Short femur and humerus

[Laurabella]

Hi all , just had our anatomy scan today. Im 23 weeks, we have been told his femur and humerus are on the short side (they didn't go into percentages) . Her first thought was chromosomal issue however I had NIPT bloods (harmony) done at 12 weeks and that came back a low possibility. I didn't feel very reassured and they have referred me to foetal medicine to see a consultant. This is not for two weeks and that wait is going to be awful. Has anyone else had a similar experience and it turned out to be ok?? Everything else structurally on his scan was fine, mixure of confused and worried for two first time parents. Thanks in advance

@Laurabella that's so great they've moved it forwards! The FMU people really are the most knowledgeable about it and will give you lots of good info.

@freshflowers2 I was the same, read so many threads, scientific studies and articles through the nights. Was so grateful when people came on and have their experiences. It is a terrifying time

Oh I am so sorry! We had this too with our first born girl, but later in pregnancy. Both long bones off the chart small, everything else seemed fine. I am 170cms, so not even small. Long story short, they made us wait until birth saying that ‘it wouldn’t change the outcome’ (lovely!) - she was perfectly fine, just very short. Still short at 2 years on the 9th percentile.

i really feel for you, but it sounds like you got a decent consultant on the case - so good luck for that! For us, it really ruined an otherwise uneventful pregnancy and us looking forward to birth - but it was so badly dealt with… no information, no empathy, no reassurance at all (it seemed like they were scared too over promise almost). NHS at its worst. A friends father who happens to be a leading gynae specialist in the end told us not too worry as it’s usually just a short child if no other markers are present - that helped a bit! But nerve wrecking times!

@adarkhorse

Oh I am so sorry! We had this too with our first born girl, but later in pregnancy. Both long bones off the chart small, everything else seemed fine. I am 170cms, so not even small. Long story short, they made us wait until birth saying that ‘it wouldn’t change the outcome’ (lovely!) - she was perfectly fine, just very short. Still short at 2 years on the 9th percentile.

i really feel for you, but it sounds like you got a decent consultant on the case - so good luck for that! For us, it really ruined an otherwise uneventful pregnancy and us looking forward to birth - but it was so badly dealt with… no information, no empathy, no reassurance at all (it seemed like they were scared too over promise almost). NHS at its worst. A friends father who happens to be a leading gynae specialist in the end told us not too worry as it’s usually just a short child if no other markers are present - that helped a bit! But nerve wrecking times!

Oh wow that is awful treatment , you poor thing. I'm trying to not let it ruin this special time but it's easier said than done! Hopefully will have some better answers after today. Thank you x

Good luck OP. I hope you will reassured..

Good luck for today, hope you get some further reassurance. X
@adarkhorse totally understand in terms of it ruining your pregnancy, I felt exactly the same and even when she was born I felt like rather than enjoying the moment I was in panic mode until she was checked by the doctor.
I spent night after night searching online for information and other experiences which there isn’t a great deal of so I think this thread will hopefully really help others in the same situation in the further.

Hi all just in with the consultant , she was so nice. His legs and arms are still short but have grown from last week's which are the main thing. She was not overly concerned but will remeasure again in 4 weeks. She had a good look at everything again and all of his structures are looking good and measuring normal. She explained it could be some form of skeletal displasia but not a lethal kind. It could just be his normal to have shorter legs.

I had the same, they were even asking us how tall we are during the scan.

In our case, my son was on the 2nd centile for height until he was 4. At 8, he is now on the 15th and the shortest in his class but certainly not ridiculously so and he is perfectly healthy. His younger brother has followed almost identical heights at each age too.

@Laurabella - oh that sounds good! Hopefully you can relax a bit now - it would mean quite a lot to me that the consultant wasn’t overly concerned, they do see this every day after all!

@SkyeJ90 - exactly that, Googling for hours! Luckily the baby came out screaming so loudly that everyone congratulated me on this apparently very healthy baby, so I forgot about it all temporarily :) we had a few checks and an X-ray in her first year and all fine, so a Happy End it seems!

Thank you , it's the best news we could have had at this stage. Once his legs and arms keep growing she would be confident in saying he is just a smaller baby. So going to try relax and enjoy my pregnancy. I don't want this blip to ruin it x

@Laurabella Glad that the consultant was nice, it makes a big difference doesnt it. Out of interest did they tell you what the measurements were?

