26-week ultrasound shows fetal heart fluid. Is it dangerous?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am 26 years old, currently pregnant with my second child for 26 weeks and 5 days. I just left the doctor's office having done an anatomy ultrasound. The doctor said there is a little fluid around my baby's heart, but not to worry. I have been scheduled in three weeks for the same ultrasound, and I have also been scheduled, I believe, for an abnormalities test. Even though the doctor has told me not to worry, I am just freaking out and have been crying all day. It would be nice if I could get an answer to the following things,

What may have caused a small amount of fluid around the heart?
What would the worst outcome be?
What I can do now with my everyday habits if that makes sense, as I will be stressing for three weeks about this?

Kindly help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your anxiety. Let me clear you some facts. A basic anomaly scan is done at 18-20 weeks and if that was normal, it shows that no structural anomalies are there. Secondly, this scan was done at 26 weeks and 5 days when the fetus is half developed. As far as the fluid is concerned around the heart, it is the pericardial fluid. The fluid inside the pericardial layer covering the heart to initiate smooth functioning. It is around 0.1 fl oz in adults with progression in pregnancy it would regress and my advise would follow it up with serial ultrasounds. Unfortunately, every day habits cannot make a difference. I would like to suggest you not to be worried and stress yourself. All is well. Just get three weekly serial ultrasounds to follow up on the fluid level. Baby's growth is not affected as I learnt.