How accurate is an ultrasound that determines the babys weight?
Well, I measured bigger my whole pregnancy (up to 4 weeks) so I had an ultrasound 3 weeks before my due date. The tech said that I didn’t have a lot of water and that the baby weighed around 7#13oz. plus or minus a pound, but probably plus since I measured bigger. I was induced a week early because your baby usually gains a pound each of the last 4 weeks, so full term I would have been likely to have a 10-11 pounder. My “little” girl ended up weighing only 5# 8oz! I didn’t get to see her for about an hour after delivering because she was taken to the nursery to be checked by her ped, because her heartrate decelerated really bad for the last 2 1/2 hours of my labor and they wanted to make sure she was alright and when they told me how big she was, I was shocked!!! I thought that they might have left half of her in me 8^)!! It really is just an estimate, but usually they can get pretty close. Just don’t hold out on buying 1 pack pf premie diapers and maybe an outfit, just incase….
There was actually a study that showed that the mother’s guess was more accurate than the ultrasound when determining weight in utero. Doctors use it to induce for “big baby”, and it should NEVER be used for this purpose. Completely bogus and non-ethical, and against ACOGs rules. You’d think OB’s would at least follow their own academy’s rules, eh? Ultrasound should ONLY be used if there is something weird going on… and ONLY IF by using the ultrasound you can prevent that something or treat it… this is especially important to remember, as ultrasound has not been proven to be safe or unsafe, so basically women and their babies are just an experiment. Ultrasound has amazing benefits, but only when used appropriately.
