# Discharge at 21 weeks pregnant



## Penelope Positive

Hi there

I am 21 weeks + 2 and have been doing fine. Today however I have felt some discharge/fluid which is worrying me a little.

It first appeared at my yoga class this morning all though not during the exercises but after the relaxation phase. I got up slowly and was packing my things up and then felt this 'leak' I rushed to the loo but my knickers were already wet which was really upsetting not to mention embarrassing as I had cream coloured yoga pants on!  I came home and changed and had no further issue until later this afternoon when I was sitting on the sofa and I felt another similar feeling and again there was watery discharge.  

I had this a lot in the early stages of my pregnancy but it stopped after I stopped my pessaries.  The liquid has no smell at all and is pretty much clear in colour. Can you advise at all?  Am worried that my waters could have broken or that I am leaking amniotic fluid.  Hope I am just panicking and you can put my mind at rest. I have no pains or other symptoms.

Many thanks

Pen
xxx


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## emilycaitlin

Hi,

It sounds like normal discharge, which can be heavier at times in pregnancy, but to be on the safe side, it would be worth ringing your delivery suite as they may just want to check you over and confirm that your waters haven't gone,

let me know how you get on,

emilycaitlin xx


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## Penelope Positive

Hi Emilycaitlin,

I had it happen again in the middle of the night and it really upset me so my husband phoned the delivery unit and they said to bring me in so at 3am this morning we went to the hospital.  They were fantastic, did a urine test, had a feel of my tummy and did an internal and all appears well. They couldnt see any sign that this is amniotic fluid and they even did a bedside scan to check but have arranged a full scan for me just to be on the safe side.

I feel much better having got things checked out, with such a precious son we really were beside ourselves with worry and are so relieved everything is OK.  I wouldnt have known what to do if it hadnt been for your post and a lovely PM a lady sent me so THANK YOU!

Pen
xxx


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## Penelope Positive

Hi Emilycaitlin again,

I am still feeling worried as this has got slightly worse. Last night when I got up from the sofa I had soaked through my clothes and left a wet patch and this morning I managed to soak a pad within an hour!  I havent had any thing more since this morning but is this really normal?

I know the hospital have said there was no sign of it being amniotic fluid and I have a scan on Friday to check but can't help but worry over the quantities??

I have phoned my midwife and left a message (at 9.30am) but she still hasn't phoned me back so hope you don't mind me asking you again.

Pen
xxx


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## emilycaitlin

Hi,

If you are soaking a pad in one hour, then that is excessive and you do need to be looked at again.  Give your delivery suite a ring again, take some pads in that have been soaked, use the thick pads, not the absorbant ones, as this is easier to see.  Hopefully it is just excessive discharge, but as I said before, it's always best to be checked,
let me know how you get on,

emilycaitlin xx


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## Penelope Positive

Hi emilycaitlin

Wanted to give you a quick update and post in case anyone else goes through this and is looking for some reassurance.

I did phone the delivery suite again and they said to come back in so I went over Wednesday night and they kept me in for 24 hours.  They did another internal and checked my cervix, no fluid was visible at this stage, they took some blood and some swabs and then sent me to bed. They kept an eye on my temperature and blood pressure and then yesterday afternoon got me down for a scan where they checked the amniotic fuid levels, funnelling, flow through the umbilical cord and placenta.  

Good news is that everything is absolutely fine, baby is doing great and there is no evidence of SROM (sudden rupture of membrane for any none medical readers) so they can only put it down to excessive discharge.  They are checking for thrush, infections etc just in case but have allowed me home and said not to worry.

The discharge has reduced somewhat over the last 2 days although I am still getting some overnight but am considerably less worried now having been fully checked out.  Thank you for your advise and for giving me a kick, I definately did the right thing going back and the staff couldnt have been kinder.

Thanks again

Pen
xxx


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## emilycaitlin

Excellent news, glad everything is ok.  This baby is making it's presence known already!!


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## Penelope Positive

Hi Emilycaitlin

Hope you don't mind me posting again but I am getting quite frustrated not to mention worried about this situation and dont know what to do next.

Since my last visit to hospital I have continued to have this water discharge on a daily basis, sometimes its not much, sometimes it feels like flooding for a minute or so and can soak a pad. Its annoying yes and worrying but I was comforted by the hospital saying all was ok and the scan showing no issues. Baby is also very active every day and seems to be doing well, bump is growing too.

