At the hospital and now they've worried me

[thunderonlyhappenswhenits]

So I was diagnosed with gestation diabetes a couple of weeks ago at 29 weeks. Baby was weighing 3.8lbs and they said they need to slow her growth down. She was on the 90th centile and belly on the 97th.
Been for my growth scan today and she is weighing 4.5lbs but has dropped down the chart to the 80th percentile, which they said is still big but because she has dropped I now need to see a doctor and go on the monitor.
But I'm confused, I thought they wanted her growth to slow ? Now I feel worried like somethings wrong

Btw I've obviously been eating less rubbish the last couple of weeks and eating really healthily so surely that explains the drop ?

Try not to worry. I'm 38 weeks anx had growth scans throughout. Our baby has been measuring big consistently for over three months - abdominal circumference 97th centile and most other things over the 75th centile too. At 37 weeks the scan ESTIMATED baby's weight at the time to be 7lb 11oz.

The estimated weight from growth scans are only estimates - babies can often be a pound or so over OR under that estimate!

I hope your monitoring goes well but try not to panic. It's possible you just have a larger baby on board but it doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong.

@Squiff70 thank you for replying to me.
I'm just more confused why I need monitoring etc as I thought they wanted baby to slow down her growth, that's what I don't get...

I'm absolutely starving, burning up in the waiting room and so tired 😩😩

Not had GD but I was measuring big at 35 weeks (>95th percentile) was induced at 39 weeks and he was under 80th percentile in the end.

The scan lady said it's never a guarantee as they're measuring a person inside a person.

So they've said now I don't need to go on a monitor but do have to wait for a doctor to go over my scan report and chart.

After waiting nearly 4 hours I was told to go home and the doctor would call me at some point 🙄

I'm so sorry they've put you through all that for absolutely no reason, especially on such a hot day when you're already uncomfortable as well as concerned.

Please let me know how your chat goes with the doctor.

Another one with a baby measuring big. All that happened was they've put me on growth scans every two weeks and talked about induction at 39 weeks but that's next week and still not confirmed. They really don't seem too fussed, especially if it's driven by the tummy measurements. I think it's a bit different with GD as they tend to induce slightly earlier but honestly not worth worrying yet, main thing is it has been caught early so can be managed.

@Squiff70 honestly it was just ridiculous today... I also had a prescription to collect while there and they wouldn't let me go and get it because the doctors coming, after about another hour of waiting in the hot waiting room, major restless legs and trying not to fall asleep I begged them to let me go on a walk to the pharmacy to perk myself up abit ! I had an hours wait in the pharmacy then. When I got back they said oh you can go home now the doctor will call you 🤦🏼‍♀️

Yes I guess I'd just like to be told what the plan might be if she carries on growing the way she is, I think the fact I've changed my diet has shown it's working though which is a positive 👍🏻 Haven't been told anything yet although I know I won't be going over my due date

This is her measurements, you can see on the chart where she has dropped which is what they wanted a doctor to look at

Honestly, growth scans and fundal height aren't really accurate. They told me DD1 was 7lb+ at 36weeks, she was born 7lb 15oz at 41 weeks, she had a good sized head and long legs so it made her appear bigger on their graphs than she actually was. DD2 was 'small' at 7lb so I'm having to have growth scans this time, and apparently DS1 is a baby elephant and he's on the 97th centile 😂
My point is, it's all relative, babies don't grow x amount per week as much as they'd like them to. Especially if you're got GD, which is now more under control it totally explains babies growth slowing. I assume because you've dropped centiles it's an automatic referral rather than them looking at the bigger picture. Sorry your being unnecessarily worried, and on such a hot day. Hopefully it'll be smoother sailing from here on out x

Thank you for the reassurance. The doctor called me and has just sent me into a panic again now to be honest...
They said they want to do weekly scans now because she has dropped from 90th to 80th percentile. I questioned if my change of diet the last two weeks could contribute to why she has slowed and she said no basically, 2 weeks of diet change wouldn't cause a drop so soon. So now I'm thinking well what is it then 🤷🏼‍♀️
So I've gone from being told I'm having a massive baby to now being told she's still a big size and they're not concerned but they want to monitor her growth because they didn't expect her to drop. Wtf

Anyone been through similiar ?

