I'm measuring a month too small

[waiting2bemommy]

the last time we saw the midwife (last saturday at the childbirth class) she realized it had been a while since she saw me, and offered to do my appt then to save us a trip later, so she started by feeling for dd's head (finally where she's supposed to be---yay!!!) and measuring my belly. Which, at the time I was just shy of 35 weeks, and I consistently measured 30 or 31 depending on which midwife measured me (and how far out I could manage to stick my belly, lol)


They told me I need to eat more (true) and that if I hadn't gained at least 2 cm by my next appt I would have to risk out and have a hospital birth. Now, I don't want dd to be born too small at home, for obvious reasons. I also really, really, really want a home birth. I've been trying to eat more and (maybe it was for a reason) I recently lost both of my jobs so that Ia m staying home with ds every day, so I'm getting a little more sleepm and less exercise. (My jobs were working in the mall, standing up for 8-9 hrs each day, and delivering newspapers which included two four story apt buildings).

even so I'm worried....I went ahead and made an appt with my old OB (who delivered ds) on Monday, just in case I do end up aving to switch, and he will measure me and probably order an u/s to get a better idea of dd's size, check fluid levels and so forth.

Has anyone had this experience before? I am only 5'1" and 118 lbs, and I didn't go past about 125 with ds, so I'm not expecting a whole lot more weight gain. I'm now almost 36 weeks and I don't feel as though I've gotten any bigger since last week. dd is kicking though not as much as she used to, but I recall ds kicking less towards the end as well and I thought that was a good sign since it means baby is growing and running out of room.

Is there anything I can do besides eat and worry?

[MyFillingQuiver]

I highly suggest good whey protein shakes! The one I have has 18g of quality protein, and some vitamins. I would recommend doing 2 servings per day.

I don't worry too much about lower weight gains, but it's more building up the baby, the placenta and the blood quality.

Best wishes!

[umsami]

Was your fundal height totally on track with your previous birth? Has it been on track since she began measuring it.

Honestly, part of me thinks it may just be that you're petite and your baby is as well. But to be on the safe side, you'll probably end with an U/S to check size, fluid, etc. Hopefully, if everything is fine, you can still end up with the birth of your dreams.

[Mosaic]

I had the same issue. I really focused on my eating and gained 3 lbs in 2 weeks. BUT, my fundal height was still low. How was her position? Being in the right position: head low in the pelvis, etc.) will make measurements smaller, as will more oblique lays (lies?). My fundal height has been measuring small, too, but we're thinking it's because she's sorta crooked in there, so I'm spread out more than up and down. She said that back in the day, they would measure you both ways (up and down and side-to-side) to sorta capture that possibility, but they don't do that anymore. She recommended getting a support belt to see if that helps in positioning.

[waiting2bemommy]

That's the weird thing, with ds I measured right on the money or even a cm over at times. I was measuring 41 when I gave birth to him (at 40 wks 1 day). He was correctly positioned early, like at 31 weeks or so. Dd up until this past appt has been breech, sunny side up. Then she turned halfway, so that she was lying horizontally, and finally she turned head down.

I'm thinking it could be because I'm having a lot more problems with my mental/emotional health this time. I'm strugglign with depression and I haven't been taing my medication. I can't eat unless I'm relaxed, and with working all the time, trying to be a good mom to ds, having financial issues, and then having a lot of ambivalent feelings about this baby, I haven't been taking care of myself at all. I'm not feeling negative/unhappy all the tiome so much as just tense and wound up. Throw in a major lack of sleep, like less than 6 hrs/day as well.

when I do eat it is 3 or 4 bites and I start feeling too full, like the sick full feeling you get after a huge meal. It's been like that since about 6 months and I'm sure it's a mental thing, not a physical one. i'm constantly thirsty but plain water makes me feel sick so i had been drinking a lot of cheap unhealthy drinks mixed with water (like kool aid or iced tea mix) so that ds could have the 100% juice. Just this week we finally had enough $$ that I went to the store and bought plain old seltzer water and I've been guzzling that with no problems. I just can't drink plain, flat water.

And I'm not normally a picky eater but it's like if it's not what I wanted to eat, just the though of eating it is...ugh, so then I end up falling back on the same few foods all the time. there have been days when all I ate all day was yogurt and toast with cream cheese and jelly. I feel so selfish admitting this when there are people starving but I swear I can't eat more than a couple bites of anything else without feeling awful. All I want is fruit, yogurt, brothy soups, and glass after glass after glass of anything not too sweet to drink.

[Tizzy]

FWIW A good friend of mine recently had her baby. She measured 31, 33, 33, 32 and 37 the day before she delivered (at 40+5d). She's 4'11" and around 125lbs when she delivered - her baby was just fine and weighed 7lb 13oz.
It totally depends on how the baby is laying at that moment, what you've eaten recently, if you've had a BM recently or not, how full your bladder is etc. It's not a scientific measurement and I feel bad that your midwife was scaring you by saying you'd "risk out" of a homebirth just because of that!

[TiredX2]

Can you get an u/s?

One of my SIL's went down to 30-31 cms around 34-35 weeks. They did an u/s and found out her son was engaged (had dropped) and had a HUGE head. Like they ended up testing him when he was a little older because his head was so large. He was delivered, though, just fine as a vaginal birth.

There are a lot of possible reasons for measurements to deviate from average.