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

Hi all just an update , went to the hospital with reduced movements yesterday (29 weeks) his movements felt weaker and something didn't feel right. I got a heartbeat trace which was fine and when I got to the midwives clinic for a quick scan I explained my situation to her and that I was due to go back to FM consultant the following week to track his growth. She measured his abdomen and she said it looked a bit small (hadn't been an issue on last scan). She arranged for consultant to see me and she identified an issue with the placental blood flow dropping off. She said that the belly being small is the first sign of that and it's possible that the short long bones could have been earlier sign but that's not the norm. However stranger things have happened 🤷 I've been admitted to hospital for two days of steroids and a rescan on Friday. If it gets any worse he will have to be delivered

@Laurabella oh my goodness that so scary for you. I do have experience of this as mine were delivered at 29 weeks (he's nearly 4 now, and fine) and 33 weeks (most recent one- he's fine too)

You are in the right place and if it's any consolation the hospital didn't see my 29 weeker as particularly dramatic! I guess they are used to this and although 29/30 weeks is very premature, the odds are that the baby will be ok.

Anyway fingers crossed it doesn't come to that, and the rescan will show that things are moving in the right direction

[quote freshflowers2]@Laurabella oh my goodness that so scary for you. I do have experience of this as mine were delivered at 29 weeks (he's nearly 4 now, and fine) and 33 weeks (most recent one- he's fine too)

You are in the right place and if it's any consolation the hospital didn't see my 29 weeker as particularly dramatic! I guess they are used to this and although 29/30 weeks is very premature, the odds are that the baby will be ok.

Anyway fingers crossed it doesn't come to that, and the rescan will show that things are moving in the right direction [/quote]
Thank you , yea all a bit of a shock just so glad the consultant made time to see me and identified the issue instead of waiting another week to my actual appointment. They are keeping a close eye on me with regular traces and I'm counting his movements. I'm hoping that the blood flow improves with steroids and they can manage me as an outpatient. He just needs to cook a while longer 🤞

Hi all , still in hospital the blood flow picked up slightly but still needs close monitoring. I'm having Doppler scans every two days to make sure baby is still safe. We will be lucky to get him to 32 or 33 weeks. Meeting with consultant tomorrow for another Doppler and see if they will let me home but i doubt it. I'm hoping this is the only reason he is small 🤞

Just an update , following just over a week in hospital (and catching covid in the ward) blood flow to the placenta got worse and my little boy was delivered yesterday at 30+2 weeks by section. We have been told he is small but perfectly formed, no dwarfism or down syndrome so we are so relieved. He just needs to fatten up and get strong, it seems the placenta was off coloured and been sent for testing so appears to have been the issue all along. Came out breathing on his own which is a great sign 💙

Wonderful news, congratulations 💐

Hi that's amazing! Congratulations!
Hoping your time in the neonatal unit goes smoothly. It can be quite overwhelming so definitely allow yourself some time and accept that you will feel tired and emotional at some (many!) points.

My little one is now 5 weeks old and he's still very small - 3rd percentile- but they don't have any concerns. Here's to small but perfectly formed little boys!

Oh that's wonderful, what a little trooper he is. Welcome to the world little one 💞

Hi ladies I know your posts were a while ago but I am now going through this same situation. Currently having growth scans because my daughter was born on 8th centile. We were referred for ultrasound scan at 33 weeks because of small femur (3rd centile). We have had that scan followed by a consultant appointment and femur and humerus are both not even measuring on the chart. Head and stomach are fine, no concerns with bones, all white and straight. No concerns with nose, forehead looks fine, sternum looks fine. All organs are fine. We were low risk for downs etc at 12 week scan, we have been advised to do harmony test to get that double checked. The consultant wasn’t very reassuring and has said there is a possibility we have a small baby, a baby with downs or a baby with skeletal dysphasia. Google is not our best friend and our minds are doing overtime thinking of the worse case scenario. We have also been referred for a second opinion. I’m looking for someone who has been in the same position as us?

Hello Mer90
i haven’t been in your position so can’t give any concrete advice. But hopefully someone will come along soon who has.

im not sure I totally understood your post. Are you pregnant with your second child? And your first, your daughter, was born on the 8th centile?

when get you get the harmony test done? How long do you have to wait?

Im really sorry to hear you are going through this. Pregnancy and not knowing is so hard.

