Scan EDD differs from LMP EDD - anyone else had this problem?

[Tumshie]

Hi - according to my scan date, I'm overdue (now in wk 41), but when I looked at my LMP, that would give me an EDD of 28 Aug rather than 12 Aug given by scan date...

Have spoken to hospital about this, but despite me not being sure how scan date CAN be possible IYSWIM, they are sticking to the scan date. So far I've managed to wrangle monitoring, will be going back this Weds - but am sure at some point they will want to book induction because I am 'overdue'... and I'd really like to give babe a chance to come in its own sweet time .

Has anyone else had this experience or a discrepancy between their scan date and LMP date?? I'd like more ammo if required. As it is I'm going to hospital each time armed with NICE guidelines on induction just in case...

Thanks for any info/advice!

alos, have heard somewhere that you can get pg just before a period. something about releasing an egg early or something (sorry its a vague recollection)

Klaw - thanks for the info/advice re sweep. Think I will play it by ear on Weds; I'll have had reflexology on Tues, and will see if they offer sweep at hospital or not. If they don't, I won't ask for one! If they do, I'll have to consider it at the time... I'm torn between wanting to know whether or not my body IS preparing for labour, but on the other hand I don't want a sweep if my body is not ready and the procedure is painful!! Hopefully will have good midwife (our hospital has v good staff) so will see whether instincts say I can trust her lead...

At the moment instincts say there's no way baby is coming before end of week. But then I'm not the most instinctual of women so could be caught by surprise .

Mumofmonsters - eek, must have been v scary experience for you with ds1, even if you only found out after the birth. That is what I'm worried about by waiting - it makes it v hard to know what to do when scans are presented as reliable. Makes it more worrying when in your experience scan date wasn't!

Prior to becoming pregnant, I'd literally just come off the pill, so not sure I could have become pregnant before period, but could have had v odd cycle perhaps as a result.

Really hope baby comes next weekend then I have no worries...

so MumofMonsters, in an ideal world you would have been working to your dates, would have been considered nearing 42 weeks and then offered Expectant Management to check you, baby, fluid levels and placental function. And then a decision would have been made based on those findings re whether to induce etc. As it was they weren't even bothered cos you weren't 40wks yet.

Thankfully baby was OK, but reinforces my gut instinct that mums need to be listened to more.

I don't see how they can consider scans to be so accurate as babies come in all shapes and sizes. Some are long and skinny, some are shorter and stockier, some have longer backs, some gave longer limbs, some have chubby tummies..... I would really need to know how much of all this is factored in when they do these scans. I also seriosuly wonder about operator error when it comes to choosing the points they measure from. I'm not obviously trained in this and so would love it to be properly explained. must do some more research.

When a woman is sure of her dates she deserves to be listened to, but when there's doubt about conception I agree that scans are a good tool to guestimate. But we should be treating women and their babies as individuals not according to some graph of averages. We are none of us average, we are all special!

hi - my ds has a big head (!!) just like his mama lol.

He was born 18 days overdue by my LMP date. However, if they had gone by my scan date, he would have been 25 days overdue. In reality, as i know EXACTLY to the day, when i conceived him, he was born at exactly 40 weeks from date of conception (so if you add on the normal 2 weeks for EDD he was born at 42 weeks).

I knew in my heart of hearts that everything was ok - call it intuition !! therefore i fought to the 'death' to wait and not be induced. I was very anti induction, as i wanted a natural labour at home. iN THE end i didn't have the energy to fight for my home birth, but got my natural labour at the hospital instead.

DS was born quickly, easily and without and drugs, so was v alert and relaxed, bf v easily and is quite advanced for his age (5 mths) and very large - 95th centile. No vernix or hair or anything. However, he was born with a ridge on his head, which makes me think that he was in the wrong positon - so if they HAD induced me, i would have wound up forceps / ventous / c sec which i didn't want.

i had monitoring every day from 12 days overdue, which was fine, but when i eventually went into labour i had to fight to stay OFF a bed and on my feet as they wanted me strapped to a monitor so they could tell very quickly if there were problems. In the end, he nearly birthed himself it was so quick - the midwifes didn't enter our room for an hour so me on a machine would have been useless because they wouldn't have known of any problems anyway !!

