Too much amniotic fluid? EEP!!

Paws - chocolate fish please!!!!
Andrew measured 4 weeks ahead at one stage in my third trimester. It turns out he just liked to stretch. Generous fluid is pretty ambiguous. It could mean anything from 'a good amount' to 'olympic sized pool'. Either way, Monique is sending you for a scan to get another look and has obstetricians at her disposal for expert opinions. It's kind of like Angela telling me about the kidney shunts - there is about a 0.001% chance I would need to have something yucky like that, but doctors like to cover all bases. Stop googling (and I'll stop watching medical dramas like Grey's Anatomy that keep killing off pregnant women) and go with the flow. Oh, and maybe keep an extra absorbent towel in the car in case you do gush a tidal wave when your waters break

Hi Paws,

I know very little about polyhydramnios but I do know it is dangerous to google.
Without a doubt you will turn up something really really scary that occurs in point 000000001% of cases (as Emeldee said) and that is what will stick in your head, keeping you awake in the small hours of the night!
Until you know what you have to worry about, if anything, try to stay positive.
Hooray for getting to see your Maddy again. I bet she'll be merrily swimming in her generous bathwater and everything will be fine.
When in doubt, eat chocolate fish

Ok I'll stop googling...and I think I'll also stop watching Grey's Anatomy....I bawled my eyes out during this weeks episode and had to have cuddles from B....

I'm sure everything will be fine and I'm really glad I'm in good hands with Monique. I think I'm just feeling really overwhelmed with all the little things going wrong (or seeming to) over the last couple of weeks and it's all building up to make one rather nervous mum-to-be!

Thanks girls!

I second/third/fourth the no more googling - my midwife gave me a lecture about bombarding myself with TMI yesterday...

Polyhydramnios can be scary but it doesn't always mean there is a problem. I am monitored every fortnight for my liquor volume as Polyhydramnios is one of the first signs of twin to twin transfusion.

If the excess fluid is a problem, they can drain some off using a needle, and it's pretty safe for bubs. I know two people who have had this done without any complications and one has a healthy baby boy, the other one will have a healthy baby boy sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Yeah my largest area was 8.9cm...from what I was reading though (well it was a US site so not sure how much it applies) they measure 4 areas and add them...it's only if it's over 24cm that there is an issue.

Monique also mentioned there was one lady they drained the fluid for but that was a few years back...

I think I'm starting to breath again...it's horrible when head knowledge says one thing but your panic stations say another!

ahhh sorry you are having such a stressful day Paws - you are exactly like me, everytime somethign comes up I have to gather as much info as possible and sometimes (no wait, make that MOST of teh time) it makes me feel much worse, so I dont know why I do it, just have this obsession with finding things out I guess....
When I had a small bleed at 21 weeks I was straight on the computor and into a bunch of books, none of them made me feel better, I kept going back to the sections that seemed to have the worst possible explanations.....
annnyyyway I am not going to give you a lecture on the dangers of TMI cos I am an addict myself - but everything turned out fine for us we are going really well and I guess the best thing to do is try to take you lead from your LMC - if she is worried then you worry, but it sounds like she is just being cautious (and hey! being cautious is a GREAT thing, after all she has precious cargo to look after, better to be overly carefull than slack!!!)
Hope you start to feel better soon, your baby girl will be fine and you are in good hands, only 7 more weeks to go now!!! yayyy!! Almost there!!! The finish line is in sight!!!

I remember an episode of ER that screened on tv 11 years ago when I was pregnant with Sean where the Mum died from complications from pre-eclampsia. I was HYSTERICAL and was scared out of my brain for the rest of the pregnancy. Thank goodness google wasn't around then. Grrrrr to the TV medical dramas that kill off pregnant women.

The prob with using the internet to source info is that yes, there is a wonderful amount of really great informative useful sites out there, but for every 1 reputable one, there is also around 1,000 sites that you should not regard as anything but rubbish. so i second(3rd,4th,5th whatever, lol) the stop googling motion, but will add this:

if you do google for anything medical, the best pages to visit are those that you know to be reputable, those by nz ministry's of health, nurses or midwife/ob-gyn regulatory sites etc, or those that are made by medical colleges, again if you can get ones from NZ which may be more relevant to us, then try for that.
Chances are then that they give the good as well as the bad outcomes are things are explained better and not blown out of proportion... they can still be biased if they are research based sometimes however.   Best thing to do is talk it over with your midwife - she'll be able to give you the relevant info for your individual case.

good luck.

Oh yeah those are good hot chocolates!!