Fetal Growth restriction

[anxiousmum1998]

Trigger warning -Fetal growth restriction ,neonatal care and still borns
So I had my son back in 2019 weighing 5LB 8 with fetal growth restriction at 39 weeks .My son wasn’t even diagnosed as having fetal growth restriction until I was 38 weeks so was never scanned regularly or given aspirin.

I am now pregnant with my second baby and have been put on aspirin to try and prevent fetal growth restriction and have been told I will be having scans every 2 weeks from 30 weeks onwards

I have unfortunately scared myself read online that FGR can cause the bath to be still born or if born to early can spend months in the neonatal unit and end up with long term health issues all of which my midwife and consultant have failed to mention.All I was told is that I’ll likely have a c section and the baby will likely be be born early .

I am now incredibly anxious and terrified of losing the baby .Has anyone had fetal growth restriction and the baby been ok or been able to come home after spending short time in the hospital.If the baby does need to stay on the hospital would o be able to hold the baby as normal ? Reassurance much needed .

Hi! I used to work in a clinic dealing with fetal growth restriction and I can reassure you that the vast majority of babies do very well. Your previous baby was small, but they were born at term, meaning it was late fetal growth restriction which is much milder than growth restriction happening in the early stages of pregnancy, which is more serious but also very rare! By taking aspirin you're reducing the chances of having early placenta problems by 70%, meaning that by knowing your previous risk you're making even less likely to have significant problems this time. If you read things online, of course you'll read about the problems and bad outcomes, but that's because that's what the studies focus on, if you look at the actual numbers you'll realise that more than 90% of the times the babies are totally fine, they need a bit more monitoring to avoid those problems from happening, but eventually they do very well!