Worried... measuring fundal height of 24 wks at 28wks...

[legallyblond]

I am scared...

I had my 28 week mw appointment this morning. The baby's heartbeat was fine and it obligingly kicked the mw, a lot!

BUT, aparently my fundal height measures 24 weeks, so very small, which is surprising as all measurements have been bang on so far (20 week scan etc). The mw referred me to the consultant and I have an appointmetn and scan on Thursday.

The mw did say it could be because she thinks the baby is lying transverse, which might make the fundal height smaller, but she's not sure.

She just said to wait and see what the consultant thinks and not to worry in the meantime as the baby seems quite happy. Easier said than done!

So worried..

Has anyone else experienced this? What could be the causes (good and bad, you can scare me if you want...)?

I find that even though baby is fine my small bump is constantly commented on like I'm doing something wrong. The amount of times people have tried to 'feed me up' is really annoying!

And the amount of 'You're tiny!' comments grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr after the 1000'th time!!!

You are right to feel reassured by lots of movement. I had IUGR with DS2, he was not even on the chart at 20 week scan, doctors were worried he might not make it at all. He was definitely much, much quieter in terms of movement than my previous 2 DC's and I understand that this is because apart from being small and weak and therefore harder to feel, IUGR babies conserve all their energy for growing. It seemed that drs were obsessed with how much movement I was feeling, particularly later in the pregnancy when fluid became reduced.

The other thing to keep in mind is that measuring fundal height is inexact and it sounds highly likely that with your body shape you may not have a big bump anyway.

I am sure everything will be fine and even if there is an issue there is still plenty of hope - DS2 was induced at 37wks, born 4lbs 2oz and healthy, we stayed in hospital for 3 nights while his blood sugar and jaundice was sorted but no SCBU needed and now he is a gorgeous little 6mo, still only 12lbs but very happy and absolutely adorable.

Legally blond, I had the same problem and was totally freaked out by midwife.
Went for scan days later, baby measured bang on. As baby was breech/transverse at the time, the next midwife said that baby was lying mostly curved around one side and that my torso was extra long so disguised size of baby. Baby may also be long too. Hopefully it's just something simple like that. Good luck : )

Thanks Sleepwhenidie and HappyBaby. The mw does thinks its becasue the baby is transverse but, like you say, I got freaked out when she called the hospital that instant and asked for an "emergency appointment" for me!

I do the feel the baby move plenty, but its movements are pretty weak (although this is my first, so I have nothing to compare it to!). That may however be becasue of my anetrior placenta blocking the movements somewhat. We shall see tomorrow!

Hopefully in 24 hours I'll be posting again says that all is fine!

hey legallyblond - how did you get on today?

All went weel this morning, thanks Sleep.

Saw the lovely, lovely consultant. He was v reassuring and when he measured (he explained that measuring with the tape measure is v crude), I was only 3cms/3 weeks too small... he also scanned me (just in his room with the small ultrasound) and all seemed fine. Baby was squirming around and there seemed to be enough fluid (a pocket of 5.6cms, which is apparently good - any pockets over 2cms are good, he told me).

I have to go back and see him again in one week, and, the same day, I will also have a full, detailed growth scan.

He thinks its probably a combination of the baby's position - not transverse after all (or not today, at any rate), but head quite far down into my pelvis, and the fact the baby might be quite a littl'un.

I just have to keep on montitoring movements for now. And apparently eat more! He stressed that I must have 3 good meals and 3 snacks of at least 250cals everyday! Mmmm, cake!

Thanks for asking!

All sounds good.

And steak and chips...

Glad to hear everything is fine. My measurements always seem to be a couple of cms behind. Perhaps I should eat more cake too. What a result!