Is it IUGR if the baby has always been on the 10th centile?

[DigestivesWithCheese]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone out there can answer my question about interuterine growth restriction...

I am 28 weeks pregnant with twins & I went for a routine growth scan today. The sonographer seemed happy with everything. I see my consultant at the end of next week so she will look at the scan results then and I am booked in for another growth scan in 4 weeks.

I was looking at the print out in my notes when I got home and I saw that there is now a sheet of graphs in there that show the babies measurements on the centile charts. For esimated weights, the babies are both exactly on the 10th centile & I can see that they have measured there all along.

My previous babies have always measured around the 50th. I know twins are smaller later but I thought that thei growth was normal until 28 wks (I might be wrong in that though). Unfortunately I have been googling already & am worried because babies on or below the 10th centile are considered to have IUGR.

I have seen posts on twin boards where babies who measured around 12th\10th centile at 28 weeks have been carefully monitored, had Doppler scans to check the placentas etc. I have been wondering if I should call my consultant tomorrow in case something has been missed and my babies need to be checked on again. However, on the posts I have seen, the twins being monitored seemed to have dropped down to the 10th from being higher weights. Maybe because my babies have always measured smaller, it's not a problem & that's why the sonographer didn't mention it?

Hopefully I am fretting about nothing - any ideas?

I think you are probably fretting about nothing. Remember what the centiles actually mean - if your babies are on the 10th centile it means there will be 9% of babies smaller than them, all developing normally. Problems kick in when babies drop across centiles, so yes, dropping from higher centiles would be a worry, but diddy ones who are maintaining their trajectory are fine. Stop worrying!

what muso said. if they are staying on the same centile then they are growing, which is what matters.

Thank you for both your replies! I think that makes sense really, doesn't it?. I also asked the sonographer: "Would you tell me if anything was wrong?" and she said: "Yes, I would tell you now". She certainly doesn't have any reason to lie. I left the apt feeling quite calm but then when I got home and looked at the notes, I managed to work myself into a state of pregnancy panic.

I have managed to calm myself down now, will stay away from google and will NOT phone my consultant's secretary at 9am tomorrow saying: "I think the babies are too small!!".