Bernadette

Well we had an ultrasound yesterday and it was a nerveracking few hours to say the least. During the ultrasound the sonographer was not saying much and then she got the doctor to do all of the measurements again. We asked the doctor if her growth looked alright and he said that he would need to check back against the references. So once it was all done we sat in the waiting room waiting for the results. The doctor then came out and told us that Arielle’s growth was sitting on the 8th percentile - not at all what we were expecting (last time she was on the 19th percentile and the time before that was 26th percentile). Under the 10th percentile is usually when they seriously consider taking baby out. The twist however was that her femur length (upper leg) was what was pulling the results down so low. It was only 5.14cm which was basically off the scale. My obstetrician consulted with a fetal medicine specialist and he said that sometimes the femur length can show as smaller than it actually is depending on baby’s position. Her other measurements such as head circumference and belly size were within the normal range (although still the smaller side of normal). Her weight was put at about 3 pounds which again was small for this stage but still within normal ranges. So the ultimate decision was that given I am only 31 weeks pregnant we are getting two weeks grace. Unless something goes wrong in between I will have another ultrasound on the 21st of August and the situation will be reviewed again then. If at any point her movements slow down again then I need to go to the hospital and they will trace her heartbeat. The good news was that she was showing signs of fetal breathing which means her lungs are getting ready to be able to breathe oxygen. That is a really good sign for only 31 weeks (but probably due to the particular steriods I have had since week 14 that are the same family of drugs given to pregnant women who go into early labour to develop the baby’s lungs). So we have been given two weeks grace and we will be keeping fingers tightly crossed (and my legs tightly crossed in case she has any ideas of deciding to come out early of her own accord) that her growth improves and she can stay in as close to term as possible.

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