Help! Baby measuring huge for 36 weeks

[clr1010]

Had usual 36 midwife appointment today and my measurement was off the chart so they referred me for a growth scan. I’ve had a couple of scans which have shown the baby to be big and on the 73rd centile but now she’s on the 85th centile with a current weight of 7lb3oz🙈 which is what my 1st daughter was at 40 weeks!! So am I basically going to have a huge 9lb baby? I’m also having a c section due to baby being footling breech but midwife said my c section is scheduled for my due date! Do you think there’s any chance it could be changed? I always assumed they did c sections at 39 weeks! Sorry for the long post!

Just wanted some other mums opinions on the accuracy of growth scans and for those that have had c sections when are they usually done?

Surely if you are having a section there's no rush to get baby out too early? 9lb isn't too big, 85th centile still has 15% of babies bigger. Someone has to be on the top end of the scale.

Yeah, I wouldn't be happy with a c section scheduled for due date with a footling breech. DD2 was a bum first breech and mine was scheduled for 39+5, which the midwives weren't happy about, but due to the Easter weekend there were literally no other slots. They wanted mine doing nearer to 39weeks. Are they checking for cancellations for you on a regular basis to bump you up? If not, have they given you a plan as to what to do if you go into spontaneous labour? I did go into spontaneous labour before my c section date and luckily, she had turned head down at 39+2 because my labour was very fast so I had a vaginal delivery in the end.

If it's a bump measurement don't stress, they are incredibly inaccurate. And if you're having a c section it makes no difference anyway. They most likely do it at 39 weeks for a breech baby.

I had a scan at 36+6 with my 4th. Baby was estimated at 8lbs something. My waters broke next day. He was born 7lbs something. The scans aren't particularly accurate!
My second was breech. C section was scheduled for 39+2. I was just told to come in straight away if I went in to labour (I didn't). He weighed 9 and a half pounds.

Please don’t be stressed. Growth scans are known to be inaccurate - the size is an exceptionally difficult thing to measure!

For comparison (although I’m just one person) - my first was breech so I had a c-section at 39+5 and she came out 8lb2oz. No drama.

My second wasn’t breech so I tried going for a VBAC. At 40 weeks the growth scan said she was a similar size to first, and a week later she was born by emergency c-section at 10lb7oz as I didn’t dilate during labour. Thank goodness 😅

If you’re having a c-section anyway I wouldn’t worry, and if you go into spontaneous labour and the baby is bigger (highly unlikely), then your body will make it very clear that baby isn’t going to come out vaginally, and if baby is breech anyway they’ll prep you for a c-section nice and quickly. 9lb really isn’t that big, it just feels it in comparison to a smaller first baby.

Sending you well wishes - trust the process and try your best not to worry too much! Good luck and enjoy those extra few days as a mum of one ❤️

9lb isn't that huge! Most of my friends babys have been between 8.5 and 10.5lbs! I know someone who had a natural delivery of a 10lb 9 baby!!!!
If you're having a section, it makes no odds how heavy baby is! I had an unstable lie due to polyhydramnios so he was moving around constantly and wouldn't settle into head down. Huge risk of cord prolapse if my waters broke, I had a C-section 39+4.

Also measurements with a breech baby can be off as the bump isn't a 'normal' shape.

I had a predicted 7lb. He was 9.5lb and my easiest birth. They are notoriously imperfect. What will be will be, you can't change it and you just have to go with it

Also my brother was 11.5lbs in 1972 with no intervention because there wasn't anything useful back then. 9lbs is not unusual or particularly large.

Your baby isn’t huge. I don’t mean to sound patronising at all, but, do you understand the centile charts? I ask, as many people don’t.

The charts are generated based on your BMI, height and weights of previous children. If you imagine 100 women with the same BMI etc as you had babies and lined them up in order of size, your baby would currently be 85th in the line. That does not mean your baby is huge, your baby would be the 85th biggest out of the hundred.

Most NHS Trusts follow the same guidelines and would consider a baby “large for gestational age” if they were on the 95th centile above. Even then, unless there were other concerns or the baby kept moving up through centiles, most hospitals would recommend induction/caesarian between 39 and 40 weeks. This isn’t necessarily a rule either, it depends on a number of factors.

There is also known to be a margin of error of 10-15% when estimating weight with an ultrasound scan.

Taking all of this into account, take a deep breath and don’t worry! By all means, speak to your midwife about your concerns, but it sounds as though they are doing all they need to given the circumstances you’ve explained.

The charts are generated based on your BMI, height and weights of previous children. If you imagine 100 women with the same BMI etc as you had babies and lined them up in order of size, your baby would currently be 85th in the line. That does not mean your baby is huge, your baby would be the 85th biggest out of the hundred.

@Bumpingaround Surely it's the other way around and a baby on the 85th centile would be the 15th biggest out of the hundred? 85th centile means the baby is bigger than 85% of similar babies.

Well I’ve had two 9lb babies and they weren’t noticeably “huge” and were delivered vaginally without any complications and only gas and air. I think you’re being very dramatic, particularly given you’re having a c-section so size becomes less relevant in any case.

Agree with a pp who said if it is a bump measurement don't worry. They really are wildly inaccurate. I had this with one of my DC, don't even remember which one. They said bump was measuring 41 weeks at 38 weeks, child was born 2 weeks later and a perfectly normal 8lbs.

No need to be so rude 🤣 not being dramatic at all I was just wondering how accurate the scans are and looking for other mums to share their experiences of being told they’ve got a ‘huge’ baby (which is what the sonographer told me) and what they were actually born at. But thanks for your advice.

Scans are more accurate than bump measurements but still 10-15% out. Particularly for big babies - the bigger the baby the less accurate as it's very hard to get accurate measurements. So it's a great technique for spotting small babies but less good for bigger ones. Bump measurements are garbage - with my first I was told he had stopped growing and I needed an urgent growth scan. He was normal. Then two weeks later I was told he was going to be 12lbs and put under consultant care. Scan showed normal. Then on the third bump measurement I was told he was small again. He was born at 39+4 weighing 7lbs13oz...

When I said lined them up in order of size I meant from smallest to largest.

I wouldn’t get too worried OP.

With my first I was repeatedly told that she was “very big” for dates. They tried to push me into a section citing babies “enormous” size compared to my petite stature. I delivered my baby vaginally, nearly two weeks over due and she weight just over 7lb! Hardly huge.
With my second they kept telling me that baby was “very small” for dates. I had scan after scan and they kept telling me that he was going to be a very tiny baby. Again I delivered vaginally, my “tiny” baby was well over 9lb! The midwife who “caught” him actually said “my god he’s huge” as he emerged!

Long story, short - you won’t ACTUALLY know if baby is big, small, or something between until they are actually born.

One of my colleagues was told she was going to have a big baby by scan. She had the baby a few days later at 6lb15 by contrast daughter was on 10th percentile bump size and was 6lb13.
My niece was 8lb10 ish vaginal delivery only issue was a bad tear due coming out in superman pose rather than her size. She's a teenager now and towers over the entire family. Some recessive genes have come from somewhere!