Very Low Percentile at 20 Week Scan

[Ashdown17]

Hi everyone. I'm not sure why i'm posting this except for maybe some reassurance from somebody who has gone through something similar.

I had my 20 week scan yesterday and was told that my baby is measuring in the second percentile. The sonographer said that anything under 10 is cause for concern so naturally I am a bit of an anxious mess about this.

To add to this, I have also just found out that my womb is "heart-shaped" (I forget the technical term), which alone is cause for them to refer me for regular check ups with the consultant throughout my pregnancy. I had never even heard of this and I'm surprised it didn't come up during my 12 week scan. She also did some kind of Doppler test and found that there was a restriction or resistance to the blood going to my uterus on one side. I suppose all these things could be related. I don't know. In two weeks I will be back to the consultant so they can check on the growth but Im just really frightened that it will show no growth, or something even worse. I suppose the worst part is just the waiting and not knowing what the problem is. I really wanted to be a straightforward patient but that's not happening!

Thank you for reading x

Hey how did your baby turned out? I have the same issue and iam worried.

@tooboo123 hi - I'm not the OP but I'm currently under growth monitoring due to small baby at 20wk scan (3rd centile). Currently 31+2 and got my next growth scan on Friday. At the first couple (23 & 27 wks) he had kept to his trajectory. The last one (29+4) the growth appeared to have stalled a bit so they put me on bi-weekly Doppler checks of uterine artery function and amniotic fluid. I've had 3 of those and so far all looking fine. Been told if his growth is still stalled at the next scan they may want him out as early as 33/34wks, however if he's grown ok and artery function etc remain good we will keep him in as long as possible - likely no longer than 38wks though. They are hopeful he should have grown given the other checks have been good so far.

Have they booked you for further scans? Have they told you anything about your situation? Sending a hug as I know how worrying it is. 💕

@SnookyPook hi there, thanks for your response!
I’m not really worried about baby arriving early. At 34 weeks they have a good chance to survive as long as they have no other isssues.
my main worry is regarding reasons he is so small. I don’t seem to have any placental issues and therefore they keep mentioning chromosomal abnormalities possibility.
at the the start of pregnancy I was marked as highl risk for Down syndrome, so I did the amniocentesis and got negavtive results, I thought this will be the end of my worries then. But now that baby is so small they want me to repeat the amniocentesis to check for other abnormalities (apparently first time they were only checking for the main ones).
I am a bit worried to be experiencing amniocentesis for the second time in the same pregnancy, but I would also like to know if something is wrong before the baby arrives. I am 26 weeks now so this diagnosis wouldn’t change the fact now I would have to give birth no mater the outcome and that scares me.
I am hoping baby is just small, as they dont seem to see any other issues on US.
Did the doctor said your baby is small because of the placental insufficiency?
Thanks.

@tooboo123 ah I get you. Yeah they've mentioned possibility of genetic causes here too but there are no other soft markers at all and my screening was low risk for main trio. They advised no amnio at this stage due to risk of preterm labour - not sure if that's been mentioned to you? I think it's relatively low risk but they did advise me against. For that and other reasons we're not bothering with further testing.

My placenta looks fine so far... They've said everything looks perfect apart from the fact he is so small. I think they are veering towards most likely scenario that he is just a small baby. This is partly because my son was also born 5th centile (6lbs15oz at 41+1) - in his case though he was 50th centile at 20wk scan and never flagged as small so we were oblivious until he was born that he'd dropped down. This one has just been smaller earlier and therefore caused all this fuss! Having one SGA baby does increase likelihood of another though and my Mum also had tiny babies. My Sis and I were 6lbs4oz and 5lbs11oz at term. So... On balance, I'm hoping that's all it is 🤷🏼‍♀️ It is all a bit unsettling though. Particularly as we had 3 (first trimester) losses last year so I've been a bit on heightened alert to anything that's not just plain sailing...

I'll let you know how our scan tomorrow goes and what they're saying! 🙏🏼

@SnookyPook the OB was unsure if he wants to offer me to do another amnio, he said he will discuss the case with his prof. colleagues and will give me a call today. So I have been waiting for a call all day.
yes please keep me updated, I will keep my fingers crossed for you!
does your baby measure symmetrically small?
my 20 weeks scan was normal, we have noticed the grow slow at week 22/24 particularly his long bones, femur and humers were measuring bellow 2.4 percentile while head and abdomen measured around 10%.

It's mostly femur that is small - others not big either but at last scan the HC and abdomen had grown more and femur was still smaller. They've talked about it in terms of him being small all over though. Hope you get your call back soon! Let me. Know how you get on too!

@SnookyPook
how have you been doing?
I thought I will check in since I am in hospital for the past three weeks and don’t have much to do!
I have been diagnosed with preeclampsia so probably that’s why baby started measuring small!

@tooboo123 hi! Samuel Arthur is a week old today!! 🥰 He was born via planned c-section at 37wks on the dot and he weighed 5lbs7oz (2nd centile). He was born healthy and thriving despite being small and needed no help with breathing etc. He did develop jaundice so we were kept in for phototherapy but that has all been cleared now and we should be going home this afternoon! We did have an amnio in the end at 35wks but thankfully all came back clear. Seems to be just a small but perfectly happy baby 🥰

How are you getting on?

@SnookyPook congratulations!
I’m glad to hear everything is fine!
I’m 33 weeks today and I don’t think I will get to be pregnant until 37 and will have to stay in the hospital until baby girl is here. I’m hoping to at least stay pregnant until 35 since the girl is smaller then it is!
But all depends on how preeclampsia will progress.

Hoping to offer you some reassurance!

my son was measuring on the 8th percentile and we were referred to fetal medicine team. Everything else seemed ‘normal’ but because he was under the 10th centile I had serial growth scans. Towards the end he was measuring on the 20th percentile. He was born at 2.6kg which is the 2nd centile. Please bear in mind that ultrasound measurements are notoriously inaccurate at your stage of pregnancy. The only time they are really accurate is at 12 weeks.

my son is now 3 and above average for both height and weight so please don’t worry!

im currently expecting my second and he is coming up on the 30th centile but from my last pregnancy I know this is no real reflection of what he actually is. He may end up being much smaller. Either way my first caught up so I’m not going to really stress myself out like I did with my last pregnancy. I think I just make small babies!

I know it’s easier said than done but try not to worry.

my son was measuring small and was born even smaller than expected and is now above average for both weight and height!