Growth spurt?

[mama to 2 girls]

I should probably know the answer to this but I don't.....Is it possible for a baby in utero to have a growth spurt and then "level out" for a while. Could that be a reason for measuring ahead sometimes and then measure right on at others? Or do unborn babies grow at a steady rate throughout pregnancy?

[reducereuserecycle]

I think they have growth spurts but I'm not sure. I am basing that on the fact that this whole pregnancy I didn't look pregnant and then all of a sudden between Thanksgiving and Christmas I got a belly that actually looked preggo (maybe it was all the holiday food)

[kerikadi]

Yes, babies do go through growth spurts in utero. Another explanation could be the baby's position. At one visit the baby could be all balled up and you may measure small and the next visit the baby could be all stretched out and you'd measure bigger. I was measuring two weeks 'behind' a few visits in a row and then one visit I measured 2 weeks 'big'. At the end I usually level off around 37-38 weeks no matter how long I go, it doesn't mean the baby stopped growing, it has more to do with position of the baby.

Keri