Baby is small

[Elliellie]

Hi all, I posted recently about having a low lying placenta at 34 weeks & having to have another scan at 36 weeks to see if I needed a c section. Well, that was today & I had both an external & internal scan & found the placenta is low but not covering the cervix & baby's head is below it so I can have a natural birth - good news! BUT, then they told me that baby is measuring small & they are going to induce me at 38/39 weeks. They said I might just have small babies & might be fine or it could be that the placenta isn't functioning properly & so it's best to get baby out. They have booked me in for a sweep on Tues (I'm only finishing work on fri so not much chillin time for me if that works!) & then an induction the following week.
Just feeling really worried about baby now & also about the prospect of being induced as have heard it's more painful & more chance of complications?? Also, how often do sweeps tend to work & are they painful? How long does it take to do a sweep?!

 

[Rachel1509]

I can't advise you on the sweep, but try your best not to overly worry about it all. Being induced isn't exactly what most women dream of happening, but it gives you your LO at the end of it doesn't it!
There seems to be a lot of ladies on here who have been induced, so makes me realise it's quite common. I think it does take longer then a natural birth, but that's because it's intervention and you have to trick your body into going into labour rather then it happening itself, therefore making it a bit more frustrating.

I'm sure there's lots of women who'll reply and ease your worries

 

[tillzy69]

Good news about the natural birth! I don't think sweeps are that bad my friend had 3 before her LO arrived. Don't think they took too long to do. She was booked to be induced but gave birth two days before. Fingers crossed everything is well and you just have a small healthy baby! Good luck with it all!!

 

[Roo3]

I had 4 sweeps and was induced. A sweep only takes a couple of minutes and may be a little uncomfortable. I wouldn't say it was painful. Just take a pad with you for afterwards as you can get a little more discharge afterwards. I think they say that if a sweep is going to work, things will start happening within 24 hours of having the sweep but I might be wrong.
I've only had one baby so can't compare my labour to a normal one thats not induced, but once I was hooked up to the drip the contractions got a lot stronger with not much of a break inbetween. They say that an induced labour is more painful because there is no warm up really with the contractions, they just start strong and stay strong. But everyone's pain threshold is different so what might be painful to me might not be painful to you. The main thing is that you and baby are ok.

 

[LoopyLouize]

I can't advise on the sweep but good news about you being able to have a natural birth!! Yayy

I too have a small baby and they told me they need to keep checking up on me and giving me weekly scans to check my placenta, blood flow to the baby and the babies growth.. They have never mentioned me having to have the baby early because of it though... Strange! I have my next scan tomorrow so will see what they say.

x

 

[Elliellie]

It is strange, I think they just have to be very careful these days. I spoke to my mum & she said that my brother & I were both small babies so that's reassuring, we were about 6lb at around 40 weeks & my baby is just under 5lb at 36 weeks so probably about the same & probably just genetic. My mum didn't worry as they didn't have the technology to find out then! Still, i guess it's good that they take precautions & I'm happy to go with it if it reduces risk to baby.