by Rachael Stone

Created on: June 01, 2008

Polyhydramnios, pregnancy and me

For many women, pregnancy is something that is a lovely experience and goes without a hitch, maybe even taken for granted. However, every so often, something goes wrong, unexpected changes happen and pregnancy can be tough, hard and miserable. This happened to me in my fourth pregnancy when I suffered with a condition called polyhydramnios, or shortened to dramnios, with it being a hard word to say I guess.

What is it ?

Polyhydramnios is when there is too much amniotic fluid in the uterus, this condition occurs in less than 1 percent of pregnancies in the UK and normally starts around the 30th week of pregnancy. Symptoms of Polyhydramnios can include abdominal pain, severe heartburn and constipation, swollen legs and varicose veins and you will be very big for your dates.

It can be difficult to find out the cause,and indeed there may be no reason for it, but possibilities can include:- Diabetes, being pregnant with twins, infections or a congenital problem with the baby, a blockage in the oesophagus or a sign of problems with the central nervous system or with the heart and the kidneys.

When it started

I was not diagnosed with polyhydramnios until I was 31 weeks pregnant, but looking back over the weeks beforehand I guess things started to go wrong around the 18th week. I noticed that I could not eat anything much and when I was eating I was getting a lot of pain in my tummy, I just put it down to being pregnant, but the truth was I was starting to feel really ill at times and I was not sleeping at night due to chronic heartburn. Heartburn so bad in fact that I was bringing up acid while sleeping and choking on it and so I was really frightened of going to sleep some nights.

In addition, I was not able to go to the toilet at all, I had not been for 2 weeks, and that can make you feel ill. Eventually I relented and went to see my doctor who gave me big bottles of gaviscon, lactulose and fibre gel in order to help with the constipation and heartburn. None of it worked and the midwife prescribed the strongest things for me that she could and even they did nothing.

At my 20 week scan all was well, not a single problem to be seen. I also found out that I was having a girl; I was so pleased that I cried. You see I had three boys and I had been desperately praying for a girl. I also thought that this was the reason for me feeling so ill, because it was a different sexed baby. By the time I reached 25 weeks, I was having real problems eating

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