Re-intro, low amniotic fluid at 17 weeks

Hi everyone,

I posted here briefly at the end of my first pregnancy (DS, 5/1/02),
and then hung out on mkb for a while until I got busy with work again,
so some of you might remember me. I certainly see some familiar names!

I'm 17 weeks along with #2 EDD 7/19/04 (although I think they didn't
take the leap year into account when they figured that, so it's probably
really 7/18/04 - no matter). My first pregnancy was problem-free.
I had all the usual discomforts, but no big issues, and a pretty good
delivery experience (pitocin, but no pain meds, short pushing stage,
etc, fantastic doula!).

This time around there's been more issues. First, it was much harder to
deal with 1st trimester tiredness with a toddler around who still isn't
sleeping through the night. Then I had a high reading on the AFP test
(4.19x the median), indicating a 30% chance of neural tube defects. The
u/s at 17 weeks (on Monday) showed no anatomical problems (whew) but
"moderately decreased" amniotic fluid (AFI of 5cm, but they say that the
index isn't really meant for this early on). Last night I had some
pretty watery discharge, so we called the OB who said to come in today.
She tested for amniotic fluid, but that came back negative (again, not
necessarily reliable this early on), and my AFI is still low (6.8cm).
So, I've been told to minimize activity, but do have the okay to teach
my class twice a week.

My OB thinks that the high AFP reading and the low amniotic fluid are
probably related: She says that one possible source of extra AFP in the
fluid (and therefore the maternal blood stream) is the placenta, and the
low amniotic fluid may also be a sign of the placenta having difficulty.
So far, the baby's growth is right on track, though. I'm scheduled
for a follow-up u/s to check both growth and fluid in 2 weeks.

Has anyone else had experiences with this? How long were you required
to "rest up"? If you had other kids around, how did you manage? (DS
is in daycare full time, and DH can work from home quite a bit, so that
helps. We also have family in the area...) What are the worst-case
outcomes, and how likely are they?

Thanks,
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
#2 EDD 7/19/04

p.s. This is a new news client for me. Apologies if this message is
poorly formatted.

Hi folks,

Replying to my own post for a follow-up. I bled a little overnight
(not lots, and it stopped, but more than what I would call "spotting").
Called the OB this morning, and she said she thought it was probably
placental.

So, here's my current situation:

17.5 weeks along
High AFP, but no sign of anatomical defects on u/s
Moderately decreased amniotic fluid (oligohydramnios)
Baby's growth is right on target as of 17 weeks
No sign of kidney problems in the baby (the most common
cause of oligohydramnios)
Apparently no leaks of amniotic fluid

The OB has told me to "lounge around" as much as possible, but
has grudgingly okayed going to campus to teach my class twice a
week. She's also prescribed a baby dose aspirin a day, to try
to improve placental function.

I of course went on the web and read about oligohydramnios.
It sounds like the worst case is really bad -- underdeveloped lungs,
which is basically fatal. But, I think that that's mostly associated
with severe oligohydramnios and the OB and others seem to think
there's a good chance of increasing my amniotic fluid if I rest
up real well and keep hydrated.

Has anyone else had experience with anything like this?

In reading up, I found that one risk factor for placental
abruption (which I don't know is what's going on, but it's
one possibility) is smoking. I don't smoke, and never have,
but I did spend a week in Germany a couple of weeks ago
and was exposed to a lot of second-hand smoke. Ick! Might
that have been a factor then?

Thanks,
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
#2 EDD 7/19/04

I'm sorry noone has been able to help you out so far, I have no experience
with such a situation myself. But I do know that bleeding, even minor,
should be taken serious. So in spite of having the OK to teach, I'd
seriously consider taking a break. At least until you have figured out
what is causing all this. Could you get some financial support based on
impairment due to pregnancy?

I doubt that one week of second hand smoke would have affected you, so try
not to feel guilty about that. HTH!

--
-- I
mommy to DS (19m)
mommy to a tiny angel (Oct 2003)
EDD October 1
guardian of DH (33)
War doesn't decide who's right, only who's left

Ilse Witch wrote:

I'm sorry noone has been able to help you out so far, I have no experience
with such a situation myself. But I do know that bleeding, even minor,
should be taken serious. So in spite of having the OK to teach, I'd
seriously consider taking a break. At least until you have figured out
what is causing all this. Could you get some financial support based on
impairment due to pregnancy?

I doubt that one week of second hand smoke would have affected you, so try
not to feel guilty about that. HTH!


Hi Ilse,

Thanks for the reply and for the reassurance on the second-hand
smoke thing. DH was saying that we're probably so sensitive to
smoke now (since we hardly ever experience any -- no smoking in
restaurants here, no relatives smoke etc) that it probably wasn't
as bad as I thought, too.

I really am cutting back on most of my activity (like 90%). The
rest of my work (besides teaching) I can do in bed -- lying down
or at least reclining. The bleeding was only one episode so far
(aside from some spotting much earlier), and I don't seem to be
experiencing anything like preterm labor -- no contractions, cervix
still nice and closed up, etc. So the point of all the rest is
to increase blood flow to the placenta and hopefully to increase
the amniotic fluid as well. My next class isn't until next Tuesday,
and I think I can even lecture sitting down ;-) My students all
know I'm pg, so they should be forgiving, I hope.