[quote SkyeJ90]@Laurabella Glad that the consultant was nice, it makes a big difference doesnt it. Out of interest did they tell you what the measurements were?[/quote]
She just showed me the chart on her computer to show his growth from last week. She said he was in the 3rd centile for long bones. So I'm 24 weeks today and he was measuring 22.5 weeks for his long bones

@Laurabella I think my little girl was similar at that stage. I’ve attached my femur measurements from 20 weeks for reference, as you can see she barely even scrapped 3rd percentile but like they’ve mentioned to you the most important past is that she was growing.
All the best for the rest of your pregnancy and I hope it’s helped put your mind at ease a little x

[quote SkyeJ90]@Laurabella I think my little girl was similar at that stage. I’ve attached my femur measurements from 20 weeks for reference, as you can see she barely even scrapped 3rd percentile but like they’ve mentioned to you the most important past is that she was growing.
All the best for the rest of your pregnancy and I hope it’s helped put your mind at ease a little x[/quote]
Yep that's very similar , thanks so much for sharing 😊

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7

I'm almost 38 weeks and had a similar issue which I made a thread about - just posting the link here because I got some really helpful replies www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/4405672-growth-scans-low-femur-length

I still haven't had my baby yet, but they've said it's unlikely to be skeletal dysplasia because the measurements would be very far behind and not just a couple of weeks. Hope your FMU appointment puts your mind at rest. They'll examine the bones in detail for straightness, the skeletal physiology, the shape of the skull and the width of the rib cage. They said it's unlikely short long bones in isolation would point to a major issue.

Hey have you had your little one yet? Hope everything went well

@Laurabella yes I've had my little one and his legs and arms were fine at birth. He's measuring roughly 50th centile and looks in proportion. Was so worried right up until his post birth checks

Awh congratulations that's amazing news! Hope you are both doing well 💙

Hi OP, I had this with DD2. Femur and humerus measuring 3 weeks behind and on the 3rd percentiles.

The pregnancy was just constant worry, stress, and anxiety. When she was finally born she was perfectly in proportion, just with small arms and legs!

She's 3 now and still quite petite, but perfectly healthy.

Thank you, we have another scan in two weeks with consultant. So fingers crossed he is still growing

Good luck for the scan. I'd say try not to worry, FMU said not to worry to me, but by then I'd stressed myself out. As radioactive says, I spent a lot of my pregnancy stressed and anxious. They'll tell you if you need to worry, but they said in a lot of cases, it's not indicative of anything

We had this, got told at 23 weeks it could be missed downs or fatal dwarfism as measuring 3rd centile in femur. Then on 15th four weeks later just before Christmas. Now on the 50th centile! Our extra scans were prompted by what we were led to believe was fatal horrendous heart issues that on further inspection four days later (after a weekend of hell) showed that actually the heart structure was not abnormal, vessels not abnormal, and they weren't so concerned over the level of fluid round the heart. Heart pointing central rather than left. This led to the dreadful fetal medicine scans that were meant to look at organs but the woman got obsessed with the bone measurements instead. I'm 34+4 now and told baby is now normal! However the Evelina want to see baby before six weeks old to scan just to check nothing missed.

Wow that is shocking , and putting you through needless worry. The consultant said him just catching up was an option so hoping for that outcome too 🤞

Thank you

We were told short femurs on our 20 week scan too. He was born with mega long legs and at 5 is off the charts tall and leggy, so they clearly caught up in utero.

Hello, I commented upthread. My baby's femur dropped completely off the charts at 28 week scan and we were referred urgently to fetal medicine. His other measurements were around 50th percentile.

He's here now and they have no concerns at all He was small-ish for his gestation overall (30th percentile) but has long fingers and toes, and his legs are growing by the day.

I believe our problem was potential growth restriction, as the placenta wasn't quite working as it should. I'd had raised uterine artery pressure earlier in the pregnancy and also I'm an older mum. However it wasn't enough for the doctors to consider inducing, and the only symptom seemed to be legs growing slower that the head and abdomen.

@freshflowers2

Hello, I commented upthread. My baby's femur dropped completely off the charts at 28 week scan and we were referred urgently to fetal medicine. His other measurements were around 50th percentile.

He's here now and they have no concerns at all He was small-ish for his gestation overall (30th percentile) but has long fingers and toes, and his legs are growing by the day.

I believe our problem was potential growth restriction, as the placenta wasn't quite working as it should. I'd had raised uterine artery pressure earlier in the pregnancy and also I'm an older mum. However it wasn't enough for the doctors to consider inducing, and the only symptom seemed to be legs growing slower that the head and abdomen.

Thanks for the update ,that's fantastic news delighted all is ok with your boy 💙