Baby measuring slightly big, possibly may need induction. Any experiences?

[Mandraki]

Went to hosp last night with reduced movement (all fine though and what do you know, she started booting me as soon as we got home the little minx!) but when they scanned me they said she is measuring a bit big for how many weeks I am (32). On my growth chart she's just on the border of the two lines they like them to be within. Midwife said to come back for another scan in two weeks and they'll check her out. I asked what happens if she's a monster baby and they said they can offer me induction at 38 weeks. This has blown my mind because everything has been normal up to now and so I've always thought about birth in terms of spontaneous labour etc.

I'm rambling but anybody else been induced for similar or had a scan measure bigger than expected and what happened? Even any induction stories would be great!

I would ask them for medical evidence on scan accuracy at that gestation (I read about a small Canadian study that found third trimester scans to be about 30% accurate at measuring birth weight).

I would also ask them what the other options are and what the real risk of each option is.

I would ask them why they are proposing early induction and not c-section at term, since my understanding is that even slight prematurity (ie baby comes out before he/she is ready rather than before 37 weeks) is now thought to be a contributor to certain later health issues particularly lung problems.

Induction is not risk free, it increases the likelihood of various interventions and problems during the birth. If you do have one, I suggest you insist on an epidural being sited before they put you on the drip.

Good luck! Remember that when this is all over you will have your lovely snuggly newborn to cuddle

I was the same. Measured big.
Accelerated growth they called it.
I had loads of extra scans in the last few weeks which was quite nice to be honest just to get an extra check that all was ok and see the baby.
I was booked in for and induction on my due date that I was not really happy about, like you I had envisaged spontaneous labour.
The week before I had 2 sweeps and walked about 5 milles every day, Raspberry leaf tea, Evening primrose, spicy food, DTD, the works.
I did go into spontaneous labour 2 days before due date.
Baby was 10lb
The scans all predicted the weight correctly.

I would express that you don't want to be induced and see how long they would let you hold off.

I measured big from about 30 weeks onwards with my first. Lots of growth scans etc. They started predicting about 9.5lbs. That isn't particularly monster but I'm 5ft nothing and generally quite small so that was more than enough for them to say that the midwife led unit was no longer an option for me (concerns about shoulder dystocia).

They didn't want to do anything early as DD was otherwise doing really well and I was also keen to "wait and see" in the hope I could labour naturally. I had an appointment booked at 9am on my EDD, to meet with the consultant to make an induction or c-section plan. I'd been told to bring my hospital bag to that appointment as I may well be staying in.

Never made it to that appointment as waters broke fairly dramatically 5 hours before. Labour started about 12 hours later, hurt like hell with strong regular contractions but didn't progress (turned out later her head was too large to properly engage in my rather narrow pelvis). As waters had gone, I needed to be on an antibiotic drip once we got more than 24 hours past waters breaking. Another few hours later I was given IV syntocinon to try to speed things up. A few more hours later I got an epidural. Still very little progression.

Ended up with an emcs about 45 hours after waters broke. 9lb 6oz baby.

I genuinely would not recommend that approach - it was awful and although DD was fine, which was the crucial thing, it meant a huge amount of intervention and that my CS recovery was slow as I was exhausted before I even had it. The slow recovery was a bit of a contributory factor in the PND that I then struggled with.

If you'd prefer to try for a vaginal birth I can see the benefit of a slightly early induction. Personally I'm now expecting #2 and planning a c section with my consultant.

My growth scans were pretty close to spot on

Was induced- pessary, waters broken, drip (but that was honestly ok, for me)

Then episiotomy as DS had cord wrapped round neck. Lost some blood but not enough for transfusion

I would do anything I could to resist a 2 week early induction- gestation is 40 weeks for a reason! Obviously listen to the professionals- but if they aren't saying anything but "slightly big".......

I measured 35 weeks at 29 weeks with dd. I had quite a few growth scans because they were concerned I might need to be induced or that her growth would suddenly slow indicating a problem. I had no issues and she was born at 40 + 2 and weighed 9lbs. She was just a big baby and apparently the placenta was big as well.

With ds I measured big as well but not as big as dd. There was also concern he was transverse. However, he was also born at 40+2 and was 8lb11.5. Again a big baby and apparently the placenta was huge!!

All my auties/ cousins/ cousins wives have measured big and gone on to have perfectly healthy, large babies!

Good luck op!