Growth Scan

Had the growth ultrasound this morning.  Berrykin is NOT going to be huge.  Berrykin is, in fact, right on track.  Head and leg measured a week ahead.  Tummy, on the other hand, measured two and a half weeks behind.  The baby was head-down and left-rear-facing, though, and the tech had a really hard time getting a good tummy reading.  She measured placental blood flow and it turned out in the normal range, so the doc said there isn't anything to worry about.  There is, however, a tiny chance my placenta is breaking down due to elevated blood pressure (normal range for me but technically at the edge of prehypertensive) and the baby isn't getting the nutrients it needs.  She said it didn't really look like it, but they have to monitor me just in case.  So I get to start my weekly visits a little early and have to have a non-stress test every time.  (I always thought "non-stress test" was a silly sort of name.  How does one measure non-stress??  Basically, they just hook you up to a fetal heart rate monitor, hand you a button to push every time you feel the baby move, and you sit there for an hour in a comfy chair and dimly lit room.)  And I have to start doing daily kick counts to make sure Berrykin is still moving enough (it's decreased a lot this week, but I keep wondering if it's because I feel it less, rather than an actual decrease.  I feel it a lot more on the outside than the inside anymore).  I have another growth ultrasound in three weeks to check Berrykin's progress.  By that point I'll be 37 weeks and if anything looks wrong they might go ahead and take the baby then.

"Normal" fetal growth is anywhere from the 10th - 90th percentile.  Berrykin measured 29th (except in the tummy).  So it looks like I may have a small baby after all.  (Or Berrykin could shoot up and out on height and weight in the next month and still come out close to Mommy's 8lbs 9oz.  No way to tell, really.)

Oh, and my fluid levels were fine.  The tech said Berrykin was probably sitting high last check-up, which made me measure large (all it is is a tape measure reading from pubic bone to top of uterus, which can be a guesstimate).  Gender verified, too, removing the last 5% chance the first ultrasound was wrong.  Now we just need to pick a name...