What happens when ur amniotic fluid is low?

Arnette Dominici: True low amniotic fluid at full term is an extremely rare condition which can be diagnosed properly only by doing palpation of the pregnant belly. Thousands of women have been unnecessarily launched down the cascade of obstetrical interventions by being frightened by this erroneous diagnosis at 41 weeks gestation. It’s time to ditch the “Biophysicial Profile” as an indicator of pathology. It is not based on science and continues to cost women their births and good health. Gloria LemayOligohydramnios at Term(From Journal of Midwifery & Women’s HealthOligohydramnios at Term: A Case ReportMaria L. Lanni, CNM, MS; Elizabeth A. Loveless, CNM, MSPosted: 02/07/2007; J Midwifery Womens Health. 2007;52(1):73-76. © 2007 Elsevier Science, Inc. )(excerpt)In Conway’s[13] retrospective, case-controlled study, women who were induced for oligohydramnios had an increased rate of cesarean section when compared women with oligohydramnios who were in spontaneous ! labor. The authors postulated that this increase was caused by the induction process itself.[13] One may conclude that a woman who is at term with isolated oligohydramnios with reassuring fetal surveillance and the absence of maternal morbidity and evidence of FGR is not associated with adverse perinatal outcome. (End of except)Conclusion (of Medscape article)Adverse perinatal outcomes associated with oligohydramnios are: umbilical cord compression; uteroplacental insufficiency, which is related to fetal growth restriction, pre-eclampsia, and other maternal morbidities; and increased incidence of meconium stained amniotic fluid.[3,4,14] The adverse outcomes associated with oligohydramnios have led to recommendations of ******** following the diagnosis of oligohydramnios in pregnancies at or past 37 weeks.[2] However, Sherer[18] identifies a number of the original studies linking oligohydramnios with adverse perinatal outcomes that included fetuses with structural anomalies,! small-for-gestational-age and FGR fetuses, postmaturity syndr! ome, and fetuses of mothers with various comorbidities, all of which may have affected AFI and led to the adverse outcomes. Thus, low AFI may be an epiphenomenon. The true number of adverse outcomes solely caused by isolated oligohydramnios is difficult to know.The question of the best management for AFI remains. Individualized care, with consideration of the many maternal and fetal factors, including time of day, cervical readiness, and emotional readiness for labor, should be considered. While research has shown that expectant management with maternal hydration has comparable maternal and neonatal outcomes in women with isolated idiopathic oligohydramnios at term, clinicians may be reluctant to abandon the approach of active management. It is reasonable to begin with active maternal hydration prior to routine fetal surveillance of term pregnancies or for borderline AFIs. More research needs to be done on the effect of acute hydration prior to fetal surveillance. It may be! beneficial for providers to encourage adequate hydration to our patients prior to assessment of AFI to decrease potentially unnecessary interventions....Show more

Mikel Bethay: at about a week or 2 over due i had a sono gram and it the doctor could not find one sac of amniotic fluid. so they had to induce my labor that night. they didn't really say how long it had been that way but it scared me