Big Hugs! I went through all this during my pregnancy to dd. As my obstetrician explained it, a low PAPP-A is associated of slow growth but this doesn't always happen. I ended up getting an amnio, and in the counseling prior to the procedure the nurse said some women get a low papp-a for no identifiable reason. Everything ended up being fine and dd was delivered a week early (her choice not mine) weighing in at 2.956kg. Its hard not to worry, but a low papp-a sometimes means nothing.
Stellasmum - We are all doing very well. Holly is putting on some good weight now which is a great relief. I'm now fully breast feeding her - with the help of a nipple shield coz she still won't open her mouth for feeds but the nipple shield means I can get the nipple into her mouth and then she will suck. She is still very sleepy so I'm waking her every 4hrs for feeds - she would just continue to sleep. So at the moment it is all quite cruisey - I feed her put her back in her bassinette where she falls asleep herself and then I don't hear from her until I wake her for the next feed. I'm sure things will change at some point and she will get demanding.
Pleased to hear you are now at 31 wks. From what my OB told me a larger head measurement than the body meant it was a sign the placenta was not functioning as it should. If growth is being restricted in any way the body will direct growth to the brain (very untechnical but something like that, brain gets priority over all other body parts), hence the head being bigger. But if you are not having another scan for 4wks everything else must be looking good. Are you seeing your Dr before 4wks? My Dr sometimes didn't order a scan but I saw him and then if he had concerns would order another scan.
It wasn't until the last week where we had a discrepency with the measurements - generally she was just small all over. She sat at the 10th% most of pregnancy (from 24wks). The last scan she was in the 2nd%.
Bridee, how is Holly going now? Hope she is feeding well and you are both happy.
I'm having another scan tomorrow so I'm really hoping that the baby has made some good growth. The doctor has bought the scan a week early, only because he is going away for a week in the school holidays. I'll be glad to see her again anyway! I will post an update tomorrow. I looked into the problem of growth restriction that is 'head sparing'. It sounded very familiar to me, but the doctor hasn't mentioned it so I guess i will have to trust him! I'll be 34 weeks on Wednesday so it's certainly getting closer!
Friends of mine had their pregnancy monitored by a lot of scans due to slow growth & they were getting told the head was too big as well. When bub arrived he was small but perfectly normal & all was in proportion.
Stellasmum - Holly is doing exceptional well - she is certainly trying to catch up growth wise. She is putting on about 300gms per week (which is alot, they expect between 20-40gm a day). She is actually at this point the perfect baby just eats and sleeps. I have to wake her for feeds during the day and at night she is going from 4-6 hrs between feeds so I'm really only waking once in the night to feed her.
Good luck with your scan tomorrow I will be looking out to hear how it goes.
I had the scan this afternoon (34 weeks) and am very happy with the results! The head is still measuring larger than the rest of the body, but the abdomen and legs have grown really well. The doctor is happy with her progress and estimates her weight to be 2.25 kg which is average so that sounds good to me!
The blood flow in the cord is good too so hopefully everything goes smoothly from here on.
So glad to hear Holly is doing so well. She sounds like she is putting on good weight which is great. How are you feeling after the caesar?
Great to hear your scan went well. The weight estimate is great sounds like the papp-a isn't going to play a part in this pregnancy which is fantastic.
I'm fine from the c-sect I'm very lucky to recover very well from them. I was happy to drive from 3wks (actually a couple days before 3wks). I was up and going to DD activities within 2 weeks much to most peoples amazement but I was feeling fine and Holly is such an easy baby she will just sleep wherever I put her.
Registered User
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks