Small baby

[pregooolady]

Hello...

So my baby's growth has slowed down dramatically!

Growth scan tomorrow and then consultant on Thursday

So midwife today said they will likely induce on the weekend if scan fails tomorrow

I've had small baby's before but went full term.

My question is I've never been induced what's it like ? How long dose it take ? I really don't want a c section

X

How far along are you OP?

@sel2223 hi I'm 34 weeks x

@pregooolady hopefully the growth scan today and the appointment with the consultant go well!
All growth predictions in my pregnancy were way off but in the opposite direction....so measuring 'normal' size, around 50 centile for everything then she came out at term only 5lbs 10oz.

If you do need to have your baby early, I don't know anything about induction but don't be afraid of a section if you need one. Mine was a planned section and was such a calm and positive experience, I was totally put at ease throughout and felt safe and in great hands. My little one is now 4 years old.

@sel2223 aww thanks for the information and I see you had a tiny little one bless glad everything was good for u. I'm more scared of the recovery as I have other children at home one with Sen so want to be in perfect form lol ! I'm just hoping scan today shows improvement! Xx

@pregooolady best of luck with the scan

Fortunately my recovery first time round was really good and quick. I was out the hospital within 24 hours and up on my feet quickly. I just took care not lifting or walking too far the first week.
I've got friends and families who had natural births where things didn't go exactly to plan and their recoveries were far worse so there's really no way of knowing, you just have to take the advice on what's best for you and baby.

I'm pregnant with my second now and will be having another section.

Hope this is all a moot point anyway and all is fine with the scan.

My son stopped growing at 29 weeks and had daily monitoring for a while until the blood flow through the placenta slowed when they did a c section. Honestly the c section and physical recovery were fine, maybe they need less of an incision to get our a 3lb baby? I was up and walking really soon, think a few hours and didn't need the chair in the shower they offered me.

Having a small baby is hard mentally though. I found neonatal really really scary, but we did get through it and he's a wonderful two year old now, albeit very small for age (0.2 centile)

I hope it goes well.

Hoping you had a good scan today. 🤞

I don't have experience of a small baby but I was induced previously & learned a lot about it after the fact.

If induction is being recommended I would ask for your bishop score first. This measures how favourable your cervix is and the more favourable the better the chance of induction working. If it's low I'd ask your consultants what the impact on an induced labour might be.

I'd also ask questions about what kind of induction they're recommending and go through the pros and cons of each one.

Inductions tend to be hard and fast with contractions once they get going, so having a good pain relief plan is key too. I went with the epidural but I didn't realize that this plus the induction meds could be hard on baby. I'd still have gotten it but I would have done things like making sure I stayed on my left side, or getting the midwives to help position me more regularly to help baby. Plus the peanut ball helps progress things if you're laying down.

If I had to get induced again I'd also make sure it was at the start of a week - if the induction takes a while you might end up being discharged over a weekend and that's so frustrating as there's usually less staff / services. E.g. no lactation consultant on call.

And I'd ask questions like what's their policy on CTG during induction, internal fetal monitoring, etc., so I'd feel more prepared for the possible outcomes. Induction in Ireland classifies you as a high risk delivery because it's induced, so that changes protocols compared to spontaneous labour and I didn't realize that.

I'd also make sure there were spaces on the delivery ward before starting induction - the last thing you want is to get stuck on the labour ward because of lack of beds.

It's hard to know how long it'll take - mine was 7 hrs after the gel was applied until delivery. There were people on the ward who were induced before me that hadn't started labour at all when I was moving to the delivery suite so totally depends on how ready baby and your body is I think.

Best of luck with your delivery!!

Iv had 2 inductions due to IUGR. Both at 37 weeks and both babies 5lb 3oz.

Both inductions were quick! First I had pessary and then waters broken start to finish from 1st contraction to birth 4 hours.
Second time water's broken then the drip and baby born within 48 minutes!

I loved the drip! It was super quick and I felt very in Control.

Good luck!

So my induction is set for 38 weeks that's if my 36 weeks scan show everything ok. The reason there waiting till 38 weeks is because placenta fine blood flow fine just baby is small and gaining little but they wanna make sure lungs mature xx

Best of luck with it! Let us know when you have baby news in a few weeks. 🎉