Dropped from 50th percentile at 32 weeks to 10th percentile at 36 weeks

[Brophy14]

Hi

I am going out of my mind with worry and struggling to find similar stories to mine. I am currently 36+4 weeks pregnant.

I had a growth scan at 32+1 where they rummaged around taking a load of measurements, and I did feel that they kept measuring until they got the result they wanted - as some measurements were plotting small. But the initial midwife was in training (I assumed due to different uniform) so I thought maybe that was why it took a little longer. Then the experienced midwife took over and plotted baby at the 50th percentile.

anyway, I didn’t really feel that my bump had grown much but then I put it down to me seeing my belly every day and just not noticing for that reason, and when I saw friends/family they reassured me I’d grown.

I had my second growth scan at 36+1 and they told me that baby had dropped from the 50th percentile to the 10th and that I’d have to be referred to the SGA clinic and they brought my next growth scan forward from 39 weeks to 38. I am booked into the SGA clinic for next week but I am going out of my mind with worry.

I have read a lot of stories about babies who had dropped in percentiles and been okay, but I haven’t seen any stories with such a large drop (40).

Any advice or reassurance would be greatly appreciated - and any information on what the expect at the SGA clinic!

DD1 dropped from around 75th at 20w, to 50th at 28w and then 9th at 37w (i forget the exact numbers of the early scans). In her case, i think it was a combination of an issue with the blood flow through one of my uterine arteries, picked up at my 20w scan, and the fact I went on to develop pregnancy high BP at the end of my pregnancy. So there were clearly some issues with the placenta. Anyway, after the 37w scan, I was advised to agree to induction, which i did for 39w. I was due to have another scan at 38w, but I went into spontaneous labour at 37+6w and she was born at 38w.

She was quite little - 2.6kg (5lbs 12oz) although something like 70th centile for length. She was very sleepy, didnt feed well (also born in the middle of a heatwave which didnt help). Id recommend searching for local lactation consultants now if you are hoping to breastfeed so that you can contact someone straight away - i left it too long. She went on to have some other health issues but I must emphasise, these were not because she was SGA. It was because she picked up an infection during labour (just want to be honest in case you recognise my user name from other threads). (Sidenote, make sure you've had your GBS test!)

In terms of the SGA clinic, id start thinking about how you feel about induction vs c section vs waiting, so you can be informed if you are asked to make a decision. I was caught on the fly as id never heard of SGA (or suspected IUGR as it was called) and i wish id been more prepared.

DD1 is now coming up to 4.5yrs and is pretty much bang on her "expected" centile based on DH and I. She was very little right up until we started weaning (plotting the 0.4th centile for quite a long time), then once she really took to food, she did really well. She is something like 75th for height and 65th for weight now (not weighed her in a while), so looks perfectly in proportion, eats like a horse, has just started school.

Good luck, its all very daunting at the time but there's loads of threads with advice as well so worth having a search around. Im sure youll get lots of advice here too.

Hi love could you tell me what type of infection she had and what other health issues? Did they also ask you to go for genetic testing?

Hi, she had sepsis caused by Group B Strep. Our hospital does not swab women routinely, i had booked a private test but I then got covid at 36w and by the time I came out of covid isolation, I went into labour the next day. No genetic testing was needed because the swabs were all clear that it was GBS.

With both of mine, the bump was measuring the same, yet one baby was 8kg and the other baby was 11kg - no warning whatsoever from fundal height bump measurements. So I am not sure they’re very accurate.

So you are dealing with GBS, how’s that like mum?