please help 38 weeks very anxious

[poppysweetie]

Hiya, think this is my first panicky post on here!
I am 38 +2 and people have been telling me how small I am the whole way through my pregnancy (not body, but the bump is small!) I was last measured by the midwife at 36 weeks and growth was normal.
I have gone to midwifes today who have said that I havent grown really at all in the last two weeks and did I think I had grown much? I wasnt really sure but said no as I hadnt noticed much growth.
Now I have to go for monitoring on Saturday then a scan on Tuesday which seems so long to wait.
Has anyone else had this? I have been upset most of the afternoon was hoping someone else might have had a similar thing happen.

Try not to panic. If it was really serious they would not make you wait until tuesday for a scan.

Are you still feeling plenty of movements?

Even if your baby was born at the size of a 36 week gestation it would be fine

hello - sorry i don't have direct experience of this but if you're worried ring your midwife and explain your concerns. did they do any monitering at this visit, heartbeat, blood pressure etc? when i got in a flap i used to nip in and get hear checked out (that was our main concern).
try not to worry too much - but i know that's easier said than done. i'm sure there'll be someone along in a mo with better experience than i have.

They are sending me for monitoring Sturday because they SHOULD scan me within 48 hours. I know you are right though about if the baby was born at 36 week stage.
I am still feeling movements yes x

Gathering stones, yes they did heartbeat and my blood pressure etc and didnt say anyhting was wrong.
The MW did keep saying that she HAS to send me for the scan and that she was personally not very concerned. I have been lucky enough to have an easy pregnancy so far and this worry has thrown me a bit tbh

Why are they sending you for monitering only on saturday and not a scan? Is is in a different department?

i know this is really easy for me to say but if heartbeat is good and you can feel movement and you feel fine and your midwife isn't concerned then you should really try not to be worried either.
growth is notoriously hard to determine (correct me if i'm wrong please mn-ers!) and babies come in all sizes - not everyone fits on a chart or the last growth measurement could have been out or any one of many many things could be the cause of this.
if you really are worried ring your midwife and ask to be talked through it all.

I think because basically they cant fit me in for a scan till Tuesday, they have to do something hence the monitoring on Saturday.
Even though I kept asking stuff they didnt explain it to me.

Thanks gathering stones, I think maybe the last measurement was out, am trying not to worry

There have been other threads on here about how bumps shrink or don't grow, and often it is just down to the midwife and her measuring tape. My bump "shrank" quite late in pregnancy but grew again the next week, the MW thought it was probably just because DD had curled into a tight ball that day. Fingers crossed that this is all that's happened and you and your baby are fine. Hopefully the monitoring and scan clears everything up for you.

In my last PG, I had to have growth scans every 2 weeks from 20 weeks due to uterine dopplers (restricted blood flow to the placenta). Obviously you don't have this, you'd know by now. Point is, they clearly could see that my baby had stopped growing from 34 weeks to 36 weeks. They didn't panic even though this was confirmed, they just booked me in for a weeks time for another scan and if he hadn't grown by then he was being delivered. We will never know to this day if he did grow in that week as he decided to show up the day before the scan! At 37 weeks he was just under 6lbs so if he had stopped growing at 34 weeks, he was pretty healthy! Every chance a tape measure can be wrong too! Hope that reasurres you a bit. x

It's quite understandable to feel worried but also important to de-stress as quickly as possible. Hypnotherapy is a great way of replacing worries with positive feelings (Kristin Hayward in London specialised in pregnancy) and there is also a website with positive visualisations to download which would really help you to feel calm and positive - easybirthdownloads.com. Good luck and remember, every woman has a different pregnancy and a smaller baby is always easier to birth, just think of how you'd feel if everyone commented on how huge your bump is!