small baby.....panicking like crazy now :-(

[happyatlast]

Right I'll keep it brief, just been to see my midwfie this afternoon. I am 36 weeks pregnant, up until now babys growth has been fine. Today she measures my stomach and says I need to go for a scan as shes concerned that the baby might be small, although she said shes not overly concerned, cos if she was she'd have sent me for a scan there n then instead of booking one for next week, but it is still worrying me stupid.

I have had an awful pregnancy, suffering from depression and panic attacks for the first time in my life.

To help you give me the right advice if anyone out there can do that for me, I need give you a brief outline of some things.

This is my third baby, my first baby was 6lb 8oz, when I was pregnant with my 2nd baby they again were concerned the baby was small so they scanned me but it seemed that he was going to be small but not worryingly small although when he was born he was 8lb 6oz.

Now this is I think the important bit...I am incredibly small, I have the hips of a ten year old boy! I have always looked small with all my other pregnancies, I dont go out at the sides if you understand? I dont look pregnant from behind, I just shoot straight out.

Now what I wanted to know is, is it quite inaccurate for her to say this babys small when shes just measuring from my pubic bone to the top and shes just looking at how small I am amd assuming the baby is going to be small, or is there some amazing way that they can tell how big the baby is just by measuring your stomach?

All through the pregnancy she has been just above average weight on the chart, then she was average at around 29 weeks but now it seems she is quite a bit below average. But like my midwife did say, you could just hide the baby well whatever that means and it all goes inwards.

Any help greatly appreciated. Like I said they did this with my son and he was above average but I cant assume thats the case this time. She said something about checking theres enough fluid and checking the amount of blood flow going to the baby which again freaks me out when I hear that cos I know what that can mean.

I am hoping there is someone else out there tht is similar to me? I've not put any weight on whatsoever apart from my bump, in fact I have lost weight, this is always the way I carry babies but still I am worried sick, I have been suffering from panic attacks and now it seems I have to wait a whole week before I get scanned. I called the walk in scan unit and they said pretty much the same as my midwife, that if she was overly concerned she'd have booked me in today or tomorrow but shes happy to wait until next week, but still I am freaking out completely, my kids are already sick of seeing my crying with my depression and panic attacks and I had to cancel going to my 10yr old daughters parents evening today as a result cos I was so upset so my other kids are not going to enjoy the wait this week any more than I am.

You sound a similar body shape to me, I didn't really put on much bulk, and had 2 or 3 extra scans in my pregnancy because the midwife tought I was small, baby turned out fine. Good luck with the wait, try not to stress.

Have just read up a bit on it and it says women with strong abdominal muscles (which I have cos I am addicted to sit ups when not pregnant and in my previous pregnancies the midwives have said my stomach muscles are really strong) tend to hold the bump inwards with their strong stomach muscles so this would certainly be the case with me if anything else, well I am hoping anyway?

Its just this is the last thing I needed today what with my panic attacks, I have never been as ill mentally before as I am right now.

Miserable is not the word.

bump please

Hun, try not to worry, I've been sent for extra scans because of measuring small and when they scanned me they said baby was measuring perfect to the day. Am still back and forth to consultant as I'm still quite small but she's not concerned at all now, just keeping an eye. I've been told that good abdo muscles tend to hold everything in and as I used to be a dancer, this seems to make sense (a bit like you, with the situps!) Please don't worry, easier said than done I know but once they've scanned you then you'll hopefully feel a lot better.

xx

Please don't panic. I agree that if the mw was especially concerned she'd have sent you for a scan straight away. Waiting isn't nice but it does suggest she is just being cautious.

I've had extra scans this pg due to measuring small for dates. It's been nice to have the extra reassurance that all seems ok (and to know that they'd pick up anything that was a concern growth-wise) although tbh I've never been that worried because I measured small during my first pregnancy and ds was a perfectly respectable 6lbs 13. Like you, I think it's partly how I carry them and, in both pregnancies, the midwives have said as much.

I'm 36 weeks tomorrow, and probably what you would call 'neat'. Similar boyish figure, just literally a 'football up jumper', nothing anywhere else. Still in size 8 tunics.

Went for a scan on Mon for low-lying placenta (it has moved up enough, yay) then follow-up with consultant who said I was only measuring 33 weeks but it was nothing at all to worry about, as the scan had proved that all measurements were normal, blood supply was healthy and everything was as it should be. She said I just didn't have much fluid but I had plenty to keep baby happy, so I feel ok about it.

Try not to worry too much (not easy I know) - it will soon be time for your scan.

stressheaderic....they said I measured 31 when it should be 36 like how many weeks I am. Like I said they said this with my second and he turned out to be 8lb 6oz but I cant stop crying because I'm suffering with these awful panic attacks so I'm over reacting with everything. I am 5ft 7 and my bmi was 17.5 when they took my weight at the beginning, and have always been told that I have strong stomach muscles, and yeh the football up the jumper thing is exactly how I am.

