Do you think I am Small For My Dates?

[LMS]

People with children keep mentioning how small I am for my dates... I am 30 weeks today with my first baby on the way. One lady even asked me if my doctor had said anything or had been concerned. I am fairly tall 177cm and have put on 6kg. Does anyone feel I should be worried?. Or after so many comments, am I just getting paranoid?. I measure 80cm around (from my belly button).

[StrawberryMumma]

Hi Kanda

When I was pregnant I always felt that I was really small, and like you, I got told by people that I barely looked pregnant and was everything ok...then at 30 weeks I said to my ob 'I feel really small still..what do you think?'' and he said that I did 'look' a bit small but my fundal height was always pretty well spot on so he said we would just watch things. Anyway a few weeks later I was still stressing about being small (although my ob wasn't by that stage) so I had an US and I had the chubbiest looking looking bub hidden in there that the US man thought it was just so funny that I could possibly be worried. Then I went on to have an absolutely perfectly sized baby girl at 39 weeks..

So anyway hun, don't just worry that you 'feel' small. Go by what your ob says and speak to him about it. We all carry differently. If your fundal height measurements are good and the doctor hasn't mentioned anything don't be concerned. You (and bubs!) still have 10 more weeks of growing to be done so I'm sure everything is fine

[Liviam]

I always felt small when I was pg too and everyone went out of their way to tell me so too. I caused me heaps of worries but Olivia was anything but small. She was term and weighed 3850grams. I just hid her well which you could be too.

[Karina]

hey Kanda, I was a similar size. I only put on about 3-4kg during my pregnancy and i remember measuring myself in the last few weeks of pregnancy and I was 85cm around my belly. Lots of people told me I was small, but my ultrasound at 18 weeks showed a healthy sized bub and my fundal measurements were close enough to the number of weeks I was. Some people just hide their bubs well!

[Nelle]

There you go Kanda - it happens a lot! Like the others have said, some people just hide their babies well!

People are idiots too (intolerant pregnant me thinks this a lot! ). With Riv, one lady asked if anything was wrong because I was so small, and it was hard not to worry.

I carried Riv a bit more towards my spine (think perhaps because I tend to stand up straight, and my tummy muscles are pulled in). I wasn't noticeably pregnant til at least 21 weeks, pretty flat til then. I just carried him far back! And trust me, at 9.4lb, he wasn't small.

So - moral of the story is, how you look is probably irrelevant to how big bub is!

P.S. Oh, and keep moisturising your tum, because at some stage, bub might have to go somewhere - in the last couple of weeks I went POP! And was very glad I'd bothered to keep the skin nice and moist. A lot has to do with genes, but I reckon it coulda been a lot worse!

[Roquen]

I am 33 weeks and am sick to death of everyone including perfect strangers telling me I am "very small". I'm just not obese and overweight! I think people are so used to seeing a lot of overweight people walking around that they assume everyone has to get that big. I've only put on 6kg as well and was a size 6 - 8 prior to being pregnant. Don't worry, everyone is different, and half the time just depends how bub is sitting anyway!

My OB said my fundal height was spot on and not to worry about how much weight I put on, that he is more worried about everyone he sees that puts far too much on.

The next time someone says I look "small" I'm going to say " No, I'm not actually". I am just so sick of people thinking they have a right to comment on it!