There is alwas a risk (meconium, placenta depreciation etc) of going overdue, but i think that i naturally cook babies longer as my cycles is 35 days on average. I would go with your instinct but grab at any monitoring opportunites and be armed with lots of ammo as they like to resort to scare tactics.

Homebirths.org is a v good site for stories of going overdue and being ok !!

only read the first post but my lmp dates gave me the 11th march (and I know exactly every detail of that cycle as DH was away, and we'd jsut had a m/c) anyhow the scan date put me at 3rd march they took this date.

I saw my consultant at 36+ weeks who said i'll see you again on the 2nd you'll be about a week over by then - I was like no i'm due the 3rd and she said 'well see' with that DS was born on the 23rd feb.

it doesn't help much but babies come when they're ready I always feel. see consultants - mine was right! lol.

Puffylovett thanks v much for your story, amazing to hear that you managed to get monitoring for such a long time, v reassuring. Gives me more confidence in waiting for monitoring and being more relaxed about not having to 'fight' hospital regarding my odd dates - although unlike you, I'm not sure of my cycle dates as was on the pill previously. I presume monitoring could pick up on any signs of distress which may make induction advisable? Will look at the website you suggest .

Oh - homebirths.org doesn't seem to be there now... - unless, is it this site www.homebirth.org.uk?

Hi
Just thought I wud add my bit, my SIL had IVF so knew when everything was planted and her scan date was still different from her original date

hi tumshie, yes that's the site !! i spent many a day reading the birth stories on there. thers also some good australian websites as well but can't for the life of me remember what they're called !

If it's anything like my hosp = they will get you in on a doppler to listen to babas heartbeat daily. This will pick up if the baby is in distress. i was in for 3 hours at one point because they couldn't get a resting heartbeat to compare the active against - he was just on the go all the time !

because i was also in 4 a homebirth, i also had an extra ultrasound to ensure he wasn't breach.

when i eventually went into labour, my waters went first so they insisted i go in for more monitoring. they wanted to keep me in and strapped to a bed just in case there was meconium but there was NO WAY i could have endured that so i went home with a flea in my ear and didn't go back to the hosp till i was 6cm dilated - walked the dog, cleaned the house, did the shopping....

the idea of continual monitoring is again so they can see the babies heartbeat and know if it is getting into stress.

i found a couple of midwives at the hosp were horrified that i was so overdue. but then i also found a couple who whispered good on you, well done, stick to your guns - one of whom had gone 21 days overdue with hers !

i would've gone as far as 21 days before induction as i was so sure of my dates. i think you have to do the research, understand the situation and set yourself a limit. good luck !!!

Went for my monitoring scan today. Amniotic levels low (AFI 3); everything else OK (heartbeat and blood to placenta). So looks like I'll be getting induced after all - am going for monitoring again on Fri, and will prob have induction on Sun. Am trying to stay positive but am now really worried about possibility of losing baby . Really hoping that low fluid levels are because I'm dehydrated, so am drinking water - but crying buckets doesn't help... . Am also worried about how low amniotic fluid levels may compromise induction.

Tumshie - at least you are nearly there either with or without an induction. Many women have low AFI from 20 weeks and keep going till nearly term and have a healthy baby.

I'm sure that the sonographers must have been happy with the amount of blood flowing from the placenta or they'd have been wanting to induce you there and then.

I really don't think low fluid levels would comprimise an induction. I know its easier said than done but try not to worry. Have a good bonk if you can bear it to try and get things going! Good luck.

Induction CANNOT be imposed on you. It has to be your choice. They can suck their teeth, shake their head and look sorrowful, but they can't forcibly induce you.

Thanks for your support. If induction had been purely because overdue, I would happily have asked for continuing monitoring. But now that there is potential of risk to baby and placenta failing, I'm more inclined to say yes to it, even knowing all the interventions that may result... What if I held off and something happened? I couldn't live with myself.

Am hoping that baby comes sooner - will certainly try your suggestion SKSS, though not feeling overly in the mood just now! Thanks for your encouragement, I think I just had bad moment when posting previously, am trying to get more perspective now.