To live in hope the growth scan is well out and my baby wont be affected by the death of my mother? ?

[Mabel80]

Hi all need to cut a long story short but basically I have had a dreadful two years with all sorts of problems including serious health issues, lots of loss and more recently the unexpected and sudden death of my mother who I adored. I am having regular growth scans due to having had a cancer diagnosis in 2014. Anyway last week I went and the baby had only put on two ounces. He was 4lb 11z at the 33 week scan, then at the 35 weeks scan he was said to be 4lb and 13 oz. I go back again on Thursday, they said if he hasn't put weight on then I have to have an induction. Could the scan be out? Has anyone had such a blip and the following week been okay?

Also I keep reading about the impact of maternal stress and anxiety and the risk s of ADHD, behavioural issues, heart disease in later life to name but a few are terrifying me. Anyone else had a really bad well horrific pregnancy and baby has been okay? I keep thinking if this growth thing has happened its just the start of a whole host of problems to come.

thanks for taking the time to read and respond.

DD gave birth in October. She was told late August/early September that baby was 3 weeks smaller than dates. She had an anxious few days, but when she went back for the scan, all was well and growth had caught up. Good luck and hope everything is fine for you.

So sorry to hear you're having a tough time

My DS is 15 years old now. I had extra growth scans because they told me he was going to be huge (predicted 12+ lbs).

He weighed 7lbs 12oz. The hospital gave his gestation as 38.2 weeks but I always maintained that was wrong; he was born two days after I the date I calculated.

DS was quite long and slim when he was born but had size 2 feet. Nothing much has changed - he's still long and slim with large feet. If he ever grows into them he's going to be exceptionally tall.

If the doctors have any concerns about your baby they can give you medicine that will mature the baby's lungs, but this probably won't be necessary at 36 weeks. By then the baby is fully developed and would just be putting on some extra weight.

I won't tell you not to worry, but do take good care of yourself - that is by far the best way to take care of your baby too.

nothing to add except they are usually wrong on the growth scans ive never known one to be accurate (but accept that they might be someone out there who has had that experience)

step away from doctor google

My DS was born at 36 weeks (unexpedtedly) and only weighed 4lb 12oz. He was fine, slightly low blood sugar but we went home after the normal two nights in hospital (abroad) and he wasn't in scbu at all. He was small to start with but caught up within the year and is now one of the tallest in his class and absolutely fine.
Really hope all goes well for you, 35/36 weeks is a good gestation.
Wishing you all the best.
xxx

Growth scans are a load of crap. Both mine were way out. I was told I would be delivering a 9 lb baby and out came a five and a half pounder! How'd they get that one so wrong?

I developed antenatal anxiety early in pregnancy with DS (now 3) and I really don't think it had any effect on him at all.

I was also diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia (nothing to do with the anxiety) at 29 weeks, which had resulted in slow growth during pregnancy. By 30 weeks, the medications were no longer able to control the pre-eclampsia, and DS was delivered by CS, weighing 2lb 6oz. He spent 9 weeks in hospital, but is now lively, happy and outgoing with language and cognitive skills that are significantly above average, according to his 2 year tests.

So even if your scans are accurate and you do have your baby early, it will probably be absolutely fine. It's good that you are being monitored closely.

yes ditto my experience with growth scans, a total joke. was told dd hadn't grown at all between 30 weeks and 34 weeks. was called in at 35 weeks when apparently she had got smaller. cue panic all round. she was born naturally at 40+3 days a perfectly healthy 6lbs 10oz.

Sonographers late on in my pregnancy told me that third trimester growth scans are severely flawed and unreliable. I was told that my last child would probably be a ten pound lump, he was small enough to need to be put on the glucose monitoring scheme.

My baby was hours from being born and given a weight. They were nearly a pound out and prior to that the guess was more than 3lbs out. Try not to worry and I wish you well.

I had a pretty bad time when pg. my dh stopped speaking to me at about 5m and continued to ignore me for the most part of 5 years thereafter. I developed ms during pg. I also suffered migraines every day and took 8 paracetamol per day just to begin to function. Threw up right the way through until a couple of weeks before birth, when the migraines cleared up too.

DD is 16 now. She is completely fine, clever, pretty, fun; there is not one thing wrong with her. She was small though, and still is.

Sorry for your loss. I don't know much about fetal development but doesn't all the neurological stuff happen very early? At this late stage I wouldn't think the stress would have as much of an impact.

I was 4 lb 8 oz when born and actually lost weight before gaining. Full term but my mother was very small and smoked. This was early 60s when they admonished moms for gaining weight and she said she lived on black coffee and cigs when pregnant with me - and she was a tiny petite person to begin with, probably 100 lbs.

Point being I am fine; no defects, high IQ / Mensa member, good student, pretty good career and (not to jinx myself/knock on wood) no health problems other than cold/flu my entire life, now age 52. I do have a bit of an anxiety problem but otherwise pretty decent life despite quite a low birth weight. And just think how the medical intervention and therapy for tiny babies has improved in 50 years, not to mention nutrition etc. So try not to worry too much.

Trite as it is, your mom would want you to be happy and enjoy this time of your life.

