Understanding Large Venous Lakes in Pregnancy: A Comprehensive Guide

Question
I am 27, have one son, last menstral cycle was 5/9--but have my due date at 1-27-06.

Hi. I am starting my 18 wk of pregnancy and at my last obgyn visit they found extremely large venous lakes. There are 3-5 of them together as big as the placenta. The baby looks healthy so far and is about 7 in/ 1/2 pound. Just eyeballing-if he is 7 inches in the picture the lakes must be about 4-5 inches long (the length of the placenta and nearly the width of the placenta as well.) The doctor said this is unusual and in his 35 years has never seen a case like mine. He has referred me onto a specialist that I will see within the next few weeks, but really did not seem to know much about the situation. I am left wondering what precautions I should take (lifting toddlers etc) and what possible problems might i run into (miscarrage, under developed baby, bedrest...) I am finding lots of information on small venous lakes and understand that those are  common.

I am an exception to small venous lakes (since mine are extremely large this early in pregnancy) and would like to know how these could be caused, what i might do to make them worse, and possible problems to the baby or myself. Can you help me with this?

thank you
Alyssa Henley

Answer
I have never seen venous lakes as large as you describe. Perhaps another sonogram will show that it was an artifact and is within normal limits. I doubt that there is anything you can do. There is probably a higher risk of placental abruption which could possibly cause a miscarriage if there was bleeding or a disruption to the nutrition of the fetus. However, I doubt that you have to be on bedrest or avoid any activity unless you are having bleeding that you notice. Perhaps the perinatologist can shed some light on this finding.