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.

Well just been for the scan, am 37 weeks today and everything has measured fine, she weighs 6lb 3oz at the moment so as my daughter weighed 6lb 8oz when she was born at 40wks+5 days and my son weighed 8lb 6oz at 40wks+4 days it looks like shes going to be somewhere inbetween so I am more than happy with that!!

good to hear

I've always been sent for scans for 'small babies' as I am usually measuring about 5 weeks behind throughout. Growth scans are notoriously inaccurate. I just carry small - but my babies have all been big - 9lbs 8, 8lbs 8 and 8lbs 13.

Whoops - should have read the end of the thread before posting - glad all was well

I had the same thing with my second, I am NOT small (hugeeee hips size 16). He was fine, he was 5 pounds 8 BUT he was induced 4/5 weeks early so that is a fine size .

I agree with Panicmode in that the scans are notoriously crap for estimating weights - I had a scan at 37 weeks and the MW said the baby was going to be about 7lb 4oz at term - she was 8lb 6oz when she came out

Glad you're reassured happy

With my first my MW thought I was small, but the hospital didn't scan me - they measured me and got a totally different measurement from MW - DD was 11 days late and weighed 5lbs 8oz - hardly big! With my second MW thought he would be big - hospital scanned me, said he had an enormous head and stomach and he weighed 8lbs 1oz at 9 days late. Funny thing is, at 2 years old HV is freaking about his height - he's too short apparently!

Happy - glad you're feeling happier now too

I measured small and DS was nearly ten pounds

One MW told me I was breach - I wasn't. Then another said I would have a small baby - she was 8llb 4!

easy for me to say but try not to worry

im 32wk preg with my third and liek you have carried the same a little football out front!

with ym first dd i had to have growth scans n after one the didnt tell me anything n asked me if i could go over to another consultant unit right that minute to be checked scared the life out of me but everything was fine they checked the blood flow thoru the cord to see if the placenta was still workig well and also wanted to induce me three weeks early just incase i wasnt keen so they let me go a bit longer i had her a wk early no probs at all 5lb9 but completely normal n she is 3.5 now n still light just her way i think

2nd dd growth scans again they were convinced she wouldnt be much more than 6lb n seemed small but she was born 7lb4 which to me seemed big

this time i am measuring ok so far so fingers crossed but also panickin bout it being big to! no winning eh hehe

do you know what you measure? as you are suppose to measure your weeks ie 28wk wud b 28when measured..but when i went for a scan they told me that 3more of less is still considered ok n alot of growth scans r just a precaution

quite blatantly- they dont have a chuffing clue!!! i have had 4 dc's, have had the weight predicted by the midwife for a each of them, and only one was anywhere near close- ds1, the midwife said he would be 9-9.5 pounds and he was 7lb 2oz, ds2- i had a growth scan at 35 weeks because the midwife was worried about his size. the woman who did the scan said he was tiny, and would probably only be 3-4 pounds at birth- he was 8 days early and weighed 6lb 15oz. dd1 midwife said she would be between 7 and 8 pounds, she was 7lb 1 oz. and dd2, my consultant and midwife both said she would be 7-8 pounds, and she was dead on 6 pounds.

In the minutes after my DD was BORN the MWs kept commenting on "what a tiddler" she was, making me anxious to know her weight. When they eventually weighed her she was 7lb 4oz -pretty well average, I'd say.

If they thought she looked small when out of the womb, who's to say what they could have made of her inside - just goes to show how innacurate they can be!

Glad you're feeling better

I had this with baby two and baby four. With baby two I had weekly scans from week 30. Even at the last week they estimated 5lb something on the scan. He was 7lb 2oz! With baby 4 I had a different midwife measure me each time. Each kept saying 'ah well, we all measure different' when it was noticed that he wasn't growing much. In the last four weeks suddenly there was more concern. I started to get scanned. And yes, he was 6lb 2oz which was very small for my babies but he was fine sturdy and increased quicker than the others. I am very small and it just seems that my babies have got smaller with each pregnancy strangely. But all were healthy. Anyhow the scan will estimate a weight which hopefully will reassure!

I've had this both times round. I never look pregnant until really late on and now, 3 weeks of delivery, people are constantly on about how small the bump is, which starts to get on my nerves a bit (as I imagine it would if they kept going on about how big it was, you just kind of don't want to know what everyone else thinks of your bump after a while). Measured about 6cm off for the last 10 weeks w/ DD, was given 3 extra scans and told throughout that she'd be small. She was 8lbs.

This time I'm measuring smaller (9cm off). Last week was sent for my 3rd extra scan and despite past experiences I was in a real panic 'cos MW seemed convinced that my placenta wasn't working. Scan (at 36 weeks) was absolutely fine. They're saying the baby is 'petite' but given the predictions last time, that might not be the case at all.

Anyway, v glad you had a reassuring scan.

In my experience growth measurements and scans are totally inaccurate - I was predicted a HUGE baby, my GP thought it would be 10lb or more likely much more. I had writing all over my antenatal notes saying 'baby +++ size' etc. Fair put the fear of God into me I can tell you!

