I have seen more and more moms who are going in for inductions for low fluid.
Once there was even a mom who was told after a fluid check she needed to go to get induced for low fluid. She went home and got stuff together and went back. The hospital said she was late. She had been on the schedule for an induction for 10 am, which was an hour before she even got her fluid measured. Hmmmm, seems oddly suspicious to me.
I think if a mom is going for a non-stress test or a fluid level check or a basic ultrasound, she should have these questions handy, in case they are told they have “low fluid”.
Ask questions!
- What level is my fluid?
- What is considered normal? Between 5 and 10 should be watched more closely, but it is in the normal range.
- Is baby doing ok?
- If you look at more then just the fluid, how is the baby doing?
- Can I go home and rest and drink a lot and come back tomorrow and get my fluid measured again?
(It is amazing how different levels can be measured by different people within a short period of time. )
There was a very interesting post by a L&D nurse about an induction for just this reason.
Here is another thought provoking post regarding low fluid by Gloria Lemay.
I also love this story of a mom who follows her intuition when care providers tried to scare her about low fluid.
I feel like this is one of those no win situations.
I know two women whose babies were born severely compromised due to low fluid and later died.
For most this does not apply, but you never know when you will be the unlucky one.
but it also can be a cause for concern, this may be less common but shouldn’t be entirely ignored, it may not always be a scare tactic. This happened to my mom at around 30 weeks, they were doing a follow-up ultrasound to check placents close to cervix and found low fluids, which after more investigation found the cause was a blockage in the baby boy’s urethra which meant limited urine was being disposed, which iwas the cause of her low fluids. Luckily they caught this and she was induced around 34 weeks, otherwise the low fluids would have gone unnoticed and my brother probably wouldn’t have lived.
Absolutely! It can be a cause for concern and certainly should be something moms follow up to get more information and to be sure that it goes up and is in a safe zone.