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3rd Trimester
31 week appt. says baby is small?
At my Dr's appt. yesterday the doctor said she would like to send me for an ultrasound (which is booked 2 weeks from now) to check on the baby's growth. She's not worried about my weight gain as it is normal, but says that the baby is measuring a bit small. She assured me that it is probably just because I'm small so I probably won't have a big baby...but I'm a little concerned. Has anyone had this happen, or would you be concerned? I don`t want to be stressed out about this if it`s nothing.
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Re: 31 week appt. says baby is small?
yes--at almost the same time too.
They told me he was measuring small at a routine u/s at my doc's office.
They sent me to a perinatal specialist and talked to me about his chances being born early, going to the NICU, etc.
I was freaked out because they did frame it that there could be something wrong. With my last pregnancy I had pre-e and that can lead to smaller birth weights, also restricted blood flow so that's what they wanted to check for.
I went in and they used my due date based on LMP and he was measuring small in the 12th percentile--but then they took my adjusted due date of a week later (based on my first u/s at 8 weeks) and he was in the 20th percentile.
Ideally they wanted to see me closer to the 50th--small, but not terribly so.
So why is he measuring small? well they could find nothing wrong with blood flow, cord, etc.
They did see some spots on his liver in the the u/s (a much more detailed, longer u/s than at the doc's office) and told me it could be due to a viral infection I picked up. They sent me for blood work.
All the blood work came back negative.
I have one follow-up u/s with the perinatal tomorrow but so far the diagnosis is "he's just small."
So they talked about all sorts of possibilities but as of right now he's doing ok so they want to leave him in there as long as possible.
I hope that helps alleviate some stress! I know it threw me for a loop.
::raises hand::
I'm going for growth scans every two weeks. My LO is measuring around the 30% mark over all and about 12% for her belly. As long as she stays on some sort of growth curve, she will stay in. If she starts to stall or decline, they will deliver her early because they think she will likely do better on the outside. It's a little stressful but my OB seems to be pretty proactive and says some women just have smaller babies.
Me, Me!
I actually changed Dr's in November and they wanted to redo my Anatomy scan. They told me the baby was really thin and her stomach was measuring really small. They put me on modified bedrest and told me to come back in two weeks. I woke up with some issues one day and they sent me to L&D turns out I had an infection called BV, I guess its pretty common but I looked it up and one of the things it causes is low birth weight.
Long story short they gave me some antibiotics to take twice a day and at my next appointment she was measuring back on track and her stomach was normal size and actually gained some weight.
I would talk to your Dr about maybe checking to see if that could be a reason? Good Luck!
I had exactly this at 31 weeks. My fundal measurement was several centimeters too small (I think around 31 weeks I was measuring 26 cm, but it should have been closer to 31). I was sent for a growth ultrasound the next day, and things were perfect! The baby was actually larger than his gestational age in all measurements. He's a long, slender guy - his weight was only in the 40th percentile, but all his limbs, head, etc. were large for his age.
I did a ton of research when this happened to me a few weeks ago b/c I was freaked out, and honestly, I found nothing online to indicate that measuring small in terms of fundal height had any correlation with an unhealthy baby. As long as you can feel the baby moving around as usual, and you're gaining weight as normal, your baby is most likely doing great! Even if he/she is not, and is having a few growth issues, they can always monitor him/her or even have you deliver early if they determine it's better for your baby to be outside versus inside.
In either case, I am sure you are fine, and I doubt your Dr. is too concerned either since she is waiting 2 weeks to get you in for an ultrasound.
Oh, and I should mention - I'm 5'7" and have a long torso, so they've determined that there's just so much space in my belly that he's growing more horizontally versus vertically...I think tall, thin women tend to measure smaller.
Good luck!
They told me the exact same thing when I went last week. But my menstrual cycles have never been "normal" so I'm thinking I just conceived a little later than they originally calculated. DH and I have sex very often so there was no way to know the exact day - my Dr just counted from my LMP.
The Dr just scheduled me for a follow-up u/s in a couple weeks and said not to worry.