Very common with Cleft Palate babies there can be an issue with a large amount of amniotic fluid build up as the baby has trouble swallowing the fluid and during one of my routine ultrasounds it is apparent that is what is happening in my case. The large amount of fluid is called Polyhydramnios. Polyhydramnios occurs in 1% of pregnancies. To give you an idea of how much extra fluid there is, at my 28 week checkup my belly was measuring 35 weeks. I knew I had gotten big quickly, but I had no idea how big I really am. What can happen is the weight of the fluid can push on my body causing it to think the baby is dropping and to start contracting very early and put me in labor. Of course as any mom to be would do I fear the risk that going into labor so early would have on the baby’s organs not being developed on top of the hurdles we are going to have to go through with the cleft. The best case would be that I will just be as big if not bigger than a woman having twins and continue to be monitored on a weekly basis.
I again feel so luck that I live in a time that we are well informed of what is happening to our babies in utero through the technology of ultrasounds and have access to medical devices that we will need if this baby comes premature. I can only sit and wait to see how my body will deal with the extra weight of the fluid and make my husband tackle that “Honey Do” list ASAP 🙂
Maggie's Memos 