I'm measuring small for dates and am scared

[sexkittyinwaiting]

At a midwife check last week baby was meauring 29cm at 31 weeks. Up until that point it had been bang on target. The midwife wasn't overly concerned though. Because I felt anxious I went back to be measured today and now I am 29cm at 32 weeks so have been booked in for a chat with a doc at the hospital and hopefully a scan.

I don't understand why this might be happening, my other babies were all fine, the last one being over 9lb at birth.

I'm trying not to think of all the "what ifs?" as they are so many .

Has anyone else had this experience and what was the outcome for you? Have these measurements been very different to your baby's size at birth?

I have lots of strong movements and the heartbeat was also strong. I know I'm getting myself into a pickle and I do have tendency to look on the gloomy side.

bless you kitty...remember last weeks thread

fingers crossed you are just having a petite baby this time and nothing actually wrong.....

hugs for you x

I wouldn't worry.

With dd I was small, I had two late scans about a month apart and she had gained a Ib inbetween.

She was small 5Ib 10 but perfectly healthy, which both scans showed.

I was concerned at the time but I think they just have to err on the side of caution.

Good luck!

I was bang on target up until about 30 weeks then always measured 2cm's smaller than dates for rest of pg.

DD ended up being 8lb 8oz so try not to worry too much. I was also concerned but asked midwivesonline, they were very helpful and reasured me. HTH .

The measurement can also vary depending on how they measure it, the baby's position etc. I was once given three different measurements several cm apart in the same week. I had a scan because they were worried the measurement was going up too fast - it turned out fine - hope you can have a scan too and that it puts your mind at rest.

I've been sent for two emergency scans as my belly was 3/4 cms too small and both times the scans have shown the baby to be bang on the middle percentile. Can't tell you what he/she actually weighs yet (maybe soon? Was due yesterday) but think I just have a smaller bump this time. Also not entirely sure how unborn babies are meant to follow a growth plan exactly when born ones and children certainly don't!

That's reassuring. His movements are good . I think they are going to get fluid and blood flow through the placenta etc. I don't really understand how , when I look a decent size I can be measuring small. I wish I'd never been measured at all now causes too much anxiety. As you say how can they follow a fixed growth pattern?

itsazoohere, hope things get moving for you soon!! I love the smell of newborns.

DS apparently was 'small for dates' and had Grown Retarded symdome. Anyway at 32 weeks he was measuring 28 weeks, he didn;t grow for 3 weeks but the blood supply was good. At 35 weeks he had grown a small amount and they booked me in for CS at 38 weeks. A few days later I went into labour and had an emergancy CS. He weighed 5lb 2oz at 35+5 weeks, which shocked us all as we were told he would weigh 4lb at TERM! He was very compact and had to weigh clothes 3lb-5lb and I think that was where they made the mistake, He still is small for his age (he is 9 now)

Kitty

I did ahve a small baby - she had IUGR, however, all the way through my bump measured bang on what it should or bigger ! I don't think bump measurements are particularly accurate.

But, even if the baby IS small - dd was born at 37 weeks (induced followed by c-s) weighing 4 lbs 9 oz. However, she only spent a couple of hours in SCBU to warm up and she was absolutely fine after that. She's 2 today and you really wouldn't know (and wouldn't have done by a few months as once she was out she just grew like mad !).

Good luck - hopefully a scan will give you some reassurance and at least, if the baby is small they have 'caught' it and will be able to manage it effectively.

kitty - measuring your bump is a very inaccurate way to estimate growth - so much so that our hospital doesn't do it! If there is a genuine concern you should be offered a growth scan. Scans are not accurate either but it might give reassurance.

I measured 34 weeks at 38 with DS2. I had gestational diabetes so they were even more worried because GD babies are often bigger than average.

Growth scans showed a small baby whose abdominal circumference weren't increasing each week. He was estimated to be 6lbs at term.