Please try not to worry, Google is a dark place when your worried. My baba is fine he was just a small baby due to the blood flow issue. Downs is just a small possibility if you were low risk. We were told skeletal dysplasia too but there are 100s of different types , dwarfism being one. Our consultant explained many adults walking around have no idea they have a form of it. As in their arms are shorter/longer than their torso. It's not a big deal it's their normal and people come in all shapes and sizes

Thank you for replying. So happy for you your baby is fine. They said my blood flow and placenta seem to be working. Hopefully harmony test will give us some more reassurance and yes you’re right everyone comes in different shapes and sizes.

Our daughters femur was always below 3rd percentile and the other measurements were fine throughout (around 30/40% percentile). We were also told it did increase risk for certain things.
In our case she was a tiny baby (4lbs8 born at 37 weeks), not even on 1st percentile when she was born. Today is actually her 1st birthday and she’s still petite but absolutely perfect. After all our worries about her legs she was toddling around by 11 months.
It is such a worrying time and I spent night after night online, I never really found many examples of the femur quite as small as hers.
Hopefully this helps you feel a little less worried, especially with your first daughter being a low percentile when she was born as well.
I did have a harmony test by chance at 13 weeks as they couldn’t do the nhs screening due to position so we did have that reassurance throughout.

Just to add, we had no blood flow issues etc. I had doppler scans twice a week to check. There was never really any conclusion as to why she was so small.

Yes it's like they don't realise how things sound and how much you go away and worry. A colleague of mine went for a scan and it went something like this, "Oh there's the first arm, here's the 2nd and that's the third, I can see 4 legs, both heads look fine." Colleague said she was verging on hysterics about the two headed baby with3 arms and 4 legs and then said, "Is it twins?" Sonographer laughed and said obviously it was. Colleague was furious and said she dreaded to think what her blood pressure was.

Mine was a doctor calling to her midwife colleague and saying, "Feel this, what does it feel like a to you?" I said I hoped it felt like a baby and she said she just wasn't sure if it was head or bum i.e. which way round the baby was but again it sounded like there was something wrong with the baby, well it did to me in my anxious state (I'd had lots of problems with this pregnancy.)

OP I hope the midwife will put your mind at rest.

So pleased all is well, I hadn't realised the thread was a few months old.

As to bone sizes I remember Burt Reynolds being interviewed and he said he was about 5'10" tall but it was because he was long in the body and had short legs. Well he became a successful film star so it didn't hold him back and although I saw several of his films his legs looked a perfectly normal length. As you say people come in all shapes and sizes.

Congrats on your baby💐.

What do you believe would have been ideal in the way you were dealt with? I can’t imagine them keeping any concerns to themselves would have been appropriate. Giving you a referral to FM without telling you why saying ‘it’s a surprise’ would have been inappropriate. The u/s tech is not meant to give opinions or advice in regards to determined or potential issues as they are not qualified to do so, they flag so others who are can investigate and do so. Further testing and consults take time as everything and everyone is booked up so it’s a triage queue system. So trying to understand what changes would make it ideal.

I do understand the system from both sides as I worked in a specialty area (non-ob) when I was having my kids, and also had one with numerous defects picked up on u/s so went the FM route. It’s often a long process but for many reasons that are understandable. Most people are luckier in that something that may/may not be a problem is detected and on further investigation or at birth it turns out it falls into the not a problem pile. If something is flagged as a potential concern you can’t keep it from the patient (not ethical) and keeping it from somewhere be would be the only way not to cause worry, surely?

Thanks for all your comments ladies, it is giving me some hope. We had NIPT blood test done this morning so hopefully that will give us more clarity. It’s the not knowing i’m struggling with.

Hi

Im in a similar situation wondering how it all went as im really worried too. Hope baby is well.
Appreciate your response thank u :)

I have the exactly same report, worried sick

So happy for you

Hello - im going through the same. How have your and LO been? Wishing you all
The best 

Hello - im going through the same. How have your and LO been? Hope everything turned out well 🙏🏻

Hi @Laurabella i no this is old post, going through the same at the moment, congrats on ur baby boy how is he doing now?

He is absolutely fine , 3 in March. Where does the time go!
It was a placental issue from the beginning , that's what caused his growth to drop off. He didn't need any assistance to breath even at 30 weeks and 2.4 pounds. It was a long 7 weeks in NICU but he came through all the tests and completely healthy.