Baby stopped moving on 6 days ago, midwife can’t explain !!!

[August21yellowbaby]

I’m 32 weeks pregnant, since 17 weeks I have felt kicks all the time, the most active little baby ever, whether I was at work, at home, in bed at night, baby would be kicking away, with strong movements that could be seen through my skin. On Thursday night this all stopped. I went to get checked over on the Friday and heard the heart beat which was fine. They told me to go on my weekend away as baby is absolutely fine, which I did. Anyway baby didn’t move all weekend, just the odd “pushing” feeling. I went back on Sunday night and kept me in over night. They monitored me on Sunday night and again Monday morning. Again heart rate fine. They booked me in for a scan on Tuesday, everything appeared fine on the scan but baby is breech and measuring below 10th centile. I asked consultant why baby isn’t moving she couldn’t explain but said to go to get checked out whenever they weren’t moving but I explained they aren’t moving so how often do I get checked? She couldn’t answer me. last night my partner spent an hour holding my tummy in bed waiting to feel a kick as he’s used to feeling them kicking and moving a lot but they didn’t move and he completely panicked, so he took me to get checked out. Again heart rate fine, we can’t help but feel they are missing something, my baby has drastically changed from one extreme to the other. I don’t know what else I can ask them to check, but I just have this horrible feeling something isn’t right, if anyone has any advice or had similar experience I would really really appreciate it !!😢

I can't answer for why it's happening but I would want a robust answer from the consultant including the pros and cons of delivering your baby early/now.

I would want to know what the problems could be, and what my options were.

Surely they aren't just going to check you everyday until you reach 37 weeks?

It's normal if the baby is breech to feel less distinct movement.

You def won't feel kicking to the front of the uterus - though you might get some uncomfortable kicks in the bladder as they get bigger (of they stay breech). You will get some gentler 'punches' from arms and 'pushes' from the head. But if baby turns to face your back, you might not even feel those much.

I know that's not very helpful when you're anxious, but the weird moving and pushing you're feeling is what you get with a breech baby. I used to be able to feel the bum and head and if I gave those a push, he'd move in response. You could try that.

@August21yellowbaby my movements changed at around 28 weeks, now 33 weeks. I've asked a couple of midwives about it a few times, as I went from getting lots of kicks to feeling the pushing you're describing and wriggles, I do however still get the occasional kick, but not as strong and few and far between. I was told that as the baby runs out of room movement can feel different, but the frequency should feel the same. I'm feeling him around as much as always, but in a different way. He's head down, but I did have a week where he turned feet down and I could hardly feel him at all that entire week. Do you know where your placenta is, as this can effect movements? Mine is anterior, so when he turned feet down I suppose I couldn't feel him kicking behind the placenta x

Sounds like a change of position, has your bump changed shape at all?

Have they said were your placenta is? Maybe if the baby has moved to breach the placenta is cushioning some of the movements? I'm pregnant with twins with one anterior placenta I very rarely feel breach twin kick just rolls, twin that is head down I feel so much more

Have they done a CTG? Were any movements picked up on that? I had quite a few CTGs as my baby's movements never really settled into a pattern, and sometimes the machine picked up movements I couldn't feel.

I have posterior placenta, but my bump does look a strange shape so hoping it’s just they are in an awkward position. It’s just very stressful when I’m being told by the midwifes to get checked when baby isn’t moving because I’ve explained to them at the moment baby isn’t moving much at all. They told me yesterday a consultant will call me today but it’s 4pm now so it’s not looking promising 🙄

Did they baby move during the scan? Or on the ctg?

I would go in again and explicitly ask - is the baby not moving, or is he moving but you can’t feel it?
If the baby isn’t moving, and they don’t know why, then ask for a plan.

Don't they usually hook you up to a machine to monitor baby's heartbeat and movements? I remember having to be checked out when baby's heart rate was a bit high. I had to be monitored for about an hour or so.

I would want to know if any movement is being picked up. If the monitor says there is movement but you just can't feel it that would be ok. If there's no movement then they need to find out what is going on.

I have been on a machine that monitors heart rate and they gave me a button to push if I felt movements but I would only feel one or two very very light “flutters” my movements at 17 weeks were stronger than they are now, I’m seeing a consultant tomorrow now so I’m going to make sure I don’t leave without an answer

The machine will have been monitoring the baby's movements and heart rate and using a special algorithm (Dawes Redman) to make sure that they pass certain 'tests' - a light on the machine will have turned green when these tests were passed within a certain timeframe (20 minutes if I remember). Do ask your midwife for more reassurance though.

Hi OP, my situation isn't exactly the same, but I have an anterior placenta and didn't start to feel any movements at all until 22 weeks. Then they were few and far between. At 25 weeks they stopped almost completely - cue panic from my MW who up until then had been telling me not to worry about it. A couple of emergency scans and CTGs later it was clear that baby was moving plenty, I just don't feel it (he was breech at this point too). I was told I had to go in every day to be monitored which was a nightmare as I have 2 year old twins to look after as well. I ended up going in every other day until 32 weeks, when baby turned head down and I did start to feel a bit more, still not a normal amount though. I was also put on fortnightly scans. I'm now 36 + 4 and for some reason I stopped feeling movements again quite suddenly last Friday night. I went to be monitored on Saturday and baby was extremely active - I'm just back to not being able to feel it. He is still head down too. I had a horrific crash caesarea with a lot of internal stitching with my twins so I suspect that I have numb areas inside my uterus - could this be the case for you? No HCP has been able to give me an explanation throughout the last 3 months or so. Sorry I can't be of much actual help but thought my story might help you feel less alone.

Hope you're both ok OP. Any update?