Then today this dribbling went pink!  I have been back to the labour ward in a great deal of upset I am sure you can imagine and again they did a speculum and said everything is fine. They got me to cough and said there was no sign of leakage or blood. They took a swab and then said to go home.

They said that on-going hormone changes can cause the cervix to bleed a little and the watery discharge was just picking this up and there is nothing to worry about. 

Since I came home about 2 hours ago I have had 2 or 3 watery 'pumping' sensations and the liquid is still pink (not bright red or any clots or anyting which is they only thing they said to be concerned about) but its really disconcerting and it would just be nice to have some real reassurance.

We are due to see our consultant in just over a weeks time but in the meantime its all a worry. Are there any other tests or anything I can have done?

Hope you can help with putting my mind at some sort of ease.

Pen
xxx


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## emilycaitlin

Hi,

It sounds like you just have very heavy discharge in this pregnancy, and as the baby moves, it changes the position of your cervix slightly which causes you to have a gush of discharge.  However, it is ALWAYS best, if it is getting worse, or you are still concerned in this next week, give them a ring again. Don't feel that you will be annoying them, or looking silly, because you aren't, they would much rather see you and everything be ok, than for you to be sitting at home with a real problem and not doing anything about it.  You are a concerned Mummy with a prescious baby, and it doesn't take long to be able to reassure you by simply checking you over.

Just one thing, what sort of pads are you wearing, the best ones to estimate the loss are those really thick cheapy ones that aren't very absorbant.  If you go in again, save a days worth of them and take them with you,

emilycaitlin xx


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## Penelope Positive

Hi Emilycaitlin,

Thank you for your post. I really appreciate the explanation about when the baby moves it can change the position of the cervix thereby causing the gushing that made a lot of sense and no-one had explained that before. I thought if my waters were leaking or had broken it would be more of a constant thing rather than happening on and off so that really gives me some comfort.

Am going to see if I can get to see my midwife today just to chat things through and as you say I will switch to those horrible pads as I am currently using ones for bladder weakness as they are better at collecting the watery stuff than the thick ones and at least give me the confidence that I can go out!  Hopefully things will settle down today.

Thanks again - oh by the way did you have any thoughts/comments on the blood? That really was a scary addition....

Pen
xxx


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## emilycaitlin

Hi,

It may be that your uterus is slightly irritated which could cause this, or the swab may even come back with a slight infection that is just causing it that can be treated easily.  They should have those results soon though,

emilycaitlin xx


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## Penelope Positive

Hi EmilyCaitlin,

I just thought I would update this in case anyone else is experiencing the same problem and looking for info.

After three visits to the labour ward, where on all three occasions they told me it wasnt anything to worry about, I kept pushing and eventually had it confirmed that it was amniotic fluid I was leaking. I actually brought some amniosense pads which proved to be a great investment as I had something to show the hospital and they got me in for another scan and confirmed my levels had dropped.

I am now on twice weekly monitoring and fortnightly scans and just praying that I can retain enough fluid to help babies lungs develop. I also had two steroid injections (24 hours apart) to help with this and am having weekly blood tests to check for infection.  I also had to have 10 days antibiotics. So from three different people telling me there was nothing wrong we entered a very worrying situation but are now being closely looked after.

My advice for anyone worried about similar leakages is to insist they take you seriously and if necessary buy some of these pads as evidence.  We are praying that everything is going to be ok but of course we wont know for sure until our baby arrives. At the end of the day I think we all know our bodies better than anyone else and I just knew in my heart this wasnt just discharge, if anyone feels the same, push for further investigation, it may just prove vital.

Pen


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## emilycaitlin

Thanks for that, I haven't heard of those pads, do they change colour if its amniotic fluid?  All the best,  

keep me posted 

emilycaitlin xx


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## Penelope Positive

Yes, they go blue if it is fluid and stay that way for at least a couple of hours (mine stayed that colour for days) if it is or fade back to yellow if its just discharge or pee.

Not 100% accurate of course, what is, but certainly helped me to get taken seriously, only seem to be available to purchase over the internet at the moment but well worth it.

Pen


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