Hi, I am so happy to have found this site. This has given me so much hope & enlightenment to what i'm going through right now. On my 20th week last 1/10/12 u/s for the gender, they found out something was not right, so my OB then referred me to a specialist the next day. They have not even told us the gender yet & i was in so much shock to even ask too. The day at the specialist, they told me that we are having a baby girl, but the baby has fluids surrounding her lungs, heart & abdomen. They were telling us that the risk is high & that the survival rate is low for this kind of cases. They didn't even tell us the name, that it's called hydrops fetalis not until we did research through the net. They gave us the option to terminate the pregnancy. But we didn't take it. During the u/s we saw the baby already & she was even moving already. We told them that we will go through with the pregnancy. Then, right away the doctor told me that ill have series of tests. On that day he did amniocentesis & blood draw. Then we come back in a week for the results.

1/18/12.(21wk) At our appt, the specialist told us that all tests came back negative & normal. Thank GOd. But they still can't find what's causing the hydrops. On that same day, another Doctor was there to see it too. And he was mentioning another treatment such as putting a shunt to drain the fluid in the chest, but he told me that it did not reach the fluid volume criteria & that i wasn't a candidate for it. (???) Then they told us to come back in 2 weeks, 2/8/12 for an appt with a cardiologist this time. They want to check if maybe a heart problem was causing the fluid...

1/23/12. My OB called me in to her clinic to check on me. Then started to talk to us. She said that there is a high chance that the pregnancy will stop. (for the last week, i was so depressed & was barely starting to cope up with friends & families that's keeping me strong, & now she is opening it up again!) She opened up the option of stopping it again, saying that the earliest they could deliver the baby is at 24wks & told us the survival rate is too low. She said I'm going to be admitted at the hospital for observation but don't know when. We are still firm with our decision to continue the pregnancy. Then she checked that baby's heartbeat & it was normal.

On that afternoon, i went to work feeling low just by thinking of what my OB had said. And i had to talk to my DON(I'm working at a nursing home with a locked down facility)to give them heads up on my schedule, but they advise me to take a medical leave instead to take a rest. That even though i felt alright but the baby is not, & it would help the baby. And emotionally I'm not ok.(of course, stress affects the baby's health.) But when i talked to my OB about taking a medical leave early & applied for disability she said i could be denied by state. And that not working or they call it bed rest is not going to help the situation of the baby.[do you have any idea regarding this?] I can't go on leave without pay cause that will be another stress for me because, we have bills to pay. And my partner has not found another job yet. Physically i can work despite the back & leg pains but I'm also thinking of my daughter inside me. With a lot of stress at work was i really not affecting her, or am i worsening the situation. I just don't know what to think.

1/24/12. I called my OB f I could have another u/s to check if the fluid is accumulating because, since i had the amniocentesis, i stopped working for a week & when my next appt came which was the 18th, the specialist told us the fluid was about the same. After then, i had started to think positive & came back to work. Until the 23rd that my OB had spoken to me again re low survival rates.
I wanted another u/s this week to compare the fluid accumulation during the time that i wasn't working, & this past week that i was working. She told me to call the specialist & set an appointment. But when i called the clinic they told me that there's no available spot. I guess i just have to wait for 2/8/12 & continue praying. For now, we're relying on the fetal doppler that we bought to hear the baby's heartbeat & feeling her move makes me feel a lot better every single day.