Baby measuring large?

Nekotaru · March 2014

This might be a silly question, but at my 30 week appointment yesterday the OB said my daughter was measuring a little large (and I had lost weight!).

She said there will be an ultrasound in a few weeks to check all that, should I be concerned? By my calculations she should come sooner than her due date, but the OB swears by her due date in May. Does this mean she could come sooner and the timeframe is off? I don't want to jump to conclusions about cesareans and things like that yet, but I didn't know if anyone had their OB tell them this prior to getting an actual weight from an ultrasound?

Nekotaru · March 2014

So maybe it's nothing to be concerned over

I hope not! I mean, it wasn't very official, I just happen to ask if she could tell, and from just the tape measuring thing she had done, she said "a little large". I'm sure the U/S she mentioned will tell me more, but I have read women say these are not necessarily accurate, too.

LyndseylovesHugh · March 2014

savannah_girl said:

Fundal height measurement are not an accurate way to measure a fetus. There is a lot that can alter it, including baby's position, how full your bladder is, how much amniotic fluid.

This. With DD I would be measuring ahead one appt and then behind or on track the next appt, it really is just an estimate. DD was 7lbs6oz at birth, so perfectly average.

GPeterson24 · March 2014

Late pregnancy ultrasounds can be off by a pound either way (bigger or smaller).

I'm sure your growing a perfect sized baby. :-)

This website has a very good summary of research for suspected large babies. https://evidencebasedbirth.com/evidence-for-induction-or-c-section-for-big-baby/

GPeterson24 · March 2014

You're not your....won't let me edit my previous post.

Nekotaru · March 2014

Thank you so much for the link and the input!

I appreciate it

vszapp · March 2014

Even if baby is big, chances are very good everything will be fine. There are some good resources online to educate on this topic. A woman in my yoga class just had a 10lb8oz baby at home...

Aliki · March 2014

I like to think about it like this: 50% of babies have to be above average, for every 50% of babies to under average.

So surely there must be babies that are "large", right?

I have large babies. My DD was large on every single ultrasound, and she was born at 9 lbs 8 oz (99th percentile), and she's now almost 4 years old, and she continues to track on the 99th percentile line. She's just big.

My current LO is 40w today, and at every ultrasound (20w, 33w, 37w, and again yesterday), she's huge. They estimate she's 9 lb 8 oz already and she's still not coming out.

Remember estimates can be up to 1 lb off.

Nekotaru · March 2014

One of the articles I was reading from a previous response on this thread mentioned how a large amount of time the doctors may even think the baby is measuring large, but then when the baby is actually born it is much smaller than they anticipated.

I would only be concerned that a doctor thinking a baby was larger than it really was led to them convincing a mommy to do an unnecessary C-Section. I guess that part would be scary to think about!

But I am going to assume DD is fine, unless they start to tell me otherwise at the actual measuring ultrasound in a few weeks. No need to work myself up for a rough guesstimate from the measuring tape I think

But I am glad to know plenty of women also have no issue delivering healthy babies above 8lbs ^_^b

LoveOBX630 · March 2014

I hear you....they've been telling me all along from my ultrasounds that my baby is measuring in the 96 percentile for size and is two weeks ahead. I'm not really worried about it because my doctor didn't seem concerned?

Now I have gestational diabetes and they're thinking that may contribute to his size, so we are going to try some diet modification to see if we can get it reeled in to avoid the need for a csection at the end. I'm sure it will work out!

I would think your baby is fine like you said, unless they start to seem/say something that leads you to believe they are worried.

hang in there!

Avion22 · March 2014

As a general rule, if your doctor isn't worried, then you probably don't need to be either. Babies have growth spurts too, so you might be "on track" at one appointment, then measure large at the next one. Also, 30 weeks is pretty early to tell how big the baby is going to be.

Just out of curiosity, what makes you think the EDD they gave you is wrong? Did you have an early ultrasound to date the pregnancy? Were you charting your cycles and know when you ovulated? (Just asking because I was charting and know I ovulated a few days earlier than "normal" so the original EDD they gave me was a few days later than that, but an early dating us confirmed that the baby was a few days further along, so they changed my EDD....basically the early ultrasounds are extremely accurate, so if they're going off that then it's probably pretty close).

jay3907 · March 2014

I am 34 weeks at my appointment on Thursday the doctor said I was measuring at 36 weeks. I have a growth scan this coming Thursday so I guess I'll see just how big he is. My DD was 8lbs 13.2oz so I won't be surprised if this one is a little big too. And she was 6 days late, so it doesn't always mean you will be early.

sweetsyrup · March 2014

I measured on track or behind for fundal measurements for the last few weeks of my pregnancy. At my 30 week ultrasound I was told baby would be around 8#.

I was induced at 41 weeks for GD (diet controlled and blood sugars were good). Imagine my surprise when my little boy was 9# 13 oz...They had also moved up my due date by 2 weeks at my 20 week ultrasound....

Basically, it's a crap shoot. I'm not that big and had a big baby. He fit, I felt like normal 2 weeks after delivery.

Nekotaru · March 2014

Avion22 said:

Just out of curiosity, what makes you think the EDD they gave you is wrong? Did you have an early ultrasound to date the pregnancy? Were you charting your cycles and know when you ovulated? (Just asking because I was charting and know I ovulated a few days earlier than "normal" so the original EDD they gave me was a few days later than that, but an early dating us confirmed that the baby was a few days further along, so they changed my EDD....basically the early ultrasounds are extremely accurate, so if they're going off that then it's probably pretty close).

Yes, we had been trying for 2 years so we were charting/temping and everything and I had marked all the dates on a calender. My actual LMP was in July, but at my first visit the nurse asked when I last bled which was in August, but I explained to her it wasn't my LMP (I was pretty sure it might be implantation bleeding) because it was very light spotting and my last actual LMP was normal (heavy, etc.). The nurse only took the August date. Well, I had an US at "5 weeks", then they asked for one at "6 weeks", and another around 12 weeks I think. But once I started seeing the OB she had scolded a nurse for entering something wrong in the computer making it 3 weeks off at one point early on.

Anyhow, I asked the OB and she said for paperwork I *could* go by the LMP date in July. Using that exact formula they used with the August LMP to get the 5/25/2014 EDD, I got 4/26/2014 with the July LMP date! And it also estimated my conception date to be *exactly* a date marked on my calender that we had sex.

I know all that sounds confusing but this led me to question a lot and the OB said she could very well be born between 4/26 and 5/25 but if so, she would tell me the baby came "early" and was not planning to change the EDD from 5/25. O_o

Lynnja616 · March 2014

DS measured "large" or "ahead" my entire first pregnancy. I had to be induced and he came 6 days past my due date.

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