Pregnancy & Baby 

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Low amniotic fluid

Reduced amniotic fluid when you are 20 weeks pregnant may not mean anything at all other than you have less amniotic fluid than average. A score on the amniotic fluid index (AFI) is determined by measuring across the largest pockets of amniotic fluid in four different sections of your uterus and adding them together. A normal score for the third trimester is five to 25 centimetres. A score of five centimetres or less is considered low.

Unless your waters have gone, which will reduce the level in most women, experts don't know what causes a low level of amniotic fluid. The important thing for you is that in most cases, nothing is wrong with either the mother or her baby.

I expect you will be regularly monitored to make sure that the levels of amniotic fluid are not dropping and that your baby is growing properly. There is a possibility that you may have some problem with your placenta, which is keeping it from supplying enough blood and nutrients to the baby, causing him to stop recycling fluid. If the amniotic levels decrease to a dangerously low level and/or your baby seems small, it is possible that you may be delivered early, and probably by a Caesarean section.

Try not to worry, but make sure that you get as much bed rest in the day as possible as this is the best thing you can do for your baby at the moment.

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