Its just when she said it could be not enough blood getting through to the baby thats really freaked me out although when listening to her heartbeat she said she seemed more than happy in there?

I am so confused and my poor children are fed up of seeing me cry. I am just so fed up of people say "oh arent you tiny, you're not going to have a big baby are you" and right up to 29wks she was measuring above average so why all of a sudden are they concerned? Is it because my stomach muscles are holding her in and I just hide it well? I dunno....going slightly mad.

Measuring the fundal height is vastly inaccurate. I measured too big with DS1 and too small with this pregnancy (I'm 36 weeks now). I was sent for extra growth scans with both.

DS1 was average weight (7lb 8oz) and no doubt this one will be average if not bigger than average.

The scan is for REASSURANCE only - if your midwife was concerned she'd book you a scan for the next day. I'm also looking small - just means I'm carrying neater.

Honestly don't worry another moment about it - your baby will measure fine. They'll check the fluid and normal measurements and send you on your merry way. Funnily enough I had 2 midwives measuring my fundal height within the same week - one measured me 5 weeks too small - the other 2 weeks over - that just tells you how inaccurate they are!!!

happy - my BMI was 18 at the start too and I'm 5ft6...you are quite tall, and if you have a longish torso, the baby will have lots of room to flatten itself against you, hence a smaller bump/less weight gain.

All I've had for the last 6 months is everyone saying I'm tiny/neat/swallowed a Malteser type comments...even now, when random strangers ask and I say I only have 4 weeks left, they look shocked. It's just one of those things, although it is annoying - I doubt folk would have been as quick to comment if I was massive.

The baby will be fine, as long as you're feeling regular movements then she's ok in there. It sounds as if the anxiety is more of an issue though, and always worth going over at every midwife appointment, it is not too late to be referred to speak to a councillor about it if it's getting you down so much.

bumping again, still in panic mode :-(

Hi

My first DD was small for dates - full term and only 6lbs 2oz. Her growth tailed off in the final month of pregnancy, but it wasn't really picked up until she was born.

I'm 5' 10" tall and quite slim, but do have childbearing hips! With that pregnancy, my bump was always very small and 'neat'.

I'm currently 31+5 with DC2 and again people are commenting on my neat bump. That said, I know it's bigger than it was with DD1 AND when the mw measured it the other day, it actually measures 32 and a half weeks!

IME, a small baby doesn't have to be a problem. So lon as it's not classified as low birth weight, in which cse you'd need to get her weight up before leaving hospital.

Good luck!
MLM

Hi, I tended to carry my babies low. I have a long body and they 'hid' in there so I was also told that DD'1 and 3 were small and had extra scans. Both times everything was fine and within normal measurements.
With DD3 the fundal height measurement didn't change for several weeks and I was sent for the scan. I tried to say that i could feel that the baby was very low but the midwife sent me just to be on the safe side.
Try and breath.

I was tiny and ended up being sent for growth scans and all that nonsense - MW's HAVE to do this, they have to cover themselves if you aren't where you should be on their bl**dy charts! Mine told me that whilst she wasn't worried she had to send me just in case. Ds was born at 38 weeks and was a dot (4 9), BUT he was absolutely fine! He is now 6 and 'average'

I have had one scan where my baby's growth fell behind but two weeks later the measurements were back up to the 50th percentile.

I'm pretty sure you would know beforehand if there were problems like IUGR (inter uterine growth restriction) because baby would move a lot less - preserving all his energy just for growing rather than kicking and squirming.

Considering your size and your strong tummy muscles I'm sure this scan is just a precaution and there is nothing wrong. I know what it is like to be in panic mode, and I understand your fears but I really honestly don't think there's anything to be concerned about. Fundal height is SUCH an inaccurate way of measuring things. I hope the next few days pass quickly for you and you are reassured at the scan.

Well have been trying all morning to get hold of my midwife so she can refer me to the walk in scan unit, as they wont see me unless my midwofe refers me but my midwifes phone is off and so I've just called the unit and they just keep saying the same thing...if my midwife was worried she'd have booked me in straight away.

Doesnt help me though, I had a major panic attack last night as a result, screamed at the kids I already have, which made me feel absolutely awful afterwards, and even though I know its probably because my stomach muscles are good and I'm tall and I hide the babies well like with my 8lb 6oz son who they also thought was small it still doesnt alter the fact that the fundal height measurement was 31cm and I am 36 weeks so am like 5 weeks behind.

I would like to get dressed at some point today but here I am, sat at the laptop desperately reading up on it!!

