My baby is measuring 2 weeks ahead. Does this mean I will deliver early?

Описание: Fetuses grow at a very consistent rate in the 1st trimester. And actually, an ultrasound in the 1st trimester is the most accurate way to determine a woman's due date, because if your baby is measuring 9 weeks, then you're reliably 9 weeks along. But an ultrasound isn't always necessary to determine when you're due unless you had irregular cycles in the past or you don't remember when your last period was. So you may not have an ultrasound in the 1st trimester. You're first ultrasound might not be until 20 weeks when your doctor is going to check how your baby is growing and developing, make sure that everything looks good, they're going to check the placenta location and also the cervical length to make sure it's not shortening prematurely. And if everything is good, you might not have another ultrasound during the pregnancy.

You'll notice that at each doctor's appointment past 20 weeks, the doctor pulls out a measuring tape and measures from your pubic bone to the top of your uterus, and this is called the fundal height, and it should match your gestational age in centimeters. So if your 26 weeks along, you should be measuring about 26 centimeters. If you start measuring abnormally small or large, then it's necessary to determine what's causing that, and an ultrasound will help the doctor determine what's going on. Is it the actual size of the baby? Is it the amount of the fluid surrounding the baby? Or maybe it's just how you're carrying the baby. If they determine that it's actually the size of the baby, they're abnormally small or large, and it's past 20 weeks, they have to consider underlying pathological conditions that would be contributing to that.

So if a baby is measuring abnormally small, it's probably due to the fact that the placenta is not working like it should, and there's lots of different things that can cause that. But if the baby is abnormally large, an example of an explanation that can cause that is gestational diabetes, or maternal type 1 or type 2 diabetes that she knew about before she got pregnant. So after considering these things, they usually monitor more closely, track the growth of the baby, and see what's going on, but it rarely changes the due date.

Now in your case, you have a large baby, and you're wondering if this is going to cause you to deliver early. And not necessarily. Again, the doctor will track the growth of your baby. If you were measuring really really big, or some women have so much fluid in their uterus that, basically, it makes them measure way over 40 weeks way earlier than when they're 40 weeks, and it's like their body thinks they're done. It's like a turkey timer - it pops, and so they go into preterm labor, because their body thinks it's just over - it's reached its max. So in some cases, it can cause preterm labor, but just a couple weeks' discrepancy usually doesn't cause that. And as for induction, doctors don't usually induce early for large babies, because babies do best when they're born at 39 weeks. So all the pros and cons of early delivery need to be weighed out. The mother's risk of having a C-section might be higher if she's cooking a very large baby, but if babies are born before 39 weeks, sometimes they have issues with breathing, jaundice, breastfeeding, and so they have to weigh all of this out and decide if the woman should actually deliver earlier or not. If it gets to the point that induction is actually medically indicated, we've reached the point where the risk of staying pregnant is higher than the risk of delivery. So again, it has to be weighed out.

I recommend talking with your doctor, and based on their knowledge of your situation, they'll be able to give you the best advice about what their plan is for you, and give you more details about the size of your baby and what implications it might have on delivery. Good luck with everything, and if you have any other questions for me in the future, feel free to ask them on our Facebook page at   / intermountainmoms  , and recommend us to your friends and family too.