baby measuring oddly? or just a stupid OB?

Yolanda Rosas - posted on 05/28/2013

well im supposed to be 21 weeks and they had said i was due the 16th and now they changed it so i dont know what to believe now all i can do is prepare my self when it gets close to the 16 of oct.which i think ill be due the first week

Amy - posted on 01/02/2012

Haha, this happened to me! I had seen another Dr and he told me I was measuring 2" smaller and thought I was loosing water. After an ultrasound and a checkup with my regular Dr, it turned out my Dr measures to the end of the uterus and the other Dr likes to measure to the pelvic! At least I got an extra ultrasound out of the deal...

Susanne - posted on 05/07/2010

This is my fourth baby and on every baby they have sent me for a scan because the midwife thought the baby was too small for my dates. Reality they havent got a clue what they are talking about take no notice.

Stefanie - posted on 05/07/2010

I was given 2 - one based on my last period and once i was 18 weeks I was given another and found out I was actually a little further along than we had originally thought.. They didnt change my due date though and my doctor said there is almost no such thing as a due "day", because babies are very rarely born on that day.. every baby and mommy is different & ultrasounds arent 100% accurate.. so its almost impossible to predict exactly the day.. So I have a due date of August 24th. but my dr actually goes off a due week of the 3rd week of August when I go in to see her. =)

Dawnyka - posted on 05/06/2010

Very well said, Kristin!

Kristin - posted on 05/06/2010

The date your doctor gave you was based off your last period. The reality is not every woman ovulates axactly 14 days after the start of her period. That will throw off the date of conception. A due date is simply an estimation. With my first two kids, I had what I though was a period after we had conceived. So, baby was really 4 weeks (give or take a few days) further along in each case.



When they measure you, they are really measuring to the top of your uterus. Depending on fluid levels, baby position, bladder fullness, and prolly a half a zillion other things, this can be all over the place. They know more than it seems, and definitely enough to know if you are overly large or small. Thus an ultrasound is scheduled.



Ultrasounds are neat, but not exact. They require calibrating and actual skill to see or read anything out of what they are seeing. These can be off too. They can give a more accurate due date, but only in the hands of a very well trained and experienced sonographer.



So, in answer to your questions. They are both possibly correct or wrong. As long as your son is healthy, it doesn't matter. As long as the pregnancy is progressing safely and healthily, it doesn't matter. The due date from either source is just an estimate. Your doctor most likely didn't bring up the different due date, because of that. My records show 2 due dates, one labed LMP, the other labeled U/S.



Talk to your doctor about this stuff. He isn't trying to scare you, anger you, frustrate you, or any of the other thousand and three emotions pregnant women feel in and hour or two. He is not psychic and cannot talk to you about topics that are bothering you if you don't tell him about them. So, keep asking lots of questions and taking excellent care of yourself and passenger.

Rose - posted on 05/06/2010

it could just be your amniotic fluid. Sometimes i measure a week or 2 ahead and sometimes i measure the exact week. I wouldn't worry to much. Just be excited you got to see your baby again. First off depending how much of a difference your due date is off than he probably didn't tell you because if wasn't a big deal, or it was just a couple of days. If you are to concerned about the doc than talk to him and tell him your expectations as your doctor and why he didn't tell you your due date changed.

Tasha - posted on 05/05/2010

I NEVER go by what the dr measured. Babies shift and move. Which never gave me a correct measurement.

Dawnyka - posted on 05/05/2010

Unfortunately, this happens all the time. Modern technology does not know everything. Doctors/ultrasounds are still often wrong. All babies/kids/people grow at their own pace.

I was 17 when I got pregnant with my first. The doctors did NOT believe me when I told them I'd only had sex once (which is true cuz it was the only time). I had 5 ultrasounds with 5 different dates, and they were all wrong. My baby was very small, and according to the date I got pregnant, I was 3.5 weeks overdue when they finally induced me. She's always been a petite girl right up til her 18th birthday, but was always months ahead of the other kids developmentally, both physically and intellectually.

So it just goes to show they don't know everything.

Ashley - posted on 05/05/2010

Most Dr's do have an idea of what they are doing however my dr explained that some drs measure differently based on where they feel your uterus. My dr. isn't as generous as the others so even after my baby was measing big she scaled it back abit. She told me even ultrasounds are not 100% since baby can be curled and such... the only way to know 100% is to have baby be born to. However if they think your baby has stunted growth they will send in for ultrasound to be sure baby is growing normally. Hope that helped some.

Jaci - posted on 05/05/2010

Nice to know doctors are measuring when theyre not actually qualified to know what theyre measuring. There are three doctors where I go and none of them ever measure to the same area. One tries to measure to my belly button every time, one to halfway between my belly button and boobs, and one to just under my boobs. So that makes me mad that they are doing this when they dont know what theyre doing. And because of it, making new moms like me worry that my baby is measuring small.



And I wasnt worried about the date changing persay, but I was about my doctor not informing me that my due date had changed. As I said I had to find out for myself by looking at my own chart.

Teigan - posted on 05/05/2010

hey hey OB arent actually trrained to measure baby, the exact same thing happened to me, so when i asked hi why this was he just admitted that they arent trained in that area, they know enough to get them buy to know whetheror not baby is ok but thats it, also all babys grow differently. my lil girl has been small all the way up to 30 weeks then all of a sudden she put on weight and is a little bigger. good luck

Sarah - posted on 05/05/2010

i wouldn't worry about it too much! every doctor measures your stomach differenty! The book my doctor gave me to read said that you can go to lots of different doctors and their measurements will probably be different! I would talk to your doctor about the difference in opinion and see what he/she has to say! Due dates changing is normal! was it just a few days off or a week or so? my due date changed by one day and they said they weren't gonna change it because most women don't have their baby on their due dates anyways! i wouldn't worry about it if i were you!

Chelsea Cleo - posted on 05/05/2010

Hey there,

I went threw the same thing.
My midwife thought that baby was measuring a bit small, the specialists thought so too and my ultrasound wasnt as bad. It was all cos my daughter was just one of those small babies and nothing was wrong with her.
The positioning can effect a lot so thats a possibility!
You know you can always call your sonographer/midwife and talk to them about it and get them to explain everything to you, theres nothing worse than thinking about it and stressing!

Due dates change all the time according to ultrasounds and its based on the babies growth etc. I had 3 different due dates and none of them were right haha but some peoples are!