Small Baby?

[poss_ibilities]

Is it normal for your fundal height to be measuring small? (and you measure while laying down, right?) I am 23w4d today and still measuring right at my bellybutton - the same spot I was measuring around 20w (which was on target for that time). I don't feel like I've gotten any bigger in the last almost 4 weeks. And aren't I supposed to be gaining a

Comments

[lovetokate]

All the things you mentioned are just guidelines. Every woman and pregnancy is different. FWIW I measured consistently "small" for most of my 1st pregnancy and ended up with a full term, perfectly average weight (7lbs. 5oz.) healthy baby girl. :)

[poss_ibilities]

So the fact that I *was* measuring on target and then haven't grown in almost a month is ok, too?

[lovetokate]

Yep. Even in my 3rd pregnancy there was time around 22-24 weeks where I fell back a few inches. A lot of variables come into play for fundal measurements...the level of amniotic fluid, position of baby, etc. Esp. this early, baby is still twirling all around in there so that alone could cause the numbers to differ.

[poss_ibilities]

Good, that makes me feel a lot better already. Even though there has been no indication this pregnancy is ill-fated whatsoever, my mind is determined to convince me it is totally DOOOOMED. :P

[coquine]

If it makes you feel better, my son has measured slightly small my entire pregnancy (I'm 38 weeks today), but was right on track as far as development went. My doctor just thinks I'm going to have a small baby. I guess we'll find out within a few weeks.

[oceanview]

I measured right on til about 25-26 weeks. Then, I fell like 3 weeks "behind" at some point. I then caught up at 36 weeks. My baby was small (6 lb, 5 oz) but he was also born at 38 weeks.

[mercurialness]

Like pretty much all things pregnancy-related, it's different for everyone. I know that guidelines help our providers in doing what they need to do, but at the same time, those guidelines are so frustrating because I don't think any pregnancy is "textbook".

When I had my anatomy scan, baby measured at 18 weeks, 6 days to the day which is exactly where I was according to my LMP. Just barely 2-3 weeks later, with my fundal height and the way he "felt" to my doctor, he was already 3 weeks ahead of where he was supposed to be. This got me all concerned and upset because Google is not my friend and I found all of these things like LGA which is linked to GD, etc. At my next appointment almost a month later, everything was back to measuring/feeling right where he should be according to dates

[sandokai]

Though you never know... I had GD and my baby was 6.5 pounds and always measured exact on the fundal heights...

[mercurialness]

Oh, I know GD doesn't necessarily affect baby's size. This was before my GTT and I was suddenly convinced I could have LGA which is largely influenced by GD so it was just a slippery slope of ridiculous paranoia, lol.

[poss_ibilities]

That's good to hear.

Yes, a close childhood friend of mine was actually on that show. She really didn't know she was pregnant until she was in labor. I saw pictures of her on facebook just days before and I would have never known (and she was a very thin girl - maybe 130lbs!) She didn't know with her 2nd child until she was about 6mo. pregnant either!

[sandokai]

Might be normal if she's transverse...

the midwives here said they only worry if it starts to be more than 3 or so centimeters off.

[poss_ibilities]

Yeah, it would be almost 4 centimeters off now... :-/