I'm in my 32nd week of pregnancy and officially into my 8th month. This week, we visited the gynae for a detail scan of Baby's weight and measurements to see if all is well with Baby's growth rate.
Unfortunately, the Doc said that while Baby was doing well, his/her weight was at the lower range of weight gain for a baby of his/her size, at approx 1.7 kg. I asked the Doc if I could do something to rectify the situation such as trying to stuff myself with more food. He replied that there's really nothing much I can do at this moment and even if I try to ply myself with more food, it doesn't guarantee that Baby's weight will gain exponentially. He asked that I check with my mom on my birth weight as it could be a possible explanation for Baby's size too. Unfortunately, my mom told me I weighed around 3.1 kg at birth, which i gather during my time, I was a relatively big baby. *Huge sigh*
Thus far, I've been blessed with a compact belly and am able to carry my pregnancy well without the waddle gait that most women faced. I guess the downside of a small and compact pregnancy bulge is that Baby is smaller. I was frantic and worried that Baby would come out small at birth and also feeling pressured that I'm not a "good mom" since I've been hearing of many friends or friends of friends who have delivered babies weighing more than 3.5 kg or even one that is 4 kg!!!
Through it all, I am thankful that Louis, my mom, MIL, friends and colleagues were encouraging to say that it might be easier to deliver a smaller baby and to not fret too much as its always possible for Baby to feed more and play catch up after birth.
An old wives' tale that I've heard from 2 sources was to eat more durians as it might help speed up Baby's growth. However, Louis wasn't in favour of such "drastic measures" and felt that extreme behaviours or habits in the hope of reversing the situation might turn out to be more harmful than helpful to Baby.
For now, I'm just hoping and praying that Baby will continue to maintain his/her growth rate and not slow down in the last 8 weeks. At least, there's hope that Baby might turn out to be in the normal weight range at birth and allay my fears going by the 0.6 kg growth rate per month.
Oh... and the Doc did a 3-D scan of Baby's face. Hmmm... from what we can see, Baby seemed to be worried cos he/she had her left hand to the forehead, as if he/she was deep in thoughts. And Baby seemed to have a high forehead coupled with a fairly big nose too! I think Baby is resembling Louis more in terms of looks and being a worrier too. Hahaha... at least I don't have a problem with that. If Baby is a worrier, then perhaps I wouldn't have to chase after Baby at the school-going age to ensure he/she completes his/her school work ;)
4 comments:
Hi Eve,
Please do not worry too much abt bb's weight gain. Just eat as usual, no need to really stuff yourself which I agreed with the doc. If not, normally the weight gain will be on you and may not be on bb.
It runs thru the gene as to how big or small size your bb is. He/she can catch up, just ensure bb's weight don't slow down. I understand your worries, as Grace is not tall for her age and I used to fret over it but come to think abt it, both my hubby and I were not that big or tall in size, and my MIL told me that hubby at one time, stop growing for a period of time, then grow again... ha! Your bb may come out to be in a good size as scanning just give estimation not exact. My gynae also said that Grace is around 2.6kg when I'm abt to deliver in a week but she turned out to be 3kg... so... just relax k, take care.
Yo Eve,
wow...u already looking at schooling phase...hahah : P
Well, now the best thing to do now is to relax and enjoy the remaining 8 weeks, once BB arrives, it will be busy...busy and busy...haha : )
Take care.
astee
eh...don't worry lah! Birth size doesn't really matter in the long run. Baby just needs to be healthy! As doctor said, preggies can't really do much much about what's happening inside them...just enjoy the baby being inside you...you gonna miss it...my wife did! =)
Thanks much for the encouragements :) Yeah, I gather that there's really not much I can do at this point, coupled with the fact that my appetite has taken a dip in the last few weeks. I'm not back to taking smaller but frequent milks and stocking up on milk and milo in my fridge for when hunger pangs strikes in the middle of the night.
Anyways, was just telling my mom last night about the old wives' tale on eating durians and she was "screaming" at me to not try it lest Baby develops boils or bumps or whatever scary stuff on his/her scalp since durians are "heaty".
On hindsight, I should have taken the opportunity to tell her that maybe more frequent bird's nest soup would help Baby instead ;)
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