Measuring bump

[zinher]

Has anyone had persistently small bump measurements? Everytime I go for the midwife appt my bump measures small and she sends me for a growth scan which shows everything to be ok. I was wondering what the benefit of this measurement is as it leads to so much unnecessary worrying and time wasting.

My midwife uses it to check you are following the curve rather than being worried whereabouts you are within the curves. So they can spot any sudden growth spurts or lack of growth. I wouldn't have thought you need a growth scan every time? Seems a bit overkill to me but better for you to be checked. I have measured large the whole time but actual measurements of the baby show it to be bang on average and now I am 39 weeks and the baby has dropped, I am now average on the curve

I had the third growth scan baby is on 50th centile. The FH measurements places her below the lowest line

I get confused about this too zinher - when I saw my midwife about 2 weeks ago she said that although my bump is ok (about a centimetre under what she'd expect) she is expecting me to have a very small baby. She said this after feeling my abdomen too. When she plotted my measurements on my growth chart in my Maternity notes I was sitting just below the 50th percentile.

However, 2 days prior to seeing her I'd had a growth scan at my hospital (I have them every 4 weeks due to medication I'm on) and their measurements put baby well above the 90th percentile. When I explained this to my midwife and showed her the scan report she was quite bemused at the discrepancy. However, she did laugh it off a little, told me not to worry and said that predicting growth is a bit hit and miss as so many things can affect FH measurements and even hospital growth scans can be inaccurate as the bigger the baby gets the harder it is for the sonographer a to measure accurately.

She said the only way they'll know for definite what size my baby will be is when it's born

Bump measuring seems to be really inexact. Both my scans show DS to be right in the middle of the percentile, but my bump measures on the larger side.

The last time I was measured there was a quick panic as the measurement showed the bump as being smaller than before - yeah, right - so I asked the midwife to measure it again; her second measurement was spot on for what it 'should' have been, that's a difference of 3cms. Again; yeah, right.

I also wonder how much difference there is between measurements by different midwives as I have seen a different one every time so there may be error in their recording. My clothes are definitely getting tighter so my waist is growing, however, their measurements show growth to have completely flatlined since a month.

With both my first and second (baby just 3 weeks old), I measured small 29-30cm at 40 weeks (so a good 10cm out). Both babies totally normal, around 7lb.
It concerns the medical profession hugely but some women just carry small - I have a long back and I think they sit back rather than protrude out front!

I had exactly this too, often measuring -5cm, like Rubber I have a long torso and carry deep. Growth scans showed a normal size baby. Actually, they were inaccurate too as showed foetus as 6lb7 at 34 weeks - actually she was 6.2lb born at full term. So small but not worryingly so.