major concerns(sorry kinda long)

I am 28 weeks and 4 days and every ultrasound I have had they tell me my baby is measuring 2 weeks smaller than she should so i have to have ultrasounds done every 2 week's at a genetics Dr..well yesterday i went for another growth scan and he tells me my baby is measuring even smaller! 2 weeks ago she was in the 28th percentile and now she is in the 24th percentile. He also informs me that I will have to have weekly non stress tests done because either my placenta isn't "doing what its supposed to" or I am developing pre- e..im so scared and i have no idea what to think or even expect from this whole situation..im looking for helpful ideas and advice and I'm wondering has anyone been in my situation and what was the outcome like for you

Quoting Ashley Zernell:" I am 28 weeks and 4 days and every ultrasound I have had they tell me my baby is measuring 2 weeks smaller ... [snip!] ... looking for helpful ideas and advice and I'm wondering has anyone been in my situation and what was the outcome like for you"

I have not been in the situation momma. But my prayers are with you and I hope that things go well for you!

<blockquote><b>Quoting Pistol Amber:</b>" I have not been in the situation momma. But my prayers are with you and I hope that things go well for you!"</blockquote>




Thank you..I appreciate it

There are a lot of women on here so I am sure you will find the information you are looking for!

<blockquote><b>Quoting Pistol Amber:</b>" There are a lot of women on here so I am sure you will find the information you are looking for!"</blockquote>




I hope so..I'm a first time mom so I don't really know as much and I am racking my brain trying to figure this out

I'm currently dealing with this. Bubs is on the small side but they're not sure how small, since they discovered this during a regular visit when they just peek in on a crappy old machine. I'm going in the morning so they can measure her. This just developed in the past month, at my appointment before this she was little, but still just on the small side of normal.

My advice to you is not to google ANYTHING. I made the mistake of googling a few things!

Quoting Ashley Zernell:" I am 28 weeks and 4 days and every ultrasound I have had they tell me my baby is measuring 2 weeks smaller ... [snip!] ... looking for helpful ideas and advice and I'm wondering has anyone been in my situation and what was the outcome like for you"

I had both with my last pregnancy and already at just halfway I am showing five weeks behind well now my dr.s know better than to keep changing my due date....its scary momma I know but stay calm stay relaxed eat healthy if you can do all the super preggo stuff no pregnant woman really does till they tell you either way what is going on ...btw it is possible you may just have small babies idk your genetics tho but I have this as well going on...anyways once they inform you what is going on a plan will be made for treatment and how long both you and baby will be together before it either becomes to dangerous for you or the baby cause we wanna keep em cooking as long as we can to help them but be prepared for the very real possibility of a preemie or small enough child to be in the NICU go visit your local one if you can and try to be very stress free and logical about it dont be scared my son did fine in the NICU he has no issues etc. just was small and a bit early ....make sure you keep up with your kick counts and even if it seems nothing is wrong follow your instincts if you get that wierd feeling your not paranoid your a mom do your best to get checked out but most likely you will be spending every other day at dr. anyhow I wish you luck momma its gonna be ok just alot of waiting and trying to calm when all you wanna do is cry

Quoting Ashley Zernell:" I am 28 weeks and 4 days and every ultrasound I have had they tell me my baby is measuring 2 weeks smaller ... [snip!] ... looking for helpful ideas and advice and I'm wondering has anyone been in my situation and what was the outcome like for you"

DONT WORRY. Trust me! Thiz happened to me. My son is now 7 weeks today and my entire pregnancy I was told my son measured atleast two weeks behind. I had 10 ultrasounds because I had to have growth ultrasounds like 5 times. My son was in like the 20 percentile and I was so nevous. She told me that my placenta was "old' meaning it was not working the way it should so it was overworkin trying to give my son enough food etc. I also was running around with my toddler so I was burning off alot of calories. She told me to rest on my left side for an hour every day and to try and get keep around the house and with my son (which I didnt lol). I was told to consume alot of protein. I bought protein shakes and drank one in the morning and one at night everyday to gain weight and I also still ate breakfast and dinner with those meals in order to gain the weight. After a few months I was gaining weight but he was still behind so I started drinking three protein shakes a day and my son gained two in a haf pounds in three weeks which was more than he had in the two months prior. Good luck but don't worry. My son came at 39 weeks and he was 6 pounsd 13 ounces. The doctor was considering inducing me if my son didn't gain weight but he came on his own and was perfectly healthy.

