measuring big

[crsta33]

For some reason I'm measuring 34 and 1/2 weeks...I'm only 30 weeks 4 days, so that's like 4 weeks ahead of where I should be. The midwife doesn't know why, but she wants to check my blood sugar (she tried today and her monitor wouldn't work! ). She also wants me to see her in 2 weeks instead of 3 (for 2nd timers it's every 3 weeks until 37 weeks and then every 10 days instead of the usual every 2 weeks and then once a week).

She talked about excess amniotic fluid, though she said she didn't think I have that b/c she could feel the baby so well. She talked about the baby being large, but said he really doesn't feel that big. She talked about a possible problem with the baby, but said that was unlikely since the 20 week u/s didn't show anything abnormal. She talked about possibly having another u/s done to check everything before sending me to her backup physician (she's doing that b/c my insurance won't cover an u/s at his office and she's afraid if she sends me to him first he would order an u/s and she knows we can't afford it).

So everything she told me could be causing it, she pretty much said wasn't what was causing it. She told me to watch my diet, eat lots of protein, and really watch refined sugars.

This is probably not a big deal, but I feel a little overwhelmed...I want to know what's going on. Especially since I suspected twins early on , though the u/s tech was sure at 20 weeks that there is only one (I have to agree, I can't imagine where the other would have been...we would have to have seen it too).

Christa

[kel]

I've measured between 5 and 7 weeks ahead this entire pregnancy and my midwife and doctor haven't felt that anything was wrong. I know my last pregnancy that I measured right on almost every week, but then starting at around 30 weeks I measured 3-5 weeks ahead for a few visits before it evened out again. My midwife just wrote down "baby growth spurt" on my chart. It's too bad that your midwife made you worry, but I don't think that you should.

[deathbygodiva]

Christa-
I agree with Kel. It's a shame your "medwife" (IMHO) voiced all her concerns to you. She could be cautious without being so alarming. I've frequently measured 4-6 cm larger along the way...

Take it easy and try not to worry too much,
Lori

[*Amy*]

I was measuring about 4 weeks ahead as well, as of a few weeks ago. My MW said it was nothing to be concerned about and can have a lot to do with your body type/size. I'm definitely not carrying twins!

[MamaFern]

im also measuring big and the midwife doesn't think its a problem at all, though i sometimes wonder if ive got twins in there :LOL

i had a midwife with my first child that made me feel really freaked out and worried about it ( because i also measured big with my son) i felt like she was saying that i was going to have this HUGE baby and not be able to birth it vaginally, and she really pushed the diabetes testing on me, though it made me sick and came back totally normally. i ended up having my son at home ( i switched practitioners at 8 Months), with no complications.. he was 7lbs 8 oz.. tiny in my eyes! but perfect.

this time, although im measuru=ing 3-5 weeks ahead im not worried, because i figure my body knows what its doing. my MW has never mentioned exess amniotic fluid, or diabetes testing (after i refuse dit the first time) or anything of the sort. she says more commonly than not its just babies possition in the womb and the way your body carries the baby.and she says that im healthy and baby is healthy and all is well.. im going to ask her next appt about twins..it just feels SO squished in there..

but i really advise you to listen to your body! if you feel like there isnt anything wrong, dont let her freak you out. one thing i really dislike about medically trained people is their ability to make us feel small.. because they "know" so much more than us that they are always right, which is totally unfounded..at least i dont believe it at all..

hang in there.. im sure you and your baby are perfectly healthy and fine..

[flapjack]

You're only measuring 1 cm ahead. There's a normal range of 3cm up or down from your gestation in weeks, so anything from 27.5 to 33.5 cm is completely par for the course. Now, go look at a tape measure and see how small a cm is.
I don't like midwives who need to use tape measures. The ones who cared for me before wrote =30 or whathaveyou on my records and that was the end of that. Yes, it standardises measurements so more than 1 person can do your antenatal care, but it also gets them to second-guess their own judgement and- you guessed it- brings the obstetricians back into play. IMHO, it's a way of bringing the medicalisation of birth to a whole new audience.
When I went in for the c-section that didn't happen with Alex, I was measuring at 35cm at 38 weeks. He was born nearly 6 weeks later, weighing 14 lbs, and if they'd spent more time looking at me and less at meaningless numbers, they'd have had a whole new reason to pressure me into unnecessary surgery.

[crsta33]

I'm not having the full diabetes test, she just wants to do a "random" test to see what my blood sugar is. I totally understand why she needs to look at any possibilities and I'm sure she was just telling me that these are the things that could be causing this, but she did say that I'm in a normal range of growth, just somewhat at the top of that range and I think she wants to make sure everything is okay...and not send me to a doc before it's necessary. I measured 3 weeks ahead last time, so I ended up with an extra week's growth, which is why she wants to measure in 2 weeks to see what's going on.

I just feel a little unsettled and needlessly worried. I dreamed last night that I was having a vaginal u/s to check the cord to confirm the due date and that the test was going to be done in this huge, open, "public" operating theatre and they were going to cath me and if something was "wrong" they were going to section me right then. It was not a fun nightmare to have, but it's indictive of my mental state right now...I hope bad dreams actually help work out some of those scary, bad feelings.

Christa

[Treasuremapper]

OK, here is a slightly different perspective. My babies were both very big, and I measured a little big on the first baby and very big on the second baby. I was tested thoroughly for gestational diabetes, even though there was no sign of GD on the screening, because I was measuring that big. My first dd weighed eleven pounds, zero ounces, my second dd weighted twelve pounds, eight ounces and was 22 inches long.

My first daughter had excess amniotic fluid, and it was not a sign of any sort of problem. Maybe there was just more fluid because she was such a big baby. She turns four in a few months, and she has never had any sign of any problem that may be related to excess amniotic fluid.

My second daughter also had excess amniotic fluid and in her case it was a sign of a real problem, but they never told me what that real problem was, what to look out for, etc. They did monitor me more during pregnancy, but they didn't tell me what could be the possible cause. After she was born, she had symptoms of one of the problems and if they had told me in advance I could have been on the look out and gotten her medical attention earlier. As it turned out, she was one of the lucky ones and she is doing fine. She just turned two years old last week. Her symptoms, other than the increased amniotic fluid, did not show up until she was seven days old.

So, just based on my personal experience, I would want to know -- ok, so if there is increased amniotic fluid, is there anything I need to look out for -- specifically what should I look for after the baby is born -- I would give those questions to a neonatologist, not to a midwife. Most pediatricians don't even know what to look for.

It is probably no big deal. Maybe the baby is a little on the big side, maybe you have a relative who had big babies, etc. But if there is a possible problem, then it helps to have that information so you can protect your baby and know what to look for.