Say, if you were diagnosed at 37.5-38 weeks, a routine ultrasound showed baby was on the lower end of pretty normal considering margins of error, and scans indicated an otherwise healthy blood flow to baby. Would you trust the diagnosis and go on with an induction or would you be inclined to want labor come on its own?
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I would follow my OB's recommendation.
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I think if I was 37.5-38 weeks I would just induce if thats what they recommended.
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I was diagnoised as borderline (baby measuring 11-13%) at 35 weeks. induced and LO ended up weighing 6lb 7oz which was about a 1lb more than we expected.
ETA: induced at 39 weeks
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I would follow my OBs advice.
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I have zero experience with this so take this with a grain of salt, I would ask to wait 3 days (or some other mutually agreeable number) and redo the scan or I would get a second opinion. The way you phrase it suggests to me you are wary of the induction so you may as well get another professional opinion.
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I would also follow my doctor's recommendation.
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I would listen to my doctor.
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I honestly don't know. I would probably go with the induction, but I don't think it hurts to request to wait a few days and have another scan done. I say this because I very much know that human error occurs, aside from just the typical margin of errors in size estimates. The week my boys were born, they were estimated to be 4% different in weight. They were born a few days later at 33% different, far above the normal margin of error. I literally thank God that medically they had to be born that week because in our situation that size difference indicated that Finn had stopped getting sufficient nutrition at some point in the two weeks since my previous scan. Had we not had to have the boys that week either way, it is quite possible that Finn would not have survived. I tell this story to say that it can work both ways. LO might be bigger than the estimate or LO might be smaller than the estimate. I had a strong feeling that they needed to be born as soon as possible, even after the u/s showed them so close in weight. Based on that, I elected to have them at the beginning of the week long range that they gave me to decide when to proceed. I think mommy instincts are often uncannily accurate, but this late in the game, I would probably go with your doctor's recommendation.
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I have had two IUGR babies. At 38 weeks the first was estimated to be 5 lbs 3 oz. I was induced that day and had her within 24 hours and she weighed 5 lbs 2 oz.
the second one at 37 weeks was estimated to be 5 lbs 2 oz, I was induced 5 days later and she was 5 lbs 6 oz.
Did you do other growth scans? I choose to induce prior to 38 weeks for my second because she had dropped from 30% to 10% between ultrasounds so she was losing percentiles fast.
Both my girls didn't need any additional hospital time or NICU. If you can hold out until 38 weeks I think it's better because the lungs and suck are better developed and my 37.5 week had to undergo more blood tests and heel pricks due to hospital procedure for pre-term babies.
I EBF both girls and they had awesome growth out of the womb. Let me know if you have any questions- after going through it twice, I feel like a pro now!
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I would follow the doctor's recommendation.
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Did the Dr talk to you about multiple options? Has baby always been small?
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I would ask that my doctor confer with another doctor in the practice, and I would ask for a little time to evaluate my options. If they were outside of the margins of normal, that would be one thing, but since they're within the normal range (albeit on the low end) I'd want a second opinion, just in case.
Did your OB say whether you are favorable for induction? Did he/she get a Bishops score?
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Something to keep in mind-labor can be stressful for IUGR babies and sometimes they don't tolerate it well. I preferred to go the induction route so my babies could be monitored during the labor process.
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I went through borderline IUGR for all of third tri and ended up induced, although the technical reason was hypertension. The MFM was less than helpful and said not to worry since the nonstress tests were fine and they forgot to note my high BP. It was my OB who noted my BP and got me in for the induction just in case, which turned out to be a good thing because my placenta was scarred and somehow the MFM never noticed.
It was good to have the baby monitored from beginning to end, and although my OB doesn't like to do interventions, afterward he said the timing turned out to be perfect for a vaginal birth...if I'd waited any longer he would have had to do an emergency c because LO's condition was deteriorating and he wouldnt' have tolerated labor.
ETA: He was born at 6 lbs 4 oz and at 10 weeks he's at the 86th percentile for height, consistently lower for weight. Some babies just need to be on the outside!
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DS was an IUGR baby and I was induced at 37 weeks. My OB threatened to induce me at 35 weeks when I went in for my weekly checkup, but sent me to see the MFM for a second opinion. The MFM said I could wait it out another week, have another ultrasound then go from there. So I did. At 36 weeks, no changes. 37 weeks - still no change.
MFM still says I would probably be okay if I wanted to hold out, but if my OB wants to induce me, then they have no problems with that either. My OB felt better if the baby was out because she said with each passing week, if something goes wrong on the inside, there's not much they can do. However, once he's out and something goes wrong, there's much more options to help him. So I went with it and got induced at 37 weeks.
DS is 1 years old now and is thriving, happy lil boy! He came out 4lbs 13oz (estimated lower 4lbs), and is still small on the scale (<5%) , but for his personal height and weight gain he's doing good at 50%!
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I'd trust my doc.
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I'd trust my doctor.
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I'm no expert, I'd trust my doc.
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I would trust my doctor.
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I was never actually given an IUGR diagnosis but a routine US at 35-36 weeks was told that DD was measuring small (her abdominal circumference was 11%) and that I needed weekly non-stress tests to make sure everything was ok. Scans also showed good blood flow. A week or two later the MFM and OB jointly decided they did not want me to go past my due date so I was induced at 39w6d and DD arrived on her due date exactly (6lbs 9oz). I never really questioned the decision-- probably because I was so scared/shocked by it all (thanks in no small part to a MFM doc who had terrible bedside manner). They ended up sending my placenta off for testing after delivery and it came back normal-- DD has continued to be something of a skinny mini (though well within normal percentages for her age) so I think she was just small. You never know though-- I would probably trust the doctor again if I had to do it over.
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We were diagnosed at 37 weeks but the doc just had us come in every couple of days to check how things were going (he had an u/s in his office). Ended up going into labor on my own after the second membrane sweep (so I guess technically that is considered a type of induction). LO ended up being born by c-section.
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Thanks everyone. I'm not actually going through this, but a friend recently did. DH and I have been talking about it (because I feel the need to make a decision for every possible scenario
), and some of the reasoning seemed a bit off/not in-line with general suggestions from studies. (Coupled with other suggestions made by this OB that kind of seemed a bit like an overreaction - not just to me, but to my friend as well.) Anyway, I just didn't know if I was being anti-doc or people would actually question this. FWIW, baby was totally fine, no complications, and would probably have been on the larger side of normal had she gone onto her due date. But now she gets to snuggle her healthy little one earlier than expected
@grizz: I would definitely ask for second opinions and time!
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@Weagle: I had a situation that was similar. They measured my amniotic fluid, and said it was on the low side of normal but they wanted to induce. I asked if I could also be evaluated by more sensitive equipment at the MFM-high risk office. My OB said of course, so off we went. The perinatologist found my fluid to be normal!
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i had an IUGR baby and my doctor told me at times she felt she was being overly cautious and gave me lots of options, which made me feel better about it, but at the end of the day i went with their advice (there were 2 separate doctors who made the recommendation, and they agreed with the overly cautious route). I felt at the end of the day that as a FTM, i just couldn't take a risk that my docs were advising me not to take, even though they left the decision in my hands. not sure if that answers your question, but in my situation the risk outweighed the potential reward. that said, i was diagnosed at 32 weeks, so we had a lot more accurate information to go off of.
), and some of the reasoning seemed a bit off/not in-line with general suggestions from studies. (Coupled with other suggestions made by this OB that kind of seemed a bit like an overreaction - not just to me, but to my friend as well.) Anyway, I just didn't know if I was being anti-doc or people would actually question this. 
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