This happened to me with my middle baby. I have issues anyway, so I was already getting monitored every 2 weeks or so depending on what was going on. My middle baby was measuring in the 50% until my 30 week U/S. Then his percentage started dropping off the chart. They started talking about inducing early around 34 weeks. By 36 weeks, his estimated weight was 4.5lbs. That was under the 5%. I was given an amnio and induced at 37 weeks. I was already getting NST anyway twice a week from 32 weeks on for other stuff.

The reason they hung on so long without inducing me is because he was still growing until the end and because my fluid levels were fine. When your placenta starts dying, you normally will have lower than average fluid levels and the baby will stop growing completely. There's also been some studies done and it's inconclusive about whether or not inducing early is even beneficial. More often than not, our bodies will go into labor when our placenta starts dying prematurely. Sometimes that doesn't happen though and that's why they monitor the baby so closely. But basically the fetal outcome (whether or not the baby is born healthy) is the same percentage either way.

So anyway.. my son was born at 37ish weeks. He weighed 6lbs 7oz (U/S's can be off by as much as 2lbs either way). I delivered with an entire room of dr's though. I had my high risk dr, the attendee, a few other dr's from the floor, a nurse and a few student nurses, a NICU team ...etc...etc... All for a baby who ended up being perfectly healthy.   It was like a circus. They even set off an alarm when i was about to push, so we had strobe lights going too.

My son did end up having to be evaluated by a geneticist because of a few issues. He had a single simian crease on both hands (rare and possibly a marker for stuff, but wasn't in this case) and his long bones (upper arm bones, upper leg bones) are much shorter in proportion to his body than they should be. That's what threw off the weight estimate on the U/S in the first place. (Weight is estimated by the circumference of the abdomen, circumference of the head, and length of the long bones)

It sounds like your baby is growing consistently though. I mean 2% either way isn't all that big of a deal. Baby's don't grow the exact same amount every week and U/S measurements are different every time you take them. That's why they normally do a few and take an average. I'm pretty sure that SGA (small for gestational age) starts at babies measuring under 10 to 15% and IUGR is under 5%. I could be wrong though. It's been a while since i looked it up.

Thank you ladies, this made me feel a little better..i guess im so scared because i have a lot of complications with my pregnancy and I was told my placenta is not the correct shape..its supposed to be flat and mine is circular. And when I was told that he did tell me I have to be watched closely because that alone could restrict my babys growth, so it freaked me out when he told me she got smaller..I know you ladies arent drs but will all of this consider me high risk? They were already talking about inducing me early when they realized my placenta was oddly shaped

Do i think you'll be put in the high risk category? Yes probably. I think there are different degrees of high risk. I mean I'm type 1 diabetic and that alone made me 'high risk'. It didn't mean much though. I got a few extra U/S, but was essentially treated normally. I saw a regular OB. Then when they found out I have cervix issues and PTL, i started seeing a high risk dr and seeing them every 2 weeks. Both were high risk. Both were very different situations.

I'm just trying to wrap my head around all of this..everything is so new to me, and if im having all these complications and if they get bad enough to the point they are gonna take my daughter early I don't want my daughter born in the hospital here..I don't feel as though they are equipped enough to handle it so I would wanna have her at the childrens hospital about an hour or so away from me

Quoting Ashley Zernell:" I'm just trying to wrap my head around all of this..everything is so new to me, and if im having all ... [snip!] ... they are equipped enough to handle it so I would wanna have her at the childrens hospital about an hour or so away from me"

Hmm well you could always ask your dr for a referral for a consult with a perinatologist. That way you could have all of your bases covered. Our local hospital here is equipped to handle babies born after 32 weeks. I deliver at the hospital with the higher level NICU because over the years it's been easier to just let my high risk dr take over my whole pregnancy. That's not typical though. Normally high risk dr's are a special occasion type of dr. You might have a couple of appointments with them (depending on what's going on) once a month or once every couple of months.

You'd want to discuss with whichever dr you're planning on delivering with about where you want to deliver and certain drs only have privileges at certain hospitals. It would be better to have a dr who is familiar with your situation than to go to a hospital with dr's who don't know anything about your history.

There are things they can do for the baby if they think they are going to deliver. Steroid shots to speed up baby development for example, but those are only going to help if they're planning on taking the baby before or around 34-35 weeks.

I'm gonna call my regular ob as soon as he gets back..he went on vacation and won't be back until Monday or so..and I will also be talking to him about the steroid shots and stuff like that..i just so nervous that something isn't gonna go right or something so I wanna try to cover all bases and learn about all of my options