Foetal Measurements...whats the REAL idea?

[ladybird11]

So no doubt many of us have heard the 'you'll be having a big baby' or 'sorry the baby is measuring too big so you'll have to have a c/s' lines.

I was talking to DH tonight and it dawned on me - third pregnancy, I still have little idea (probably due to the research I've been doing to increase my chances of a VBAMC) on how much weight these foetal measurements really hold.

I totally get that it helps ensure there is a foetal growth at a certain rate thru out pregnancy; but its accuracy I can't fathom.

I'm holding this bundle all out front, so naturally I would measure on the larger size than another woman of a similar size to me / same gestation that is carrying her bub length ways IYKWIM?

So whats the go with foetal measurements, how much accuracy do they really hold in labour etc?

[Arimeh]

So whats the go with foetal measurements, how much accuracy do they really hold in labour etc?

Depends who you are asking ...

[Jakabella]

Nearly everyone I have know to be told that "your having a big baby" hasnt I I didnt either.

My Ob now wois very pro natural labour - measure with the tape then basically dismisses it - he says that he measures to make sure the bub is growing BUT you dont know how big a bub is going to be till its born! And my MW is the same.

I wish all Ob's were like my Ob now...he ROCKS!

[Beautitude]

I always measured average with ds2 and he was an absolute whopper at 10 pound 4. My midwife was shocked and said we had no way of knowing he was that big. To this day I have no idea where I was hiding him. I was big but not that big!

[ladybird11]

I was afraid of that...(being up to the OB)...

In a way I think my OB is silently cheering me - but he may not be working on the day. He knows full well the difference between my dating scan vs the consistency between my 12 wk and 18 wk scans (both which show me a week earlier) and he opted to let me keep the 'extra week' EDD; and last appt he said "yes, I can see you've grown dramatically" and didn't even pick up the measuring tape.....

[Jakabella]

Yeah I measured 2 weeks ahead at my last appointment but my Ob didnt even bat an eye lid and didnt even mention it to me! I only knew as I was reading in my VMR when I got home!

[Arimeh]

I measured a week and a half ahead today. My midwife didn't mention it. Could be the baby's positioning. Could be a growth spurt. Could be a bit of extra fluid. Could be lots of things other than a sign the baby is too big.

[1pj]

i measured all over the place with DD,mainly way too small they basically said they didnt think she make it she would be less than 4 pounds full term and her stomach was way too small bla bla so they brought her on just over a week early worried she wasnt getting nourished properly and she was 5 pound 5 and perfect so if she went to full term or over she could of been 6 pound or even 7!!anyway im getting the same thing this time and im so annoyed at myself for having an early scan as theyve said "possible down syndrome"because i thought i was 6 weeks 4 days and they saying i was 5 weeks 4 days how can they know soemthing so early??and why stress me when i have to wait so long for the nt scan anyway??sorry that turned into a bit of a vent but im wondering the same,a few people i know were brought on early as told they were having a really big baby but were only 7 pounders???

[*Beema*]

There are sooo many factors that come into it, fundal height, not particularly accurate as an esitmating baby size, because everyone carries differently, baby's position etc.

Scan measurements, depends on the sonographer, and baby's position etc to get a "good" measurement. But there have been heaps who have been told oh you are having a big bay and in the end they pop out at a pretty average size....

I don't think there is a heap of value in getting them done, unless there is a medical need, ie issues that may be causing growth restriction, or too much growth (GD), when the babies health is an issue, even then we would generally be doing them fortnightly. I think by telling mum that you are having a bigger baby is really just putting doubt in the mothers mind, when she is most likely completely capable of delivering a bigger baby. A bit of scaremongering....

I had quite a few growth scans throughout my pregnancy with DD2 due to all the complications but we weren't concerned if bub was measuring behind was more important about mine was the variation between the different measurements, HC/BPD/FL generally you want them to be all about the same, but as I had low PAPPA DD2 was being monitored to make sure things weren't growing out of proportion, when they did it indicated that she was not receiving enough nutrients. The disproportioned mesurements did correlate when she was born, her waist/belly/bum were tiny 00000 pants wouldn't stay up, with a nappy, even a cloth nappy, yet she was 2.7 born and 2.4 at her lowest, so not that small YKWIM and her head was measuring much larger, but her length on par....

You and your body are completely capable aof delivering your baby what ever the size he/she is

[Just Me]

I am measuring 4cm ahead with my fundal height and on the ultrasound my baby is showing measurements of 4 weeks ahead also. It's a load of bollocks and gives no real impression at all of what is going on. I can say that with confidence because this is my third pregnancy where I have measured so far ahead of my dates and been told that I am having a 'whooper'.

My first massively ginormous, oversized baby was born weighing 3.8kg (8 pound 9 or something like that) and my second even bigger whopper of a baby was born weighing 4.1kg (9 pound something - she was also born via c/section due to being breech and when she left special care 24 hours later, her weight had dropped to 3.8kg so I wonder if she was just full of a lot of fluid that didn't get squeezed out when she was born).

My babies are not small by any stretch but they are also not the behemoth babies that the hospital tells me that I am having.

On the flip side, I have had friends who have been told that their babies are incredibly small for dates only to have them born at 38 weeks weighing over 5kg, measuring 59cm with a head circumfrence of 39cm. They don't take into account much about body shape. My two friends that have had this happen were both incredibly tall women who had a lot of room to carry their babies.

[ladybird11]

Thanks ladies - you've just reinstilled in my head what I thought to be true

xoxox

[*TripleJ*]

i measured spot on with both pregnancies with both U/S and fundal height yet they were 3.49kg and 3.96kg respectively HTH

[MrsBexie]

I had growth scans done because they thought she wasn't big enough! The last one I had was on a thursday and they estimated her to be 2.94kgs an I gave birth on the monday morning, she was 2.95kgs!!
BUT this was the FIRST time I have ever heard of the US estimation being correct!! Especially with "large" babies, they can be quite a bit different to the actual birth weight... The sonographer said it could be out my 300gms each way but really it can be out way more than that!

Your body will not grow a baby you cannot physically birth, so don't worry.. you can do this! And you can birth your perfectly sized baby!!!

[LimeSlice]

I have not had one single fundal measurement taken this pregnancy.
My ob will feel where she is with his hands, but he never measures, only listens to her heartbeat for 5 seconds and that's it.

I had the normal scans, and an extra at 34ish weeks, but that was to check position of placenta, and no measurements of baby were taken at all.

The specialist ob at the hospital even asked me if I was concerned about size and asked how I compared to last preg. I told him the belly was smaller this time around, but I started 20kg heavier, he nodded and said perfect, then nothing to worry about there.

So honestly, I am not sure they are important at all! lol Certainly nobody has cared about bubs size this pregnancy, last time anyone thought to mention it was at my 20 weeks scan, where the sonographer happened to mention in passing that her femur was at least a week ahead of dates, but all else was on par with dates, so she might be tall.

I have no idea what any of her measurements were/are, not a clue about fundal height, nor has it been recorded anywhere in my notes. Baby is doing the baby thing and nobody cares what size it is...

...Is that so unusual?

[~Stoked~]

My baby was measuring a week and a half behind (on u/s) and 2 weeks behind (fundal height) and I was told he was going to be small. He was 8lb 15oz... So definately not small!