Repeat ultrasound - baby measuring smaller

hsteph0426

hey ladies... so I'm hoping this is nothing.

I have had a few ultrasounds so far in this pregnancy.  The first was at 6 weeks 5 days due to a history of miscarriage so they booked an early ultrasound.. heartrate was a bit low at 109.   I started spotting the following week - nothing major.. brown/tan.  I had an ultrasound to check out the baby at 7 weeks 4 days..(Monday March 6th) baby measured right on track and heartrate had increased to 156 (yay)... however.. they booked me for a follow up appointment to try and pinpoint the spotting... and I had that follow up appointment on Friday March 10th.  So 4 days between ultrasounds.  At that ultrasound, baby only measured 7 weeks 5 days instead of 8 weeks 1 day like it should.  In those 4 days the baby only grew 1 days worth.  I'm trying not to panic and the ultrasound tech said I shouldn't be too worried as there wasn't much time between scans.. but it's making me nervous that the baby measured completely on track for the previous 2 ultrasounds and then the 3rd one was 3 days too small.  Has anyone had discrepancy like this with follow up ultrasounds?  She measured it multiple times trying to get a better read but it kept coming up as the same date.  I've tried dr google but there is a lot of dates that were wrong based on LMP.. my dates were based on previous ultrasound.  Thanks ladies... trying not to worry.. my next ultrasound is in 2 weeks  

flowerintherain

@hsteph0426 Sorry you're going through this and having a rough time. My doctor told me that baby's grow at different rates and there's not usually a reason to be concerned unless it's measuring 6+ days behind. Also, a nice strong heartbeat is a positive sign. Maybe you can get some reassurance by calling your doctor and asking if he's concerned about it. FX that everything turns out ok for you. 

hsteph0426

Thank you very much @flowerintherain (love your username btw).  I didn't know that about the +/- 6 days thing.  I have to wait until Monday to give my dr. A call since they aren't open on weekends.. but I will definitely do that! Thank you! 

AiramH

My ultrasound tech said they don't worry about up to 10 days difference! Try not to worry too much. Saying that actually makes me laugh, I worry all the time but am dishing out advice not to

KelAnn310

Coming over from the July board. In the beginning of my pregnancy, exactly a week after finding out I was pregnant, I started bleeding heavily so my ob ordered blood work and an ultrasound. At the ultrasound, the tech showed me measuring 6w1d, which based on my calculations is right where I should've been, she said she could see a little flicker of a heartbeat, but couldn't get a read on how fast it was, so they ordered me to come back in two weeks. I had my first appt in two weeks, so we booked the ultrasound for the same day, they just told me to come in earlier. At that ultrasound I should've been 8w2d, but I was measuring at 7w1d with a strong heartbeat of 157. I couldn't understand how the baby grew only 1 week in 2 weeks and it scared the crap out of me. My ob wasn't concerned at all, just said that ultrasounds that early have a high chance of being wrong because baby is so small it's hard to get the correct measurements, they ended up changing my due date from July 18th to July 26, which seemed like such a huge difference to me. I am happy to say that I am now almost 21 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby boy and so far all of my ultrasounds have measured up to that second one that I had. I know our stories aren't exactly alike, but hopefully my story can give you some comfort and helps calm your nerves a bit.  BTW, the source of my bleeding was a small subchorionic hemorrhage and after my initial heavy bleed, I spotted brown for 2 weeks and then it stopped and I haven't since then. 

hsteph0426

@AiramH thank you!  I know.. I can't tell you how much I give that advice and yet here I am!  I will try to not stress about it!

@KelAnn310 - thank you for taking the time to write out your story!  Even though they aren't exactly the same- it still brought me a lot of peace and I really appreciate it.  If anything, it showed me how fickle the measurements can be in the beginning.  Congratulations on being over halfway! It's "funny" you mention that your bleed was from a subchorionic hemmorhage. I had one with my DD, and they told me at my ultrasound on Friday that I have another one.. and that it was most likely what caused the spotting.  Thankfully it's not as big as the one I had with my DD, and hopefully it stays small.  So glad to hear things have only been positive since the stress you must have had early on in your pregnancy.  Thanks for popping over here and responding!!  

Rileypie

Totally understand why you are worried. My first ultrasound I measured right on track. Then my second one the baby had only grown 2days in a week so it was 5 days behind. My 3rd ultrasound it grew 17 days in 2 weeks so now it's only 2 days behind. Hope that makes sense. So mine has gone back and forth a lot. My OB is not concerned at all. I am.still a bit worried because of previous miscarriages and with this pregnancy my betas were low and my progesterone was low and I have had lots of bleeding. Hope that helps ease your mind. The tech also told me the measurements can be hard to be very accurate and if they miss it by a millimeter it can change the dates by up to a week. Stay positive and best of luck to you and baby!

newtoo

When I was pregnant with my daughter, she was measuring smaller than what she should have initially. They told me I had my date of ovulation wrong, which didn't make sense because I used an OPK and did numerous other tracking methods that indicated strongly when I ovulated. So I was super worried for awhile since I had previously miscarried. Anyway, they adjusted my due date based on how the baby was measuring during that scan but told me they weren't AT ALL worried. It wasn't until like two appointments later that they did another scan and were like "wait, your baby is measuring big based on the due date set during the previous scan." So they adjusted it back. All my worry ended up being unnecessary. They told me early scans aren't that accurate. Baby is still so small and growing can happen at different rates. Though small during an early scan she ended up catching up later. It is so easy to say and so hard to do, but try not to stress. I feel like OBGYNs are pretty honest about when there is a need to worry. If they aren't worried then kick your feet up and take a nap. Or eat some pie!

vintage girl

I'm going through this today. I'm supposed to be 7wks 3 days, based on frozen embryo transfer dates. Ultrasounds through my fertility clinic. I had a bleed a week and a half ago....Dr said baby looked ok....went back a few days latter saw a heartbeat couldn't hear it was measuring 2 days behind but my Dr wasn't worried at all. 6 days latter today, different Dr at my clinic had a super hard time finding the embroy, it was blury but we saw a heartbeat, she said it was measuring 2 to 3 days behind and we still couldn't hear a heartbeat still. I do have a fibroid,  she kept pushing hard trying to find a better "view" and she said the I'm sorry,  come back in a week and we'll see. Too blurry for a photo. So she's worried which makes me super freaked out. I'm trying not too.... I wish it was my regular Dr. who has so very much more experience, but she was away this week.
         
            

natleilynn

I've had two ultrasounds so far this pregnancy (my doctor won't give her "blessing" until the heartbeat is over 120). The first ultrasound the baby was measuring about 5 days less than it should have. The second ultrasound (1 week later) the baby was measuring about 3 days ahead.

I know it's not exactly the same but my point is, in these early stages the babies growth are all over the place. It's not a perfect science, the doctors are trying to guesstimate. Fingers crossed the next time you go in, you'll see a crazy growth