Anyway, thanks again,

--
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
#2 EDD 7/19/04

Emily wrote:
Ilse Witch wrote:

I'm sorry noone has been able to help you out so far, I have no
experience
with such a situation myself. But I do know that bleeding, even minor,
should be taken serious. So in spite of having the OK to teach, I'd
seriously consider taking a break. At least until you have figured out
what is causing all this. Could you get some financial support based on
impairment due to pregnancy?

I doubt that one week of second hand smoke would have affected you, so
try
not to feel guilty about that. HTH!


Hi Ilse,

Thanks for the reply and for the reassurance on the second-hand
smoke thing. DH was saying that we're probably so sensitive to
smoke now (since we hardly ever experience any -- no smoking in
restaurants here, no relatives smoke etc) that it probably wasn't
as bad as I thought, too.

I really am cutting back on most of my activity (like 90%). The
rest of my work (besides teaching) I can do in bed -- lying down
or at least reclining. The bleeding was only one episode so far
(aside from some spotting much earlier), and I don't seem to be
experiencing anything like preterm labor -- no contractions, cervix
still nice and closed up, etc. So the point of all the rest is
to increase blood flow to the placenta and hopefully to increase
the amniotic fluid as well. My next class isn't until next Tuesday,
and I think I can even lecture sitting down ;-) My students all
know I'm pg, so they should be forgiving, I hope.

I agree that the week's worth of exposure to smoke would probably do
nothing. I also agree that resting is a great idea. :-) I *really*
hope that you start to see some improvement, soon.

BTW, what do you teach? (just curious)

Vicky Bilaniuk wrote:

I agree that the week's worth of exposure to smoke would probably do
nothing. I also agree that resting is a great idea. :-) I *really*
hope that you start to see some improvement, soon.

BTW, what do you teach? (just curious)

Hi Vicky,

Thanks for the reassurances on the second-hand smoke. It sure
was icky though (and I had a cough, which I think stuck around
longer because of it).

I teach linguistics. Usually computational linguistics, but this
quarter I'm teaching syntax. My lecture meets 2x a week, and
my department is being very understanding, so I think this will
work out okay. Next quarter I'm supposed to teach two classes
(one meeting 2x a week, one just once, on a different day), but
we'll see how things are going by then.


--
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
#2 EDD 7/19/04

Emily wrote:
Vicky Bilaniuk wrote:


I agree that the week's worth of exposure to smoke would probably do
nothing. I also agree that resting is a great idea. :-) I *really*
hope that you start to see some improvement, soon.

BTW, what do you teach? (just curious)


Hi Vicky,

Thanks for the reassurances on the second-hand smoke. It sure
was icky though (and I had a cough, which I think stuck around
longer because of it).

Second hand smoke is *disgusting*.


I teach linguistics. Usually computational linguistics, but this

Neat!

quarter I'm teaching syntax. My lecture meets 2x a week, and
my department is being very understanding, so I think this will
work out okay. Next quarter I'm supposed to teach two classes
(one meeting 2x a week, one just once, on a different day), but
we'll see how things are going by then.

I really hope that you can figure something out that works for you. I
know that in my husband's department (he's a mathematician), whenever
anyone needs time off, it's a *real* pain because getting a replacement
in is not a simple task.

Take care!

Vicky

On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 16:07:23 -0500, Vicky Bilaniuk
wrote:

Second hand smoke is *disgusting*.

Even when I was a smoker, I didn't like second hand smoke. It is one
thing to be drawing smoke into my lungs voluntarily. It is another to
have no choice in the matter.

--
Daye
Momma to Jayan and Leopold
See Jayan and Leo: http://www.aloofhosting.com/jayleo/

Vicky Bilaniuk wrote:

I really hope that you can figure something out that works for you. I
know that in my husband's department (he's a mathematician), whenever
anyone needs time off, it's a *real* pain because getting a replacement
in is not a simple task.

Take care!

Vicky


I know. I feel like I have a huge responsibility, but then,
the responsibility to my baby & family is bigger. I'm really
lucky about the particular dept I'm in though -- the chair is
the only woman I know in academic with *3* kids. They're grown
up now (the oldest is my age), but still, she's very understanding.
One of my colleagues just had a baby, too. I subbed for her
for a couple of weeks since her leave began towards the end of
a quarter. I figured it would be good for my karma ;-)

--
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
#2 EDD 7/19/04

Daye wrote:

On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 16:07:23 -0500, Vicky Bilaniuk
wrote:


Second hand smoke is *disgusting*.


Even when I was a smoker, I didn't like second hand smoke. It is one
thing to be drawing smoke into my lungs voluntarily. It is another to
have no choice in the matter.

I saw something I couldn't belive on a trip to Europe this
past summer. I was in CDG airport in Paris (transferring)
and I saw a two parents bring their kinds into the enclosed
smoking area so that they (presumably only the parents) could
have a cigarette. The kinds were probably 8-10. It's not like
the parents couldn't have taken turns so that they wouldn't
have to bring their kids into that environment!

OTOH, at least they had enclosed smoking areas at that airport,
unlike Frankfurt, which is a "non-smoking airport" except for
the completely open to the rest of the airport smoking areas
every few hundred feet.


--
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
#2 EDD 7/19/04