Growth scan 28 weeks - worried

[Paxley32]

Hi all,

I went for a growth scan after my baby girl’s heart had been skipping beats. Her heart rhythm when I had the scan was fine but I’m a bit worried about the results… I’m waiting for the fetal medicine specialist to call me this week when he is back at work and have two more scans booked in for the next two weeks. I wasn’t told much just that they would keep an eye on her and try and get us to 37 weeks, the results of the scan weren’t explained to me and I hadn’t fully taken it in at the time.

anybody else been in a similar situation or able to offer some reassurance until I speak to the specialist? 😩

can you be specific about what's worrying you? From what I can see, your baby is measuring under the fifth percentile for almost everything, and under the tenth percentile even for abdo. That sounds to me like a baby that's very small but all in proportion which is in its own way reassuring? Scans can get the size and weight quite wrong so it's possible your baby is little but not actually abnormally so. I think I'd be more worried if only one measurement was drastically out, eg if she was generally on the 50th percentile but head or femur were measuring under the 5th.

I would say it's also reassuring that from the scatter graphs you've shown, the head circumference and femur length have tracked along the same sort of percentile since last measurements - presumably your 20 week scan. So growth is consistent so far rather than slowing or stopping.

So, as a total lay person, I'd conclude that you might just have a small baby. Hard to know if it would count as IUGR. Whether a potential heart condition + IUGR could indicate other problems, it's not for me to say. I think the specialist will be able to explain it all better to you but be prepared for them to also tell you that they won't have all the answers until baby is born. It's great they are monitoring you and have the goal of 37 weeks for you. With my last baby, her growth stopped after about 32 weeks and they were worried - managed to keep her in until 39 weeks with weekly growth scans and she was born a perfectly respectable 6lb 4oz. I'd been warned she might be much smaller. Similar happened to my friend, who was even signed off work early for daily scans to monitor IUGR and also had a baby of a really typical weight.

Take heart! It's so nerve-racking when all you can do is wait, but it may all be OK. I wish you the best.

It’s my first baby and I think I’m just overly worrying about everything because it hasn’t been explained to me really. All the consultant said was that they’d try to get us to 37 weeks but they are concerned, I was a bit confused because she said she was measuring under the 3rd percentile but the charts showed 5th. The consultant then said that it might change depending what the specialist said and I think the unknown isn’t doing me any favours!

thank you I think I’m more looking for reassurance from people who have had similar ish experiences

Have you asked the consultant to explain to you? Give the clinic a ring and ask for a call back to explain the results. Sometimes I have found they assume you know what they are on about but not being medical professionals, we don't!

Did you have combined screening? Do you know what your Papp-A levels were? Are you on aspirin? Have you had a TORCH screen? When is your next scan? Will you be having any further investigations or scans?

The scan print outs give >5th ventile as the bottom limit. They don’t state a specific centile smaller than that. The consultant was likely referring to ‘smaller than the 3rd centile’ after plotting the weight on your personalised growth chart (if the trust uses the perinatal institute growth charts).

Hi yes I was told he only works 3 days a week and he will give me a call when he is back in the office and has spoken to the consultant so it’s just a matter of waiting now… I wish I’d of asked questions at the time but it just didn’t process as I was only expecting to hear about her heart

I don’t know what any of them are so I’m assuming not but they didn’t explain anything which is probably why I’m worrying! I’ve got a scan on 14th November and another scan on 21st November too. Then the fetal medicine specialist is meant to be calling me this week at some point. No I haven’t been taking aspirin I’ve never been advised too.

I’m guessing this is the perinatal institute chart? I didn’t have a 25 week check up due to a mess up at the midwives with appointment dates so I had one at 27 weeks on 25th October which is when they referred me for the growth scan because baby girl’s heart was missing beats then had a midwife appointment on 6th November with the growth scan (pictures on original post) on 7th November

So the measurements indicate that your baby is very small and they will be concerned about possible intra uterine growth restriction. That can be caused by a number of things and sometimes they never know what causes it. A friend of mine had an IUGR baby -her baby was born about 36 weeks and about 5lbs. She is now 8 months and absolutely fine apart from being small for her age.

on the other hand, I had very similar measurements to you at 24 weeks. Baby climbed up the centile scales in subsequent scans and was born full term at 8lbs! She is also now 8 months and doing really well.

Very small measurements can be a cause for concern but (1) it absolutely does not mean that there must be something wrong with your baby and (2) they take a super cautious approach just to be on the safe side. Also there is a margin of error with these measurements so take them with a pinch of salt.

They don’t like to take growth measurements leas than two weeks apart because growth is not linear and they are looking to a pattern of growth rather than at every individual measurement. I know it’s really hard not to worry but do try not to as there isn’t anything you can do right now but wait for the next scan. Write down a list of questions so that when you speak to the consultant you don’t forget anything.

@Paxley32 it’s either you are having a perfectly regular small baby or the baby’s growth has been affected by placental function. An indicator of poor placental function is getting a low Papp-a score at the combined test you would have had between 11-14 weeks.

if it was below 0.5mmol they should have flagged to you and out you on a daily aspiring 150mg.

you can ask now so they can check.

i had his low Papp-a, had the aspirin, baby measured average until 28 weeks, then growth slowed, stopped at 36 weeks. My Papp-a was low but not very (0.45).

From what I’ve heard that is usually the case, so the growth is affected later on. As your baby was measuring small from the start, it might just mean a regular small baby. Or your Papp-a was very very low, so placenta was more impaired and you had poor placental function from the start.

I don’t think the doctors can say which is the case for you, hence the monitoring. If the placenta becomes more impaired that’s a big risk for the baby.

how do you know that the baby”s heart has been skipping beats?! Is this something that has been noticed at scans before?

I wonder if you shouldn’t be in hospital under monitoring.

at least install a kick counting app and count the kicks, and if you see a change in pattern call the doctors. Call them for any reason or instinct you have.

They should have also done a placental flow test during your scan. Check if the oxygen flow is impaired and others, can’t remember now. Ask them for the next scan. They have the equipment with the scan.

my flow btw showed fine every time, and the placenta looked good when birthed, so nothing obvious, but still the placenta didn’t function properly.

my baby was born at the 2nd percentile, but grew to 25% within weeks or a few months, and it’s not somewhere between 25-50, closer to 25 I’d say, but still clearly a placental issue for me and not a very small baby,

Hi all, just want some advice been to my 29week growth scan and baby is measuring all good just the fundal height is smaller I’m really concerned waiting a week until another growth scan just got so much stress!

Hey hun my son was off the scales on all the charts except head where he was in the middle was so scary and stressful he’s now the shorted fastest best at jumping 5 year old with no major health problems