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Car Accident at 26 weeks pregnant
Hi Doctor Brown,
My wife was in a car accident last night around 8:40pm. She hit another car, the airbags did not deploy, and she did NOT hit her stomach on the steering wheel or have any abdominal trauma, minus the tugging of the seatbelt. She was maybe going 25 miles per hour when she hit the car.
She called me immediately and we went to the emergency room. Doctor ordered blood work, to make sure their was no mixture of blood and an ultrasound.
The baby as monitored from about 9:30 to 12:30 heart beat strong, no contractions,and the baby was very active. My wife was having minor "ligament" pain but nothing serious.
They did a full anatomy scan of the baby and everything was normal, as well as they checked the blood flow through the placenta and everything was normal there.
My wife is very concerned about the placenta and that they didn't miss anything.
Baby was active all last night from 1:30 to about 6:30 before my wife could even fall asleep, but hasn't been so active today, so naturally she is freaking out. She has felt a few kick here and there through out the day, but my guess is he's sleeping
She is having no cramping or bleeding.
1.Should we assume everything is ok, and that they would have noticed something last night with all the monitoring? Like drop in heart beat, less movement, etc....
Also since I have you for a question.
Is a 3D/4D ultrasound safe. I wanted to get one done, but my wife says the APA does not recommend keepsake ultrasounds, so I was just curious as to your stand on it.
Thanks.
BCR
My wife was in a car accident last night around 8:40pm. She hit another car, the airbags did not deploy, and she did NOT hit her stomach on the steering wheel or have any abdominal trauma, minus the tugging of the seatbelt. She was maybe going 25 miles per hour when she hit the car.
She called me immediately and we went to the emergency room. Doctor ordered blood work, to make sure their was no mixture of blood and an ultrasound.
The baby as monitored from about 9:30 to 12:30 heart beat strong, no contractions,and the baby was very active. My wife was having minor "ligament" pain but nothing serious.
They did a full anatomy scan of the baby and everything was normal, as well as they checked the blood flow through the placenta and everything was normal there.
My wife is very concerned about the placenta and that they didn't miss anything.
Baby was active all last night from 1:30 to about 6:30 before my wife could even fall asleep, but hasn't been so active today, so naturally she is freaking out. She has felt a few kick here and there through out the day, but my guess is he's sleeping
She is having no cramping or bleeding.
1.Should we assume everything is ok, and that they would have noticed something last night with all the monitoring? Like drop in heart beat, less movement, etc....
Also since I have you for a question.
Is a 3D/4D ultrasound safe. I wanted to get one done, but my wife says the APA does not recommend keepsake ultrasounds, so I was just curious as to your stand on it.
Thanks.
BCR
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi!
It sounds to me as though the ER doctors were very thorough and exhaustive in their care of your wife. It also sounds like the accident was very low impact, and quite unlikely to cause injury to the fetus. In MOST cases if there IS placental abruptio (separation of the placenta from the wall of the uterus) there are symptoms such as pain, increase in size of the fundus (womb) bleeding or contractions.
Having said all of that however, if your wife called me with decreased fetal activity, I would still be inclined to have her evaluated a second time--at least to double check the activity.
Most of the time when decreased fetal activity at 26 weeks is caused by fetal sleep states or simply that the mom doesn't feel activity that is there simply because the baby is not strong enough yet for many movements to be perceived.
I have a strong suspicion that your wife and son are fine, and usually the fetal activity increases given time.
As for the APA stance on ultrasound, here are my thoughts: We have been using ultrasound for at minimum 25-30 years and there have been very few if any studies that conclusively linked ultrasound to fetal harm in humans. I have no qualms about using it for appropriate indications. It is sound wave and 99% of the time the device is listening to sound waves as they travel back to the transducer.
I DO NOT recommend ultrasound just for keepsakes though, because they are not a complete diagnostic study and errors can be made that may or may not be followed up on. (so, I don't like them for a different reason).
If performed for an accepted medical indication by a qualified perinatologist, I personally feel they are safe.
Hope this helps!
Dr B
It sounds to me as though the ER doctors were very thorough and exhaustive in their care of your wife. It also sounds like the accident was very low impact, and quite unlikely to cause injury to the fetus. In MOST cases if there IS placental abruptio (separation of the placenta from the wall of the uterus) there are symptoms such as pain, increase in size of the fundus (womb) bleeding or contractions.
Having said all of that however, if your wife called me with decreased fetal activity, I would still be inclined to have her evaluated a second time--at least to double check the activity.
Most of the time when decreased fetal activity at 26 weeks is caused by fetal sleep states or simply that the mom doesn't feel activity that is there simply because the baby is not strong enough yet for many movements to be perceived.
I have a strong suspicion that your wife and son are fine, and usually the fetal activity increases given time.
As for the APA stance on ultrasound, here are my thoughts: We have been using ultrasound for at minimum 25-30 years and there have been very few if any studies that conclusively linked ultrasound to fetal harm in humans. I have no qualms about using it for appropriate indications. It is sound wave and 99% of the time the device is listening to sound waves as they travel back to the transducer.
I DO NOT recommend ultrasound just for keepsakes though, because they are not a complete diagnostic study and errors can be made that may or may not be followed up on. (so, I don't like them for a different reason).
If performed for an accepted medical indication by a qualified perinatologist, I personally feel they are safe.
Hope this helps!
Dr B
The 3d-4d ultrasound is perfectly safe, I didn't have it done with my first but I did have it done with my second, its so cool and amazing! Best of luck to you. Also tell your wife to relax because stressing can affect the baby and cause her to go into preterm labor, to put her at ease talk to her doctor about getting a non-stress test done, that will monitor the baby's movement and heart beat, and they will determine if the baby is in danger. God Bless.
what is this 3d/4d?
I'm not a doctor but I had the 3d/4d with both of my children and plan on doing it with this one as well. I have never heard anything bad about having one. I can guarantee you that you will love it though. My husband couldn't stop talking about it for weeks afterward. Said it made him feel a better attachment.
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