I used to think of baby boy as “little man”. The last month or so, when I think of him as that it makes me laugh, it makes me laugh because there is nothing little about him, he’s a giant…
The following graph is testament to the fact that I’m a class A nerd. It is a plot of gestation age in weeks vs. fundal height (the measurement from pubic bone to top of the uterus). The blue points are a normal 50th percentile baby. The pink dots belong to “little man”. The curve shown is the exponential trendline that fits my fundal height measurements and projects how huge he will be in the end compared with an average baby.
Incase you’re not a super math geek like me and the graph above means nothing to you, please reference the written version of our baby’s exponential growth extrapolation that follows...
At 20 weeks my fundal height was a week ahead. At my 20 week ultrasound he measured 1 week ahead of the average 20 week baby. No big deal, we just joked that he was going to be a strapping lad.
At my 26 week appointment my fundal height was 2 weeks ahead. My OB was a little worried that I had too much amniotic fluid so she sent us in for another ultrasound. At our 27 week ultrasound “little man” was measuring right on track for a 29 week fetus (92nd percentile). This is when the giant jokes started. Our OB said not to worry, he is just going to be a big boy.
Today I had my 29 week appointment. My fundal height was 5 weeks ahead… I won’t know for another week and a half just how huge he has gotten, but given the fact that he’s always matched the fundal height measurements so far, I’m a little nervous.
Enter, Andre the Giant, formerly known as Little Man.
According to my OB most uteri can’t handle a fundal height of greater than 42-44 cm. According to my ridiculously nerdy graph, Andre will be there somewhere between 33 and 35 weeks. My OB is stopping all my meds to prevent contractions at 34 weeks and we’ll all be surprised if he stays inside much longer than that…
Are you being put on bed rest? I think activity and stress are the things that can really push you over the edge with preterm labor. 35 weeks is an awesome goal to shoot for. At the hospital I delivered at, they consider a 35 weeker a full term baby because they rarely have any challenges at that gestational age. I'll send your little man "I'm a Little Tea Cup" vibes.
ReplyDeleteHm... I'm not sure what I think about this. In my case (which is all I have to compare it to of course *grin*), I measured a couple weeks BEHIND at the end, ended up going into labor with my little girl at 38w, and she was still 8#2oz. Does fundal height necessarily correlate to baby size I wonder??
ReplyDeleteI agree that they don't always correlate, I'm mostly joking. But so far they've all been the same as his ultrasounds.... Buti don't really think it's possible that he's that big. As for measuring small at the end I think that's usually an indication that the baby dropped into position, but I'm not sure. Either way that's crazy that she was so big 2 weeks early!
DeleteOK, you really are SUCH a dork. Holy crap I love you!
ReplyDeleteI love the graph, that's awesome! :) It will be interesting to see what he's measuring on the u/s at your next appt. I go for an u/s on Monday and am curious to see see how big mine is too! Please keep me posted. :)
ReplyDeleteWow - big, healthy baby boy! That's awesome.
ReplyDeleteI love that you've "geeked" out to your baby's measurements! Nothin' wrong with that at all :)
Oh how I love your nerdness.
ReplyDeleteLOL, your nerdiness is cute! This is so interesting!
ReplyDeleteThat is fun!!! Wishing you and your baby the best. If you have concerns though make sure to voice them. I lost my son at 29 weeks gestation. I was measuring at 44 cm. VERY not normal. The cause is still unknown. It concerns me when women measure large now. God Bless
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