Scare at pregnancy week 26

Event: Routine doctor's appt

Saumya had a routine appointment with her OB-GYN today. She was close to 26 weeks and was starting to feel the movements of the baby girl (yes, we knew we were going to have a princess!). But of late, the movements had become little less and she thought she'd ask the doctor. The doctor wasn't planning on doing an ultra-sound in this appt - she mentioned its normal not to feel big movements till now as they get prominent only after week 28. She made us hear the heart beat of the baby and it sounded normal. Still, something came to her mind and she thought she'd do an ultra-sound just to dispel our fear.

During the ultra-sound, she found the amniotic fluid level (AFI) was a little less - and not just little, it was a lot less. The normal level is supposed to be around 12-14 and anything less than 5 requires immediate delivery, and Saumya's level was close to 6!! The doctor was worried - she asked us to go home, pack our bag and get admitted to the hospital right away. Saumya would be put on IV and unless the AFI level got better, we were looking at delivering at 26 weeks! Not to mention, we were pretty scared.

We got admitted to the hospital - one of the nurses inserted an IV in Saumya's arm (she injected the needle 3 times in and out, before she could find the right vein - all this while, Saumya cried in pain). Now started the painful wait - they conducted a test to ensure her amniotic sac had not ruptured - if it had, it would not be safe for the baby to stay inside (Not that it would be any safer outside either - it was just 26 weeks and chances of a baby delivered this early are just about 50-50, even with the current medical advancement). We prayed for things to be fine, and thankfully the amniotic sac was fine. Next, she was asked to drink plenty of fluids orally, while IV continued to be administered to her. The agonizing wait that lasted 48 hrs felt like a few years- an AFI check done again after this period showed the level had risen to 11 - still not normal, but considered safe enough for her to be discharged.

The doctor recommended her complete bed-rest from now till the fluid level gets normal - she was asked to drink plenty of fluids and get complete bed rest. We didn't know if she'd last the full term - all we wanted was  to take it one week at a time. We started setting goals for her fluid intake - beginning with 4 liters per day and slowly increasing. The doctor asked to see her every week and perform an AFI check to ensure the levels are  safe. The level didn't get any better, but thankfully it didn't get any worse either and stayed close to 11 mark. This meant we were looking at a pregnancy with complete bed-rest right till the delivery. Phew! And to imagine how its a cakewalk for most people...