Small for gestational age - amniocentesis

[Del91]

Hi,

Just posting in here to see if anyone has been in a similar situation during their pregnancy and really just to see how things went.

I had a very easy first 12 weeks in terms of almost no symptoms. Some of my bloodwork showed I had a low PAP-A, which combined with my age prompted an NIPT blood test.

This came back low risk. At my 20 week scan they advised the baby is small for gestational age and referred me to the consultant. This was confirmed on his scanned and baby is on the 6th centile, no other abnormalities just proportionately small. My 24 week scan showed basically the same, baby is growing but small and short long bones are on the 1-3rd centile.

I’ve been offered the am amniocentesis which I’m taking now because the anxiety of being in this limbo until birth of the small % chance that there is a problem is too much for me.

Has anyone had a similar situation and what was the outcome?

Hi,

Sorry to hear that you are going through this, I had something similar and I found it incredibly stressful.

In my case, I was referred for a growth scan at 24 weeks, which showed that my LO had short long bones (the growth scan was because I developed high blood pressure). I had Dopplers done a few days after the growth scan, which showed some issues with blood flow in the uterine and umbilical arteries. Based on this my consultant didn’t recommend an amino as it was highly likely that the growth issues were caused by the placenta not working properly rather than a genetic condition.

My LO was born very small for their age (length <0.4th centile, weight 2nd centile) and is still quite (OK, very) short for their age but is developmentally on track (almost 2.5 now). They don’t have any genetic conditions, the growth issues were just caused by my dodgy placenta.

Sending you loads of positive vibes, I totally get how stressful this is. I found the waiting between appointments/scans really distressing so I really do empathise xx

I had amnio test for a different reason. The test was quite painful and the waiting time for the result was hard, but it's worth having that reassurance.

Thankyou, I’m hoping all will be okay. They’ve checked my placenta and all okay so far from what they’re seeing but I guess it could be problematic at any point. Just hoping that it’s a healthy small baby 🙏🏼

Hey, I had amniocentesis because my baby's femurs are measuring very small (below 3rd percentile) compared to the rest of him (all between 30-50 percentile). For various reasons I felt I had to know so went ahead, the procedure itself was just a small scratch when the needle went in and I had some mild cramping/discomfort for maybe 24 hours afterwards, nothing to cause concern. It all came back clear and I'm out of the risk period (two weeks).

One of my DC were diagnosed with severe growth restriction at the 12-week scan and I was then referred to FMU and given weekly scans which all showed minimal growth. Specifically very short arms and legs, and microcephaly (1st percentile). I was not offered amnio as I was low-risk on the initial tests and they did not think amnio would reveal anything, but they did warn me that there was a chance of any number of rare genetic disorders with any spectrum of disability, and to prepare for an NICU stay.

I was advised that I would possibly be induced at 37 weeks, but baby was not stressed, and I was eventually induced only two days before my DD and everything was fine. Turned out the scans were wrong and she was completely fine, normal size and weight and no issues at all.

After speaking about it, SO many people have had this experience. Either told their baby is too big or too small. Someone I know was told her son would be 13lbs and she needed a C-section - once the C-section was complete he was revealed to be 7 lbs.

Good luck x