Had lots of scans during the last couple of months and each time they said the head measurements were huge, I even had the printouts with the size of the head, and lo and behold when she was born at full term she was 7lb 13oz - bang on 50th centile.

Oh yes, and I checked her birth measurements against one of the oh-so-scientific printouts from the scans, and at birth her head circumference was over 5cm LESS than they said it was at 35 weeks. So just goes to show with all the fancy scans in the world it really is just guesswork. And its often wrong...

(Now when I think of obstetric scanning I always think of that kids party game where you put objects in a box and everyone has to guess what they are with a blindfold on!)

Hiya

I would say rest,rest and more rest

I had a small baby (5l 5oz) with ds1 and it was notpicked up by anyone other than my MW until I developed pre-eclampsia. Ho0wever,more relevantly ds3 was predeicted small at 32 weeks as they were kleeping an eye after ds1, I wasadvised to give up workand rest and I did exactly as I was told- and he was back on track in a few weeks,born weighing 7lb 2oz.

it's never bad advice anyway at 36 weeks is it?

And yes,I agree MWwould ahve sent you for ascan if she were really worried.

Good luck.

Glad everything is OK. They've given up measuring my fundal height as I have the opposite problem, always coming out too big. So they're scanning me every 4w instead. I don't think it's vastly accurate (don't see how it can be when bumps are so variable in shape).

My DS1 was small for dates, he was only 4lb 13oz when he was born, and despite having had 5 scans throughout my pregnancy (partly because he was breech), nobody ever picked up on the fact that he wasn't growing properly.

Although he was small, he was perfectly formed and completely healthy. It was just a bit of a shock to see such a tiny baby. He didn't get taken into special care or anything, they just had to monitor his blood sugars and made sure he was being fed every 3 hours round the clock for the first couple of months.

I did have a tiny bump with DS1 and only started wearing maternity clothes at 6 months pg. With DS2 it was more like 2 months!

I had a sizing scan with DS2 to check the same thing wasn't going to happen and they said he would probably be a bit small, they thought just over 6lb. He was 7lb 10oz, so almost bang on average.

Anyway, DS1 remains small for his age and yes I do worry about him, especially when he doesn't eat much, but as long as he's healthy and developing normally, it doesn't concern me unduly.

Obviously you want a robust baby, but the most important thing is that it's healthy. I do think we as a society tend to get too hung up on birth weight. My advice would be not to worry, trust the medics, and just get as much rest as you can before the birth.

My midwife said I was measureing large. She tutted a bit. I reminded her that DS had IUGR and would be lucky to get to 4 lbs. She tutted some more and checked my notes He was 4.10 when he was born so was very pleased with that!

Try not to worry.

First pregnancy I was told at 20 week scan that baby was measuring small so they booked me for another scan a fortnight later. Still small and they were concerned about the baby's development. I ended up being scanned approx every 2 weeks from then on and each time baby's measurements were coming up small with assorted mutterings of concern.

When she was born she weighed 9lb 3oz and measured 56 cm long.

With second baby I was told it was measuring very large and that they didn't want me to go overdue as they were concerned I would have problems delivering such a large baby. MW started talking about inducing me early (which I refused).

Baby was 'only' 9'lb 1oz and 54 cm.

Reading these posts, makes me think sometimes it would be nice if the MW kept opinions to themselves, seem to cause more worry when should be relaxing.

I was told DD was small and would be 4-5lb, and my dates must be wrong, then on due date, I was told that she wasn't coming, and that the baby wasn't ready. 1hr 45 mins later I had a 6lb 7oz baby in my arms.

I was told DS was going to be small (5-6lb) I said that's not small that's coming out of me that's ideal size!!! He came 2 weeks early and was 6lb 13oz. By the time his due date came, the midwife said if he carried on putting on weight the way he was (purely bf) that he would be obese

All the scans and measurements are complete rubbish in my completely unscientific opinion - my ds was measured and scanned several times and they said to get ready for a 10 pound + baby - he was born at 3 pounds dead on. How on earth can they get it so wrong one wonders?!

i live in glasgow

im nearly 38 weeks pregnant and have not been weighed since first scan @ 12 weeks and my fundal height has NEVER been measured.......... dont know if thats a good thing or a bad thing?..........

My friend had this same thing - she was measuring small all the way along (but she is a small, slim girl) and then the last two weeks the midwife referred her to the concultant, she had a few scans and they said the baby had not grown for 2 weeks.

Then they made her to go the hospital every day to be monitored.

The induced her 2 days early and the baby was 7lbs 9!

I don't think the scans are very accurate at all and should be taken with a pinch of salt!

She was worried sick for 3 weeks for nothing and it was a right pain in the arse going to the hospital every day (she has a toddler) and waiting around....

But better safe than sorry I guess!!!

I had a scan at every docs appt (always with consultant obstetrician), so about 9 or 10 of them. DS3 was born at exactly 37 wks, and was 8lb 12oz. The doc had never said he was big, despite measuring the femurs every time and so on. He would have been a giant at term!