Experience of growth scans

[chelle85]

I have just been to my 36 week midwife appt and she wants me to go for a growth scan tomorrow.

At each appointment where my bump has been measured he was tracking along the central curve on my chart up until my 34wk appt where my measurement was nearer the top curve but this time he is back on the centre.

My view is that the 34wk was the anomaly and had just been a spurt as all the other points plot on centee curve but because she views it that growth has 'slowed' from that last point she wants me to be scanned.

I'm anxious as everything I have read about growth scans is that they are notoriously inaccurate and I don't want to be pushed towards interventions.

Anyone have any positive experience with growth scans?

I had a growth scan at 36 weeks, it flagged a fairly big baby but no intervention was suggested, it's just nice to be armed with that knowledge if labour doesn't quite go to plan.

I just focussed on the extra reassurance that having a scan offered, it good to know that there's plenty of fluid, the placenta is looking good and that he's growing.

Good luck!

I had to have them every two weeks from 32 weeks onwards as my bump was growing about half the rate it should.

Mw said it's very rare it picks up a problem but sometimes it does.

All scans were fine and I had a natural delivery at home

I had growth scans with both DC, to check they were big enough and the placenta was functioning correctly (I have a slight clotting issue). Both times I found them very reassuring, the sonographer was very thorough with the measurements as the baby is so big by then. It was nice to see the babies again when they were so fully developed.
Obviously it depends on your hospital and sonographer but I definitely had positive experiences.

Thanks for the replies. It just seems everyone around me is being induced early at the moment and I've had a really uneventful pregnancy to date and planning to give birth at a midwife led centre so don't want anything to jeopardise that. Obviously health of baby is most important but I am not good with hospitals so want minimum intervention possible. Nice to hear that it often isn't a problem

I have growth scans every 2 weeks and Doppler/placenta scans every week. This is because my baby was initially in 12thcentile but has dropped to the 8th. The Doppler scan shows blood flow through the cord which is a key indicator of the health of the placenta. At growth scans they measure abdominal circumference, femur, head circumference and all these measurements are analysed. As you say, I would assume that one measurement was out and in fact your baby hasn't dropped weight at all- the previous one was inaccurate. Was it a scan you had or an abdominal exam? The latter can be VERY inaccurate so that would make sense. Having said that , each measurement has to be taken seriously i guess! Good luck xx