I agree with previous posters that you are extremely unlikely to have had an accurate result from the midwife's measurements. She is scanning you just to be on the safe side. Don't worry for an minute - just consider it another chance to have a look at the baby!

Also, we have a history of very small babies at full term in my family. Of the last two (2 pounds-ish each at birth) both are now over 6 feet; one lectures in cutting-edge physics and played cricket for his country; the other won a Rhodes scholarship and both rowed and ran for Oxford.

But - bluntly - the important thing is that you need to talk to your midwife about the panic attacks and mental health worried you are experiencing. Have you talked to anyone else yet?

Please don't let it get to you!!
I am a similar build & measured small on every visit. Had several extra scans with my first (who was 7lb5) but managed to avoid it with my second due to sensible midwives... until at 39 weeks I was sent off for another scan as I was measuring 35 weeks, the sonographer was lovely and said they get fed up with this sort of referral, can't the midwives use their common sense? Anyway DS was 8lb 5, ufortunatey I never saw the midwife again to tell her!

I was sent for a scan as my MW felt i was measuring too small for my dates, when DS popped out he was 10lb 2!!

Hi, i dont have any exsperience in the size area but i do with deppression and panic attacks, i also know these 2 cause terrible worrying and anxiousness, i would really recommend you go to your doctors and explain how your feeling as after the birth PND may kick in and it really is no fun at all.

I suffered with horrible panic attacks with my pregnancy they were horrible and only got worse after my baby was born i have only not long started on AD and i feel like a new happy version of me and it seamed all that suffering was silly when there was help out there all along.

best of luck to you

x

I started with the panic attacks when I was 26 weeks pregnant and I went straight to the emergency drs, I have also had counselling for it and have got another session to go to yet before my daughter is born so thats already sorted, as soon as I started with them I went and did something about it because having two children already I was absolutely terrified all of a sudden of being on my own with them, so really there was no way I could not consult a dr about it, I was really really poorly with it to start with, I requested they put me in a psychiatric hospital and everything because I was so terrified of being at home with my children, especially at night times?

It is more under control now but not completely obviously, they prescribed me a very low dose of lorazepam for when I have a panic attack. I can go for a week or so feeling alot better, as though I am on the mend and then bang, out of the blue, I get a panic attack. Its very odd, nothing in particular triggers it, I could be doing something really normal like putting washing in the washer and I will just get what I can only describe as a wave of panic come over me. I have never suffered from them before so its a bit of a shock, but yes, thank you for the advice, but I am certainly not sitting here suffering from panic attacks and depression and have not bothered to consult a doctor.

My midwife is aware of it, the hospital is aware of it and have given me counselling and obviously my dr is aware of it and I am being monitored very closely by all, including my family.

DS was found to be small for dates at a scan at about 35 weeks - they monitored to check that the plancenta was ok (blood flow through cord, amniotic fluid volume) - I think they deliver early if there's any indication that either of these is amiss. I did have a small baby -2nd centile - but he is perfectly fine, just a small lad. And they let me go to 41 weeks on the basis that the scans were ok. I know this won't help with your panic attacks (sounds like you are getting help with this in RL anyway, and being very sensible about it), just thought it might help you to know that the scans are a means of keeping tabs on the situation (in particular, how your planta is doing) so they can do something quickly if necessary, not a sign that something is going wrong.

I know they are terrible, just come right out of the blue, ive actually had one wake me up before they really are scarey horrible thing's!!

mine got really bad about 3 months ago, i was having them all the time so much i didnt want to out in fear i would have one on my own!!! and i have been put on citroplam 20mg and they are literally a life saver.

Yes i know the feeling being scared on your own with kids, i was scared at night because i sleep walk then i worried myself self i was going crazy or something!!! But apparently it's all apart of the deppression etc.

So glad you are getting help with it and i really hope it gets alot easier and just want to reassure you that it will get easier you dont have to feel like that forever :-)

xxx

IT t is great that midwives are cautious and we wouldn't want it any other way - better too many scans then too few - but don't worry! I can repeat everything everyone else has said and add that my mother only put on 10, that's right, 10, pounds with me because of hyperemesis and I weighed 6lb11 and was a healthy, happy baby. I am now a skinny grownup who consistently measures slightly small for dates!

oooh, also: if they send you for a scan, you must also bear in mind that late scans are absolutely hopeless at measuring size! It will more be to see that the placenta is working and that the baby is healthy. So don't worry if they announce you are reallly carrying 1. a t-rex or 2. tom thumb because they are terribly inaccurate.

Don't panic, my mw said ds1 was going to be bang on average, he was 9lb12, dd was, in her words, 'a tiddler', she was 10lb0, and that 'no way was ds2 going to be a big one' and he was 10lb2.

They don't know and are just being cautious.