Fundus height 30cms, am only 28 wks - does this defo mean BIG BABY??? *gulp*

[stellamel]

Saw midwife yesterday and mentioned that my bump feels huge, so she measured it and it came out at 30cm, she said that it should measure the same as the weeks you are, ie 28. I asked if it meant a big baby and she just shrugged.

Up until 21 weeks no one had noticed I was preggers, and suddenly 7 weeks later I am massive, well not me, the bump.

Has anyone else had this and does it definitely mean a big baby? I had a hideous medicalised birth with my DD (plus she was only 6lbs 6oz) so was hoping for as natural as possible experience this time, but now am in a tiz thinking this baby is going to be big and I will have a nightmare time again.

Sorry for panicky tone of post, but I've still got 12 weeks of baby growing time, if it carries on like this I'll be house bound soon!

I've been measuring 2cm over for my whole pregnancy - and various mws have sais baby is going to be big, is going to be small, feels pretty normal..... To be honest I don't have much faith in a woman with a tape measure - think I measured about 15 weeks before I was even pregnant!

When I googled most places tell you that fundal height should be within 2cm of your preg week - so 2cm over doesn't necessarily mean a big baby.

I measured 3cm 'ahead' the whole time. Ds was 2 weeks late and 'only' 8lb 11oz. Dont worry.

Stella - I'm 26+6. Was measured at 25wks and was OK - but feel like I have grown loads in last week - in fact, I am finding it increasingly difficult to move, get up, walk - particularly up stairs etc. I too am wondering how long before I'm housebound - and know that there is LOADS more baby growing to be done - eeek....

no it doesn't necessarily mean that at all - measuring fundus height is a very rough and pretty unreliable measure of the size of the baby. I have measured both too big and too small and babies have always been pretty typical weights (8lb-9lb)

The MW did say, and get me to feel, that the baby's head was right at the top of my bump, so I'm hoping he's standing up and that's why bump measures big .

CTOFN - that is me in a nutshell, I can hardly breathe at the moment. I feel like I've eaten a christmas dinner everyday!

thanks DrS, I like your post!

i was always measuring 2-3cms bigger from about 28 weeks...dd arrived weighing a tiny 6lb 10oz...so nope doesnt mean your having a huge baby...

we will never know why i was measuring huge i did have GD and was sent for a growth scan at 35 weeks cos of the big measurements but baby was measuring perfect and so was waters!

my last consultant appointment i was 39weeks and measuring 38 weeks...had a sweep went into labour 2 days later and my waters were nowhere to be seen, so im convinced my waters had gone without me knowing and that waters did contribute to my big measurements!

Ive always been 2-3cm bigger than my week but recent scan (for something else) showed she is at the bottom of the bottom quartlie for size so i dont think the whole thing is that accurate!

I think the whole fundal height thing is only a very rough guid and not that good an indicator of baby size. you might have a lot of water in there as well.
BUT even if your baby is big, that doesn't necessarily mean you will have a hideous birth experience. DS was 9lb 8oz at birth and he came out fine ANd even a small baby can have a complicated birth.
GOod luck and congratulations .