Worried about last 7 weeks

[MrsSB]

Well I was being monitored and having growth scans every 4weeks but at the last one they said my fundal height had fallen from 50% to 5% and her ac has fallen to 25% from 50%. So now they want me to have scans every 2 weeks and they want me to attend the fetal monitoring unit twice a week. I was so in shock I couldn’t think of what to say. Has anyone else had this! Will I be able to have a normal delivery. If my fundal height doesn’t grow what will happen next? Thank you in advance

 

[xarlenex]

How many weeks are you? If they begin to believe baby will thrive more on the outside they could make the decision to deliver early, I'm not sure if that would be induction or planned c section.

 

[MrsSB]

I’m 32 week and 4 days today. Apart from earring moredont know what else I can do to increase my fundal height.

 

[xarlenex]

There's nothing you can personally do at this point. Whenever you are in for the fetal monitoring you should ask if there's someone to talk you through exactly what all this means, or could mean for the last 7-8 week's. With the babies abdominal circumference falling to 25% I think they will just keep an extra close eye to make sure she is continuing to grow in there, if they find she isn't growing adequately they will likely give you steroids to strengthen her lungs and deliver early, but they would have to be sure she'll thrive more on the outside than still inside. I'm sure with close monitoring all will be well

 

[MrsSB]

So had my first trip to fetal monitoring and it went a lot better than expected. They only had me hooked up for 20 minutes and were really happy with her heart rate and her movement. They checked my scan details and said that the pi which is for blood flow in placenta was normal and so was amniotic fluid level. So just got to wait to the scan on wed 25th to see what they say. If it has risen xx

 

[LoraLoo]

The fundal height isnt really too important if you're having growth scans... they actually stopped measuring me in the end because i was having weekly growth scans. The most important tbing to watch out for is any reduced movements, the first sign- go in. If fluid and blood flow are all good thats a really positive sign. They'll just keep monitoring you and if they're at all concerned theyll induce you. I've had iugr with a few of my babies but thankfully they were all ok but I can't stress how important it is to keep your eye on those movements.

 

[BunnyN]

Going from 50 to 5% sounds scary but fundal height isn't all that important in itself. It can help them spot a problem because sudden drop or increase can mean that something is wrong which means they send you for a scan to find out what is going on. Sometimes a change in fundal height is just caused by baby changing position and nothing is actually wrong. It sounds like they have some concerns about the growth of your baby based on scans but ac going from 50 % to 25 % doesn't sound too awful depending on what your next scans show. I am no expert but I've seen lots of posts like this where baby's growth catches up at the next scan. It could also just be that she is naturally on the smaller side. The growth rate of babies naturally varies a lot more toward the end of pregnancy. If her size continues to drop percentiles on future scans that is more concerning and they will start considering steroids etc. It's good that they are keeping a close eye on it in the mean time.

 

[Allie84]

It sounds like you are being well monitored. Try not worry in the meantime.