iv for 2 days. But she is health and beautiful 1 and half year old now! Good luck!

When you say everything is fine, I assume you mean that your placenta and the baby looked normal, but that the perinatologist also found your fluid levels to be a little high?

In over half the cases where fluid level is high, it's just because your body makes more than normal for some reason. Some things that you may need to watch out for:

-baby's presentation may be less than ideal, because she has more room to float around in the extra fluid. I would be extra careful about doing exercises to promote good positioning (check out www.spinningbabies.com for more info).

-you are at a greater risk for umbilical cord prolapse. It's not extrememly common for a woman's water to break before labor begins, but if that is the case for you then you should be aware of signs of this problem (talk to your care provider). Likewise, you should avoid having your membranes ruptured artificially if possible.

-you are also at a greater risk for postpartum hemorrhage. Your care provider should be monitoring your blood loss after birth closely.

Obviously the greater the amount of excess fluid, the bigger the problems. If you have only minimally increased levels, it may not affect things at all.

L. King, CCCE, CLD
www.ajoyfulbirth.com