I'm sorry @thunderonlyhappenswhenits, I can't answer your questions. I'm not medically trained and it would be downright stupid of me to guess.

I hope you can speak to a professional soon who can answer your questions and put your mind at ease.

I wish you well with your pregnancy!

I’m going through the same thing. Baby’s growth was off the charts a few weeks ago. Was soon after diagnosed with GD (but only borderline). Was told the aim is to get baby’s weight size down to within the 95th percentile.

Diet controlled the GD, had another growth scan on Monday, and baby’s growth had tapered off a bit.

Thought that was good news, but now being told it could be just diet changes, but also could be placenta deteriorating so need to go in for monitoring 2-3 times a week. Also got 2 more scans booked in.

I’m currently 36 weeks, so not long to go but spending a lot of time at the hospital at the moment.

Well, my experience is with small babies, not big ones, but I was referred to a specialist consultant after my 20 week scan, and he did his own scan. One of the things he said was that there was so much measurement uncertainty that he could do two scans in the same appointment and they could be ten percentiles apart.

They tend to err very much on the side of caution IME (on the basis that scanning you isn't going to hurt I assume!)

Sounds just like what I'm going through now ! What was baby on before and what was baby on when the growth had slowed ?

I feel like I've lived at the hospital this pregnancy. I've spotted throughout, found out I have group b strep, reduced movements and now the diabetes and this issue with big baby to worrying about reduced growth.

I also thought the whole point was to slow growth but now it seems they're concerned so it leaves me thinking wtf!
How come you have to have monitoring. Have you had reduced movements ? And have any scans shown blood flow isn't as good through the cord ? Sorry lots of questions

Hi - so at the previous scan (3 weeks ago) the baby’s head circumference was 95th, femur about 80th, and abdomen way over the 95th line off the chart - not sure what they call that.

This time, head and femur in the 70s, abdomen now sitting on 95th line.

But I am aware scans can be a bit out.

Before this week’s scan I’d been in 4-5 times with reduced movements, so they sent me up to see the dr, who ordered the latest scan that showed the growth reduction. Then another dr reviewed that and told me I now need regular monitoring.

I’m consultant led anyway, due to being 40, overweight and hypothyroid, but have been moved to a different obstetrician now with the GD diagnosis. Though I’m only borderline GD and blood monitoring is going really well.

I had a heavy bleed at 11 weeks followed by some spotting, but nothing since then.

Thankfully all my scans show no issues, movements are usually fine (just the odd days where baby hardly moves) and the monitorings are fine. I have another scan next Wednesday so may be discussing whether baby needs to come out a bit early at that stage.

Sounds like we have a few similarities anyway!

@Merryclaire Unbelievable how alike our pregnancies are ! Even down to the reduced movements.
Yes same with my baby, all has dropped but abdominal circumference still on the 95th centile I think.
I'm also consultant led due to the blood clotting condition, my growth scans were already in place because of this, but as soon as I was diagnosed with GD, same as you my consultant was changed and now the scans are for this.

I hope you can keep baby cooking a while longer but understand sometimes it's best they come out rather than stay in.

I just feel confused now!
And worrying about getting to hospital every week for scans as I don't drive and my partner runs his own business so is extremely busy all the time. Going to be a lot of Ubers !

Yes, I do drive but it’s still a lot going to appointments 3/4 times a week at the moment. At least work have been understanding about it.

Fingers crossed all will be well for us - I’m a little bit further along so I’ll let you know what happens next!

@Merryclaire Yea please do keep me updated 🙂

I have got my hospital bag and babys bag ready today. I want to be prepared, I was so disorganised last time didn't even have anything to give birth in !