Short limbs - referred to fetal medicine

[bigbabybum]

We had our anomaly scan today and have been referred to fetal medicine as the baby has short limbs, with both femur and humerus measuring a couple of weeks behind. The technician seemed quite concerned and spent an extremely long time (hours) checking and double checking.

She also thinks the baby has an enlarged heart on one side, but has said this could do with baby's position.

Everything else looks to be normal, like head size and kidney function etc.

Has anyone else experienced this? The specialist midwife we spoke to said they have seen a surge in the number of referrals for short limbs in baby's since covid, and that a lot of women go on to have healthy baby's, which did make me feel a lot better. However I'm totally confused as to what this could mean if it's not something innocuous. I was low risk when I had my screening and everything at our 12 week scan was perfect. Could those tests miss edwards or Patau? I've been given a leaflet on amniocentesis to prepare me should I need to have one when I'm at fetal medicine next week.

Feeling very lost and confused.

My first's legs measured two weeks "behind" at a growth scan but they caught up and now he is literally ALL limbs!

I would try not to worry. Babies don't always grow all their bits at the same rate dictated by the charts.

Thanks so much @Confused521, were you referred at all?

My eldest had short legs on his scans, relative to his other measurements. They dithered over referring, but as his dad is below average height, they concluded that he’s probably just built short so they didn’t investigate further. He was a tiny toddler, but has caught up to classmates now that he’s at school. He has short legs and long back - it’s just the shape he is.

Thanks @DaisyDozyDee, reassuring to hear. My daughter and son are quite tall so it feels unusual. But it might be that by Wednesday bub has caught up a bit. I have no idea what they'll do if they find nothing else wrong apart from limb length - an amnio feels like overkill for something like that

@bigbabybum

Thanks so much *@Confused521*, were you referred at all?

No, just had an extra scan.

My baby girl had short femurs (3rd percentile and under at times) from 20 weeks and they never caught up. We were referred and told this puts us at higher risk of Down syndrome (I couldn’t get my 12 week screening due to position of baby but I did have a low risk harmony test) at one point I was considering having the amniocentesis which was mentioned by the hospital but as all they could find was short femurs I decided against it.

My baby was born at 37 weeks weighing 4lbs8 and perfectly in proportion, just tiny all over. She’s 2 months old now and although still small she’s growing as expected and following her percentile with no concerns.

I hope fetal medicine can give you some reassurance as I know it can be a really worrying time x

Thankyou so much @SkyeJ90 - do you have any other children and were they average size?

Really struggling this evening again. Wednesday feels like a million years away.

She is my first baby.

The period between the scan and your appointment with fetal medicine is really hard, in my experience as it was an isolated soft marker they weren’t overly concerned. I did end up having Doppler scans twice a week and was induced at 37 weeks as the limb measurement always put her overall weight below the 5th percentile even though her AC and head were always around the 40th.

I did feel like I let it ruin my pregnancy from 20 weeks, you read online about people having a growth scan and the measurements had caught up and that never happened for us.

I really hope you get some answers at your appointment, I know every experience can be different but just wanted to give you a positive experience as I know how hard it is.

Thankyou @SkyeJ90, the sonographer didn't make things much easier for us and was very somber. If the heart turns out to be clear then I won't be so worried I don't think, and I guess extra scans aren't a bad thing.

I was sent to fetal medicine at 20 week scan they said my baby had too much fluid in the brain (ventricles) she was born perfect and is now 2 years old and so brainy :) good luck

My little twin - her femur length was 2-3 weeks behind gestational age at every scan (weekly scans for entire pregnancy due to her size) - her femur was well below the 2.5 centile - they never made the chart line. The specialist said had I not done the NIPT they would be concerned about possible Downs but I had that done at 10 weeks and it came back low risk. There are a couple of different femur ratios which are more important - can't remember exactly but I think it's femur:head circumference or abdomen or another of the ones that they measure routinely - and whilst her femur length was short the actual ratio to other measurements were ok (just!)

She's a few months old now and going through a growth spurt and I'd say her legs are starting to catch up with the rest of her (and her twin!)

@bigbabybum how did your appointment go? X

Hey @SkyeJ90 we had some great news - the original sonographer was wrong and everything is perfect. The limbs are on the small side but nothing worrying or off of the charts, and the heart is fine. We are so relieved and grateful.

That’s amazing news! Enjoy the rest of your pregnancy :).

Lovely news x

I wanted to respond to this and contribute something back as we found these groups invaluable when we were expecting our little girl. At 28 week scan both femur and humerus were measuring around 2-3 weeks behind. We were given the news that there could be an increased risk of DS (even though no other markers and anomaly scan was perfect).
Our girl was born 38 weeks + 2 and weighed 5 pounds 2 ounces. Absolutely tiny however no DS and proportional all around.

Short long bones with no other markers are almost dismissed now as signs of DS as they are too softer markers. Usually (and in many cases - couple of papers written on this) shorter long bones means a smaller baby. This does not mean the baby will be small forever as they usually catch up.

Hope this gives you some hope and you can go back to enjoying the pregnancy.