Are those measurements normal?

Re: Are those measurements normal?

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  harpseal135 member

  November 2022

  If I even knew what they meant, I guess I could answer.  But I don't, not in medical.  If he just said baby measuring small then I would have started asking questions.  
  
  So at this point, you should be seeing him more frequently- ask next time OR call the nurses line and ask if there is need for concern. 

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  00kim00 member

  December 2022

  I find it much more useful to have the percentiles rather than raw measurements, that way you can tell what may be big or small for the age, and how it compares to average. My baby is on the big side, but my doctor, for example, said they don't start to worry until the baby is above the 95th percentile. So ask about percentiles and when they get concerned. I found an online calculator (no idea how accurate it is, which is why you should talk to your doctor) here: https://www.babymed.com/tools/fetal-percentile-ultrasound-measurements-calculator

  
  If that tool is accurate, your baby is measuring almost exactly average (meaning if you lined up 100 babies at 35 weeks in order from smallest to largest abdominal circumference, leg length, and head diameter, your baby will be in the middle of those 3 lines) for everything except head circumference, which is smaller than right in the middle but still within average. It doesn't look like there's anything to be concerned about at all, but again, this needs to be a question for your doctor.

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  anny_r member

  December 2022

  I spent a great deal of time doing my own research on all these measurements and going through them and how to read them with my doctors..
  Here is what I can share (I’m not a medic):
  1. Ask you doctor to share a summary of the report with you - it will have percentile and this is what matters, because they use a particular data base to create the percentile and it may be different from other bases you find online.
  2. What they do with the percentiles- they sum them up to get the final percentile which is considered the size of the baby for the GA. This is the number that matters and not any of them separately.  

  3. When your doctor says that the baby is small she likely means the baby is smaller than 50% of the babies of the same GA. The only reason the doctors are worried is when the percentile is below 10%, which suggests restriction of growth, or below 3%, which is the “true” restriction of growth. If your doctor suspected any of this you would have known it  by now 100%. 

  4. I’m suspecting it’s not your first US to measure growth - ask your doctor to show you the previous summaries too so you could compare and see the tendency over the months - like if the growth has been slowing down (percentile lower with every US). This does not mean there is a problem with the baby at all, but it’s good to know just cause you can influence it by eating more protein (I was advised to eat 120g daily but 80-90g is all I can tolerate without damaging my kidneys). 

  5. HC is what matters more at this stage, as BPD is very hard to measure properly due to lack of access (baby is big at this point). The most accurate US happen on 20 weeks, after this everything is VERY individual and doctors really only use all next ultrasounds to see serious problems which you do not have based on your measurements and this WHO fetal growth calculator - https://srhr.org/fetalgrowthcalculator/#/
  6. I hope this helps! One final share from my doctor - high number in HC is good cause it means more brain structure, eating protein, choline (daily eggs) will help to increase it. Vitamin D needed for bones, generally for pregnant women it’s recommended to have 4000iu daily. But please ask your doctor before following any of my advice! 

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