Somehow I am 34 weeks pregnant after the sudden stillbirth of my daughter Lydie last year, just before 34 weeks. It's been a highly anxious time and in many ways, I can't believe we've made it this far. I've had lots of monitoring - a combination of NSTs and Biophysical profiles 3 times a week. But I know cord accidents often happen when a mother is sleeping and I've had a hard time sleeping for months now. I track movement all day long and start to panic when it's been more than 10 or 15 minutes. Anyway. An anxious time.

I have been told that the plan would be to deliver at 37 weeks and my OB had tentatively planned for 36 and 5. I understand the concerns about getting a baby out too soon, but more than anything, I just want this baby where I can see her. Recently I learned that my MFM will only allow us to deliver at 37 weeks if we have an amnio first. I've been upset about that, as I'm worried she won't pass and then we have to continue to wait and worry. I'm debating scheduling the amnio for 36 and 5 or 37 and 1 (37 exactly is a weekend). Every day is a struggle but I worry if we do it too soon, she won't pass and then we'll have to wait another week. And the 3 days difference may not seem notable, but when you're worried your baby will die inside you, it seems like forever...

My husband and I are researchers and can't find much out there on lung maturity and amnios... Have any of you had amnios and at what point? Help please??

Hi Heather, I haven't had one but my MFM has described having one at that stage as pretty standard for determining whether to wait a few more days or not. Like you, I'm super anxious about all this (25 weeks only though)...plus I have uterine issues that might trump anything else...I'm sorry this isn't very helpful, other than to say it seems like a frequent way to assess lung maturity. Sending you a hug. This is hard.

There are other issues to consider as well. Babies develop their immune system in the last few weeks, as well as master the suck swallow and breathe. I know when we were in the nicu (25.0 delivery date) there were several babies there that were in the later half of 30 weeks and had problems with feedings. Also, our daughter, being born so early had little to no immune system. We found out this is also developed in the later week of pregnancy. As a mom of a 25 week angel baby I would try to have the latest possible date. The longer your baby is in the woumb the better chance they have for survival.

Heather,
I will also have an amnio at 37 weeks. I discussed the amnio with three different doctors and all three of them are in agreement that it is best to get the baby out as soon as he is ready. My husband and I asked a ton of questions, and I even brought up my concern that if he's not ready I don't want to take him early and have him end up in the nicu. My MFM doc said the lungs are the very last thing to mature and as long as they are good then the baby's ready. My docs want to reduce the chance of the placenta starting to breakdown. This is just my case but I am very much going forward with the amnio when I get to that point. My best advice is to trust your instincts and ask as many questions as you need too.

I'm sending you good vibes and will be thinking about you!

~E

We aren't at the point of expecting a rainbow baby, but we just received the autopsy report for our baby girl and have been told what happened was so rare it isn't mentioned in literature. Our doctor said if we went down this road and tried again that he would plan on baby being delivered as soon as the risk of maintaining the pregnancy outweighed the risk of delivering early. I have heard that that time period is commonly 36-38 weeks. As for an amnio, as I have spent a large amount of time researching articles pertaining to something similar as our loss, amniocentesis as a means of measuring lung maturity is a common practice in rainbow pregnancies.

Heather--I just wanted to echo what E said about balancing risk at that stage (37 weeks). My daughter died after a placental abruption at 28 weeks so this is what the doctors are concerned about/monitoring: how is the placenta doing and how does that affect baby? In my case, if the placenta starts looking even a little weak, baby is out starting at 32 weeks. They want baby in as long as possible, for all the reasons Mm mentioned, but they say placenta issues trump the others and that starting at 32 weeks, out is less risky than another abruption...if all looks good, then later is better of course.