Birth and Babies

This measures fundal height, or how much your uterus is growing.  Your uterus is measured from the top (the fundus), to your pubic bone.  Did you ever hear “I’m measuring large for dates” or something similar?  This comment is referring to how many centimeters your uterus has grown past your pubic bone.  Generally, how many weeks pregnant you are should match closely with how high your fundus is (starting at about the 2nd trimester) - if you are 24 weeks, you should measure around 24cm.

Too large of a measurement could indicate twins, a large baby, or other issues such as too much amniotic fluid.  A bigger than average measurement could also just be due to this being a 2nd or more pregnancy, or even your baby’s position - a breech baby sitting high in the uterus will measure large.  Too small of a measurement could indicate that your baby may not be thriving as he or she should, or it could simply be due to your baby’s position.  If your baby is lying sideways, your measurements are sure to be off!

Fundal height is not an accurate way alone to estimate how far along you are or how much your baby is growing, but used in conjunction with other methods it is a “peice of the pie” to make sure things are going well.  Your pattern of measurements should remain consistent to a point - if your measurements were staying average and then your measurements dropped all of a sudden, or if they fluctuate a lot from visit to visit, an ultrasound may be scheduled to rule out any problems.  But there is nothing to worry about if your measurements are “off” by a couple cm - different factors come into play which may not get you textbook measurements at each visit, however if there is a large jump or drop, or your measurements are jumping or dropping in large increments, it is likely that your care provider will want to schedule additional tests and/or an ultrasound to get a bigger picture of your baby’s growth, development, and wellbeing inside your uterus. 

I also want to note that there is no reason to worry if you’re “off” by a few centimeters at your visits.  And you’ll get a smaller measurement when your baby has “dropped” or has become engaged in your pelvis prior to labor. 

This entry was posted on Monday, June 4th, 2007 at 10:13 am and is filed under Pregnancy, Why do they do that?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.