Help Help! Measuring 44weeks, am 36+3, why suddenly so big, polyhydramnios?

[Confuzzeled]

I just got back from the midwife, expected a normal appointment and for her to tell me I was 2 weeks bigger than my dates, as I have been since 20 weeks.

But she measured me and said I was 44, well into the red zone on her measuring tape. I'm to go for a scan on Thursday.

She explained it could be for a number of reasons. He doesn't feel huge to her but she said it was hard to tell. It could be the way he's lying and my stomach muscles are shot from previous pregnancy.

But it could also be to much fluid around the baby, I have just googled it and am officially shitting my pants.

Keep an eye on movements.

Any change at all and go to hospital for monitoring.

Did the midwife mention polyhydramnious?

I had this with my first pregnancy and things turned serious quite quickly so do keep an eye on movements.

This happened to me but I was much earlier on in my pregnancy - can't remember when but some time in 2nd trimester. My GP measured me as a few weeks bigger than I should have been and mentioned polyhydramnios. At the scan I was fine and the doctor in the hospital measured me as normal. She said that measurements can vary greatly from one doctor to another.

confuzzled, please try not ot worry, and whatever you do, step away from google! i had a scary few days between measuring big and a scan, google just fed my fears. i was diagnosed with polyhydramnios ( was about 30 weeks at the time). at 34wks i was given steroids to mature the baby's lungs and told s/he could arrive at any time. iwas advised that if my waters broke, it could be urgent to get to hospital and that i must keep an eye on movements. i am now 35 + 3 and my fluid has started to go down although my bump is still huge. fluid apparently peaks at between 35 and 37 weeks.
hope fully, your scan will be able to reassure you and the good thing is, they will monitor you really carefully.
good luck.

oh, and to add, i was measured by 4 different poeple one morning and each got a different measurement,all of them were much bigger than the scan showed for the baby!

Olivio - I know I should NOT have googled, silly silly silly. My dh had tummy pains and googled, he was convinced he had stomach cancer, turned out he needs regular antacids I hope this is my fluid peaking as you say and I won't get any bigger.

Fab- The midwife didn't say the word but explained about there could be to much fluid which can be caused by a number of reasons, vital organs like liver or kidney problems or a blockage stopping him from swallowing. She said this is rare but it is a possibility. She said there were a number of things that could make me measure so big and to try not to worry about it. She didn't say to monitor movements but she said if I was to get any early labour signs before the scan then I should phone.

Extreme - I hope thats what happens to me

IMHO she was wrong to not say about movements.

All I know in my case the baby was fine on the Saturday, in trouble on the Sunday and in an emergency situation on the Monday.

I think the movement checks are vital.

So you think I should call if there is reduced movement, or more?

Baby moves quite regularly at the moment so it would be quite easy to notice if he moved less.

I hope your baby was okay, I don't mean to be insensitive and not ask but I'm scared of what you'll say. I'm really quite worried.

Definitely reduced but I have read that any change (from more to less and less to more) should be checked out.

I have deliberated about posting as I am a worrier but I would not forgive myself if I didn't try and help.

My baby is okay now but he wouldn't have survived a vaginal delivery. For some reason they stuck a tube down his throat and when it came out kinked he had to have an x-ray so I couldn't feed him until he was over 3 hours old.

I also had itching and had gone in for blood tests. Baby born before results back.

Sunday - reduced movements then couldn't get any. Went to hospital, on trace for what felt like 5 minutes, sent home.

Monday - booked for scan to see why I was measuring big. Scan was 3, told to go in about 12.30 for monitoring.

not great traces, constant monitoring. scan at 3 and picked up something.

baby born by emergency section at 7.01pm.

Hey Fab, it's good to know your baby was okay in the end.

I'm trying not to stress and hope it's something simple. It's good to know that I need to be aware of baby movements, he's regular at moving at will notice any changes.

Keep your fingers crossed for me

Hi Confuzzled. I had polyhydramnious (too much fluid) but was only dx late on by which time it was too late to do anything about it.

MW had simply chalked my bump down to being a big baby rather than looking at other reasons why my bump was off the scale from weeks 28 - 36. I had to insist on a scan at 36+5 where polyhydramious was very obvious with very deep pockets of fluid.

I would recommend you are tested thoroughly for diabetes as I feel this could have been the cause in my case (although never officially dx due to it being "too late to do anything about it even if it is caused by gest diabetes" ).

Anyway. DO NOT GOOGLE!!! It ruined the last three weeks of my pg as I was convinced there was something awfully wrong with the baby. There was nothing wrong and DS is perfect in every way (6mo now).

My fluid was so much that when it broke during labour, I soaked the entire bed twice and surrounding floor had to be mopped. The consultant recorded it as "Fluid +++++++++++" in my notes (no kidding, I looked).

The other thing to remember is that the 20 week scan would most likely have shown up any problems of the sort that can be connected to polyhydramnious eg liver or kidney. In something like 70% of cases it's cause unknown, 20% it's diabetes and 10% for other causes (not sure on exact stats but that's what I remember from my Googling frenzy!).

stepping away from google

My midwife did mention diabetes but my last bloods taken 8 weeks ago showed blood sugar levels were normal.