My growth scans said I'd be expecting a big baby. DS was 6lb something. The lady in the bed next to me had had several growth scans telling her the baby was very small. Her birth of her over 12lb baby did not sound easy

Keeping in mind all cases are different, OP, my DS1 was born at 32-33 wks and weighed 4 lb 15 oz. and was 18" long. Other than having to be in an incubator for 24 hours because he couldn't regulate his body temperature, he was fine. We stayed an extra day in hospital because his weight dropped to 4 lb 10 oz, but he gained 3 oz overnight and went home at 4 lb 13 oz. I ended up pumping and bottle feeding for 6 wks because of a very weak sucking reflex then we went to formula.

He was on the smallish side of normal height/weight until he was about 16, but as far as anything else goes, there were no 'effects' on him, physically and mentally. He was in the gifted program through school and is now 32, 6' 1", and happily married.

This was in 1983 when there weren't half the medical tests and resources there are now.

Thank you so much ladies, all these incidences of growth scans being out is very reassuring, I personally cant see how they can look at a baby and decide how heavy it will be from these scans to be honest, I mean you cant look at a box and know how much it weighs?

Just to clarify my mother died when I was 12 weeks pregnant - so its been six months of him being in there with the high levels of cortisol.

The worry is that they base the decision on this alone and I deliver with induction early a baby when actually they could have left him longer, not sure how it will work after this weeks scan and how they will make that call and what I should be asking for really. I mean surely day by day assessment would be better than just whipping him out early? The blood flow through the cord all looked okay.

My mum died when I was 28 weeks. I was in a real state. Severe anxiety, nearly hospitalised with it. Lived in a state of terror for 10 weeks.

Dd is now 9 1/2 and absolutely fine.

i had a number of scans with dd1 as they thought she had IUGR (at 28, 32 and 36 weeks IIRC)
eventually they decided she was probably on the tiny side of normal, and predicted a birth weight of 5lb and a few oz. she was born on her due date at 7lb6oz.

we also had an extra scan with dd2 at 39 weeks as she was breech at my 36wk midwife check. there weren't any concerns about growth, but I do remember that the scan estimated a birth weight of 6lb0, which was recorded in my notes. The midwife raised an eyebrow when she was born, 2 days past her due date, commenting firmly "that's not a 6lb baby". dd2 was an ounce short of 9lb.

I'm very sorry for your loss

My boy was estimated to be around 6lbs by the midwife but he was born 7 lbs 13 ounces and perfectly healthy.

I also had anxiety and depression in the second trimester but DS has no developmental or neurological problems at all.

Best of luck sweetheart

So sorry about your mum and that you've been feeling so down. I'm another one who had a completely out growth scan. I was scanned because DS seemed very big and they thought they should induce me. The scan said he wasn't big approx 7lb, he was born the next day 9lb 3oz. I know these are just anecdotes but hopefully might reassure you.

They can't force you to be induced. Surely if everything else is going okay being in you is the safest place?

OP, when you have the scan ask the sonographer to show you how the measurements are plotted on the graph. Hopefully this will reassure you that there is much more to it than doing a scan and coming up with a random guesstimate of the weight. The blood flow is really great news.

Nobody should ask you to consider an early induction without a lot of detailed discussion as to why and it would be a consultant decision ( and yours, obviously). Most cases where growth scans are ordered there is no need to take any action at all. It does cause a lot of worry when anyone is advised that the baby 'might be small' but it's complicated and everything should be explained to you along the way.

Please ask them.

Oh sweetheart

How awful for you to lose your mum at this time.
Please be kind to yourself, five pounds at 36 weeks isn't really so small. My DD was 6 pounds at 40 weeks and is completely healthy.
I wish you all the very best, take care x

OP

Please talk to your obstetrician and/or midwife. Anecdotes where things were a lot better than expected are nice to hear, but you need to speak to the professionals looking after you who can explain everything in detail to you. It may be that things will look better in the next scan and all that needs to be done is to keep a close eye on growth for tailing off or problems with the doppler.

They can't force you to be induced. Surely if everything else is going okay being in you is the safest place?

No, nobody can force OP to have an induction. The obstetricians can recommend an early induction, but cannot force OP to have one. If this is the case, then they should explain the reasons for their recommendations and the risks vs benefits and so on.

Weight on scan can indeed be inaccurate, but it is the trend that is actually of most important- falling through several centiles tends to indicate that the there really is tailing off of growth which cannot be accounted for simply by inaccuracy of the scan. Tailing off of growth is something that raises concerns because it can be a marker that all not well- and that can mean that early delivery is the least risky option. I don't want to go into too much detail as I don't think it is helpful to OP and she would be better speaking to her obs/midwife about it as opposed to reading it on MN.

Sorry OP- also forgot to say I am sorry you've had such a tough time. Please speak to your obs/midwife for further information. They are more likely to be able to give you all the facts you need than MN.

My mum died when I was pregnant with DS. He was5.10lbs when he was born - on the small side. Seven years later he's the tallest in his class, happy, healthy, funny - basically completely unaffected. I remember being so worried at the time, but it was fine.

Sorry about all that has happened to you.