He was 8lb 1oz at 40+4 and if you have a look on my profile, you can see a pic of him as a chubby newborn.

I think that position of the baby often makes a difference, as does the person doing the measurement - you're talking about very small increments here.

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I had a similar experience with DS1. 50th centile till 28 weeks, when he dropped to 3rd and then just stopped growing altogether. I was closely monitored for the next few weeks - blood supply to placenta, fetal heart beat, kick charts etc Eventually delivered at 36 weeks on the premise he was better out than in. He weighed in at 4lb 11oz fighting fit. He was unbelievably cute and wore newborn clothes until he was 6 months! The placenta was infarcted when it came out so the diagnosis was IUGR like sparklygothkat. He is also 9 now, very fit, still on the smaller side (but so is his dad!) a real star. The problem never recurred with DS2and3

Good luck and try not to worry too much - if your baby is active, this is the best indication of wellbeing.

my sister gave birth to her ds last month and she measured small for dates. think it was 4 cms smaller.her ds was 10lb 1 oz its only a rough guide and i am sure u are very good at growing babies as this is your 6th

xx

I measured 29 at 33 weeks and was booked in for a scan. It turned out that my waters had broken without me realising and my lycal fluids were very low and my the time ds was born (37 weeks) they were almost non existent. If your lycal fluids are reduced you do measure smaller but it does not necessarily mean that the baby is small ds was actually quite big.

With dd2 I was spot on fundal height wise all the way through pg, when she was born 14 days overdue she only weighed 5 pound 9.

Again with dd1 spot on all the way through FH when she was born she was 8 pound 5. So there was a huge differnce in their sizes but no difference in Fundal height mesurements.

I do hope all is well though and hope you get a scan to rest your mind.

Thankyou lsdies, your stories are all so comforting. It is so useful to see really how inaccurate these measurements are. I know I should know, this being my 100th baby and all that, but you DO worry don't you.
I would love to hear of any more strange measurement tales

Can't remember my measurements - it was so long ago - but I was small for dates with DD, booked in for a scan at about 34 weeks I think and all was fine. I stayed small, but DD was active, so they left me alone. She was born 5 days late, 6lbs exactly, a long, skinned rabbit of a thing, but absolutely fine, and is now an 11 year old long skinny thing!

They kept scanning me with ds because they were worried about his size.

2 weeks early he weighed in at a whopping 9 pound 2 ounces!

With my last pregnancy, they said when I was about 32 weeks that the baby seemed small, I am 5ft 7 and seven and a half stone not pregnant, I never grow huge with my bumps, so I didnt look huge until the last few weeks and then I ballooned, but anyway they said the baby seemed small so scanned me every week until I gave birth, they said he would be around 6lb like my daughter but alas he came out and was 8lb 6oz!

this happened with dc2. i

apparantly i measured 31 cms at 39 weeks and i got scared and the day before i had ds i was told that they wanted to scan to see if he was growing but i knew everything was fine ad said no.

with both pregnancies i had small belly. ds came out fine weighing at 6lbs 8 ozs

DS measured small - I had hardly any bump. I had a non stress test (external monitoring of baby's movements and his heart beat) and an extra scan and it was all fine. He was born at 37 weeks weighing 6lb 11.

Mb, why were they worried about his size? What indicators did they have?

Hunker, you have really gorgeous boys!!!!

he was going to be an elective section and they were worried that he would be too small/ have difficulties once delivered etc.

In addition I had pre eclampsia and was in hospital. they were just ultra cautious.

He is a whopping great big 6 year old now, almost as tall as his 10 year old sister!

I had the opposite with ds4 just a few weeks ago. I was measured 43 weeks at 39weks so i was preety nervous about havig a whopper.

He was 8lb 11oz on the end, which is a fair size(for me as least...short arse 5'3and a bit) but certainly not mahooooooive like the made out he would be.

There was about 90,000,000 gallons of water in there with him though.....