At my first prenatal checkup, when Baby Carrot was a wee 7 weeks in utero, my sonogram tech asked if the paperwork I filled out when I came in for a pregnancy test was accurate. Based on my last period and what I believed was the conception date, Baby Carrot was supposed to be measuring two weeks larger. I was 100% certain of my dates – we had been TTC for a while and I was charting pretty religiously – so the tech wrote it off to an early ultrasound and margin of error.

Due to a few wonky results from my prenatal tests, I had a few extra ultrasounds between 9 and 12 weeks to check for a possible clotting disorder. Nothing turned up and I was an unlikely candidate for one, given my family history, but one thing remained steady – Baby Carrot was measuring 1-2 weeks smaller than her gestational age actually was. This remained a pattern throughout my entire pregnancy. I began showing late and barely gained any weight, despite having no morning sickness nor most of the typical pregnancy discomforts. My doctors were never concerned because I’m overweight to begin with, and my body seemed to develop a food control mechanism for me once I got pregnant – I actually began eating less because I would start to feel full after just a few bites. My cravings were actually healthy – I started wanting fish after nearly a lifetime of hating it, and had a hard time with carbs, which otherwise make up 90% of my diet. When I asked if it’s normal for the baby to be measuring small, I was given a variety of reasons – Mr. Carrot and I are both short people; “someone has to be at the bottom of the curve” and because her heartbeat was always normal and she was a very active mover, no one gave her size any worry, even though she consistently measured below the 10th percentile in size.

The first time I ever heard of IUGR – Intrauterine Growth Restriction – was after I delivered Baby Carrot. During my regular 36 week checkup, I mentioned to my doctor that Baby Carrot was on the quiet side the last few weeks, after a few days of being very active. I wasn’t worried – it was truly a casual mention, and I was feeling great overall  – but my doctor decided to order an ultrasound. Her concern was that the baby went from breech position the week before to head down at that checkup, and she thought that maybe she was moving less because she was getting tangled in her umbilical cord.

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The ultrasound revealed that Baby Carrot hadn’t gained any weight or height since my 32 week checkup. Though she was mobile and breathing and everything appeared fine, the lack of growth was a concern, so the decision was made to induce and get her out to help her grow on the outside since she was clearly missing something on the inside. We checked into the hospital, and 24 hours later Baby Carrot arrived via c-section (the induction wasn’t effective – kiddo was apparently comfy in there, despite the lack of growth). She was 4 lbs 6 oz, barely 17 inches long, but loud and ready to kick those Apgar scores to the max.

The teeny peanut at just about 24 hours old

The doctor who delivered Baby Carrot told me that I had a very small placenta, which is why Baby Carrot wasn’t growing well in the womb. I was officially diagnosed with IUGR, a condition whose only symptoms are a baby that’s growing below the normal growth rate, especially if the baby is under 10th percentile, and a problem with the placenta.

The only way to diagnose IUGR, I learned, is to measure the baby’s size. Which was done with Baby Carrot repeatedly, but because I had none of the risk factors for IUGR – I’m not a smoker nor a drinker, I had perfectly normal blood pressure, and no medical issues – it was never considered a possibility. I was also told that even if they gave me the diagnosis, there isn’t a treatment for the condition, except more close monitoring to make sure the baby isn’t in distress, in which case some doctors do put mothers on bed rest, though there’s little evidence that it helps.

It’s a bit disconcerting, to be stamped with a condition that there are no known treatments for, but I consider myself lucky. I had no health complications, and although Baby Carrot did have to hang out in the NICU for 10 days to make sure she was gaining weight and growing well, she had no health issues either. It’s possible that if I were to have another baby, this could happen again, but because no one really knows what causes IUGR (except the risk factors that I have none of), there’s no way to really prevent it from happening. I am a lot more aware of the condition and encourage anyone who has concerns about their baby’s size to keep talking to their doctors, because IUGR can cause complications for some.

Thankfully, we had a good outcome, and the idea of “somebody has to be below the curve” is not an unreasonable one – averages exist for a reason! Even though Baby Carrot continues to hang out below the growth curve, she’s an active, thriving toddler that makes up in personality what she lacks in size.