IUGR fetus growth slowing – Anyone got any experience

Hi

Been off STW for a while but back again now.

If you have any experience then your thoughts are appreciated.

Missus is pregnant at 32wks, had a scan last week that showed the babys growth slowed between 20 and 32. The missus has not been taking it as easy as she should have done and is very healthy fit.

Off to the first (twice a week) CGT monitoring session this afty.

Any questions I should ask based on those whove experienced this.

Not worried (yet) but its the first baby and somewhat confused by the whole thing.

Thanks

LB

I guess you’ve looked at this

http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Intrauterine-Growth-Retardation.htm

TBH I think you will be better off speaking to your care provider who will have access to all the information/scans etc.

I hope all works out for you though.

G

Yep looked through it and have a list of questions ready.

The missus really hasnt been resting a lot over the last 3 months for one reason or another. I have a feeling this may be part of whats going on.

Just really if there were any questions that the person new to this might not think of.

Thanks for the info / comment though.

Can you ask by how much it has slowed, if the rate of slowing is anything to be unduly concerned about, whether she can be more closely monitored, whether they would consider emergency c-section and care in a special care unit.

The missus really hasnt been resting a lot over the last 3 months for one reason or another. I have a feeling this may be part of whats going on.

It depends what you mean by not resting, but she is pregnant and not ill. Unless she’s been marathon training and not eating properly, I’m not sure you should make that connection.

Of course, only you know your circumstances, if you think she is overtraining though, you may need to unpick the psychological side of things rather than just trying to persuade her to slow down.

Good luck with it anyway.

As geoffj says, my good lady didn’t stop throughout her pregnancies and it had no ill effect on the nippers, so I’d be wary of looking for something to blame. It could be perfectly normal, could even be something as simple as they’ve got the due date wrong and the baby is in fact a normal size. Whatever happens, good luck 🙂

My advice would be to step away from the web, and ask the people in the know.

Well

gonna ask some questions this afty and see what comes from it.

Putting the web away for now, for obvious reasons.

lardy – try not to worry too much. Our first arrived at 32 weeks. We had an interesting couple of weeks, but the little blighters are pretty tough. If the hospital was worried, they would recommend action. Good luck again though.

And of course it could just have been bad measurements – the first scan might have been incorrect and put size of foetus at >10% of its actual size and this one at <10% of actual size (it is never an exact science) and the compound result is the assumption it hasn’t grown at the ‘correct’ rate.

One of our twins had stopped growing, was born at 35 weeks weighing little more than 3lbs

You would never bloody guess now though

Thanks all

DJG she looks lovely.

Holy cow DJ – that really is a mini me.

She looks like she feels pretty hard done by in that pic.

“Daaad.. she was stealing all the nutrients! Waaah!”

3lbs! That is tiny. Makes ours seem massive (4/10 and 5/7).

My advice would be to step away from the web, and ask the people in the know.

+1

Ignoring my own +1… I have no medical knowledge, only anecdotal, but Mrs Makrie was very active with both sports and work until bump size forced a rest just before term – it would be a massive surprise to me if activity levels vs resting were involved (said in the absence of knowledge of any special factors).

Knowing mothers who have had problems with pregnancies, I’d also be very careful of phrasing when talking about why problems may have occurred as it’s a very sensitive subject.

Good luck.

On a lighter note – my mother felloff her bicycle while pregnant with me. Nature or nurture?

Seriously ask the professionals but if they are not panicking I wouldn’t either

IUGR- Intra-uterine growth retardation, You baby’s growth will have been monitored throughout your wifes pregnancy. Length and Head circumference measurements along with other measurements are taken during the scan that she has. These are then plotted on a standard of averages graph (percentile chart) which is used to monitor the growth of your baby ‘in utero’.
Your baby’s growth is dependent upon blood supply from the placenta which can be affected by a number of factors (including drinking and smoking) but most seriously by you wife’s blood pressure. If blood pressure varies markedly so can the the baby’s growth. Other genetic factors, defects of the placenta, family history, previous pregnancies can all have an influence on an out-come at this stage.
If your baby’s growth tails off signifcantly or stops completely it may become necessary for the baby to be delivered early by cesarean section in order to maintain or re-establish a good growth rate, at 32 weeks & IUGR it may need some respiratory support (CPAP) for several days or even a week or more, other factors overlap here like temperature control and enteral feeding/Intravenous nutrition. All of this means a hospital stay in a NICU or SCBU depending on where you live and your baby’s level of need. Hopefully though all your wife needs is some rest and further monitoring in which case doing nothing means doing nothing even if she says she feels ok.
Good luck and post back with an update.

Any news OP?

Any updates? I would very much doubt its anything to do with her not resting, I rode till 26 weeks and carried on at the gym, digging the garden, walking etc till very late on – please don’t let her feel that this is her fault.

All the best to the 3 of you.

please don’t let her feel that this is her fault

Absolutely agree

I would very much doubt its anything to do with her not resting, I rode till 26 weeks and carried on at the gym, digging the garden, walking etc till very late on – please don’t let her feel that this is her fault.

While plenty of people also drink and smoke while pregnant and still have normal kids… so suggesting that just because you managed fine means it’s fine to go against the general medical advice is a bit odd?

Anyway, I’m sure it’ll be fine and it probably has nothing to do with having an active mother (surely got to be better than having a bloated overweight couch potato mother!).

Medical advice doesn’t recommend no exercise. In fact (sensible) exercise is encouraged.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/fitness/exerciseguide/

The general medical advice my wife was given was not to take on anything extra, if you are already doing something (and it isn’t risking injury) then carry on, just don’t go mental.
Obviously you need to eat/drink etc but all of our health visitors etc just said “do what feels right, your body will tell you”.

so suggesting that just because you managed fine means it’s fine to go against the general medical advice is a bit odd?

Mmedical advice isn’t to stop doing what you were doing though, it’s to carry on (sensibly) listening to your body as you do. Exercise is good for you while you are pregnant, same as at any other time.