baby measuring 11 days smaller at 19 weeks

[melbrodhi]

Hi, i had my 19 weeks scan yesterday. it wasnt really the happy event that i'd hoped for and all the other scans until now have been.

baby is measuring 11 days behind, the u/s doctor was really nice and said there were no problems he could see, that shes all in proportion for her size and he thinks she will be ok, just maybe a small baby. however they want me to go for a follow up scan in 4 weeks to check her growth.

4 weeks is going to seem a lifetime and of course now i am freaking out thinking there is something wrong

i am going out of my mind with worry here, so any advice or stories that anyone can share about babies not measuring right at scans, please????

thanks, mel

[catherinemoses]

Hi Mel.

Congrats on your pg! Try and not stress yourself out hun. I'm sure that everything is fine. They were happy with everthing else, proportions especially, and that is great. They would have told you if there was something more wrong than just being a little small. 4 weeks will be over before you know it! Please try not to worry about it.

[idacq223]

There is no need to freak out. Scans are useless for measuring babies unless they are repeatedly done to measure the growth of the same baby. If you take the population as a whole some of us will be tall and some small and that is all your ultrasound has told you that your baby is not on the tall side. If you look at yourself and your partner I'll bet you aren't either. What the ultrasonographers measure is a bunch of predetermined things like head circumference, abdominal circumference, femur length etc and then plot your baby on a graph for the number of weeks you are. 50% of babies will be below the 50th percentile and 50% will be above it (thats what it means) correspondingly 10% will be below the 10th percentile and 90% above it and 10% will be above the 90th percentile and 90% below it. The trouble is that they then compare your babies measurements to the 50th percentile and tell you its small for dates. Its not small for dates its just not as big as a baby who would fall on the 50th percentile. 'IF' you agree to another scan if four weeks your baby will still be exactly the same because even if its grown appropriately for four weeks it will still be below the average. You dont need another scan because any caregiver, midwife or Obs worth their fee will be able to tell if your baby is growing simply by feeling your fundus and whether it is increasing appropriately from one visit to the next. Thats why we do it. So chill and enjoy your pregnancy.

[Ozziehoffy]

I agree about trying not to worry. I was told my baby at 36 wks was HUGE as in 97 percentile head size etc and he only turned out to be average size and NOT in the 97 percentile at full term. It's not accurate sizing a baby by scan. Like you said, everything is in proportion which is what's really important.