I had a scan at 20 weeks and a private scan at 27 weeks. Both times they checked for problems and said everything was normal so thats reassuring.

Baby been wriggling away as normal so I'm hoping he's just having fun in there and theres nothing wrong.

Thanks for the posts

did she base her measurement of 44 weeks on a scan or on the most un-scientific art of measuring your bump with a tape measure? if it was the latter then I would want a scan to confirm her findings - they can scan properly to check the baby and the amount of fluid. The tape measure across the bump method is notoriously unreliable.

You can develop diabetes at any point from what I remember. I had the standard test at 28 weeks but my bump really took off at around 30 weeks (had always been generous but not nearly as much as from 30-36 weeks) but I was never offered another test.

The scan I had a 36+5 showed the kidneys, bladder & liver etc all working correctly plus the heart (often an indicator of chromosomal problems) was fine, as was the baby's measurements ie head and abdomen circumference. If all this has come back as normal on the scans then it would seem likely be everything is fine.

If you do a search for polyhydramnious on here you will find that many people have had it but everything was fine. I think there was only one who wasn't, but she had had other very obvious markers from previous scans to go with the polyhydramnious, so it wasn't isolated.

Because I found the other threads so reassuring I like to throw in my tuppence as another Poly pg that turned out with nothing at all wrong

Anyway, your forthcoming scan will tell you more but all I can say was that I was an extreme case of polyhydramnious and honestly, DS is absolutely great.

It was the tape measure she used and am getting a scan on Thursday. She has stressed that the tape measure is not the most reliable tool as the baby just just be in a funny position so hopefully the scan will tell us more.

I just checked my notes and last blood tests were taken 8 weeks ago. I don't know much about diabetes but I'll ask when I get the follow up after my scan. I guess the sonographer will tell me what they see while their scanning, I hope so anyway.

I will be 36+6 when I have my scan so almost the same as you western. I'm looking forward to seeing him again but nervous about the small chance of what they might find.

I'm staying positive though and getting on with things, there's no point getting stressed yet.

Well, good luck for the scan. Even though the tape measure is not scientific it's still generally correct within a few cm.
My measurements were pretty much the same as yours. I had an enormous bump with people predicting a 10lb + baby (he was 7lb 11oz, hardly a big baby esp for a boy.)

If they indicate it's polyhydramious possibly related to gestational diabetes, even if they say there's no point testing because there's no time to treat it (like they did with me) I would insist on having the test anyway. I think they didn't test me because really the MW should have picked up something like GD a long time before but didn't, and they didn't want that proving.

Even after the scan showed poly she was still insisting it was just big baby and that she couldn't feel any extra fluid herself from palpating and that in fact, the scan showing deep pockets of fluid was wrong .

At least you would know if the poly was due to GD, and it will be useful info should you have any future pgs.

Do post back afterwards and let us know how you went on.

I measured 44 weeks pg too when I was 34 weeks. I was absolutely MASSIVE and I'm only 5.1" Sent to hospital to see a some professor who scanned me, said my baby was big, the biggest he personally had seen unborn @ 34 weeks. Said he measured 7.5lbs then. Had GTT which turned out clear. I had extra fluid but only because he had grown so big, not excessive.
My own midwife thought the consultant was wrong and babies are 'never as big as what the professor makes out'
I had an elective c-section @ 39 weeks and Charlie was born 10lb7.5oz - when I texted my midwife to let her know, she ignored my message!!
Funnily enough, there were two other ladies in same hospital same day one baby 10lb the other just over 11lb. Must have been something in the air!
So it's not always something to worry about. Hope it goes okay for you

oh, meant to say... I was measuring normal give or take 2 weeks+ all the way until 34 weeks!

Cheers West, it's a shame your MW couldn't learn from her mistake.

I've been measuring 2 weeks bigger for a few weeks, but I understand they only test if it's more than 2 weeks. My last bloods were fine but I think I will ask for a test on Thursday if they don't find any other reason. I really like my MW and think she's quite good, she's really on the ball so I think I'm in good hands.

I'll post again on Thursday after the scan.

Thanks for the support

How are the movements today, oOnfuzzeled.

ABitBatty - Sorry just noticed your post, must've cross posted earlier.

If your that tiny, you must have had the most massive bump ever. I've been feeling pretty sorry for myself but your poor skin must have really hurt. Big babies all round the day you had your ds, I do hope I just have a big baby, it's a much nicer thought than some of the other possible explanations.

Hey Fab - Happy to report all movements normal. Been really aware of him and talked to him lots today> I must've looked mental wandering round Sainsbo's chatting to my ginormous bump.

Let's hope the movements stay regular and all is well.

No please don't stop, it's nice to have someone there

I have been following this thread for a few days and wondered if I could pick some brains..

I had my 28 week check up today and the midwife measured me at 32 then changed her mind and said 31cm, I know it's probably nothing to worry about, but at my 24 week check i was measuring 2cm small at 22cm. I'm a little worried that there is such a big difference at this stage in such a short time. The midwife said it was within the 3cm limit, but I'm still a bit concerned. Any thoughts?