- How to tell if I'm losing amniotic fluid
- What to do if you are losing amniotic fluid
- What can cause loss of amniotic fluid
Staying with wet panties during pregnancy may indicate increased intimate lubrication, involuntary loss of urine or loss of amniotic fluid, and to know how to identify each of these situations, one should observe the color and smell of the panties.
When it is thought that amniotic fluid may be lost in the 1st or 2nd trimester, it is advisable to go immediately to the emergency room or the obstetrician because, if the fluid is coming out, it can impair the baby's development and growth, in addition to putting the child's life women at risk in some cases.
How to tell if I'm losing amniotic fluid
In most cases, the loss of amniotic fluid is only mistaken for the involuntary loss of urine that happens due to the weight of the uterus on the bladder.
A good way to know if it is loss of amniotic fluid, loss of urine or if it is just increased lubrication of the vagina is to put an intimate pad on the panties and observe the characteristics of the fluid. Normally, the urine is yellowish and smells, while the amniotic fluid is transparent and odorless and the intimate lubrication is odorless but can have the appearance of egg white, just as it does in the fertile period.
The main symptoms and signs of amniotic fluid loss include:
- The panties are wet, but the liquid has no smell or color; The panties get wet more than once a day; Decrease in the baby's movements in the womb, when there has already been a greater loss of fluid.
Pregnant women with risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes or lupus are more likely to experience loss of amniotic fluid, but this can happen to any pregnant woman.
Know how to identify the involuntary loss of urine in pregnancy, and what to do to control it.
What to do if you are losing amniotic fluid
Treatment for loss of aminotic fluid varies according to gestational age:
In the 1st and 2nd quarter:
Medical help should be sought immediately but treatment is usually done with weekly consultations with the obstetrician to assess the amount of fluid throughout pregnancy. When the doctor does the ultrasound and finds that the liquid is too low, it may be recommended to increase the water intake and maintain rest to avoid losing more fluid and avoid complications for the woman.
If there are no signs of infection or bleeding associated with fluid loss, the woman can be monitored periodically at the outpatient level, in which the health team checks the woman's body temperature and performs a blood count to check for signs of infection or labor. In addition, tests are done to assess whether everything is okay with the baby, such as auscultation of the baby's heartbeat and fetal biometrics. Thus, it is possible to check if the pregnancy is going well, despite the loss of amniotic fluid.
In the 3rd quarter:
When fluid loss occurs at the end of pregnancy, this is usually not serious, but if the woman is losing a lot of fluid the doctor may even choose to anticipate delivery. If this loss occurs after 36 weeks, it is usually a sign of rupture of the membranes and, therefore, one should go to the hospital as the moment of delivery may be coming.
See what to do in case of reduced amniotic fluid.
What can cause loss of amniotic fluid
The causes of amniotic fluid loss are not always known. However, this can happen due to genital infectious conditions, so it is recommended to consult the obstetrician whenever symptoms such as burning when urinating, genital pain or redness, for example.
Other causes that can cause loss of amniotic fluid or lead to a reduction in its quantity include:
- Partial rupture of the bag, in which the amniotic fluid begins to leak due to a small hole in the bag. It is more frequent in late pregnancy and usually the opening closes alone with rest and good hydration; Problems in the placenta, in which the placenta may not be producing enough blood and nutrients for the baby and it does not produce as much urine, with less amniotic fluid; Medicines for high blood pressure, as they can decrease the amount of amniotic fluid and affect the baby's kidneys; Baby abnormalities: at the beginning of the second trimester of pregnancy, the baby may start to swallow the amniotic fluid and eliminate it through the urine. When amniotic fluid is lost, the baby's kidneys may not develop properly; Feto-fetal transfusion syndrome, which can happen in the case of identical twins, in which one can receive more blood and nutrients than the other, causing one to have less amniotic fluid than the other.
In addition, some medications, such as Ibuprofen or medicines for high blood pressure, can also decrease the production of amniotic fluid and, therefore, the pregnant woman must inform the obstetrician before taking any medication.
