Miriam Quiambao's Latest Ultrasound Reveals Her Baby Is Small for His Age

The beauty-queen-turned-inspirational-speaker could not contain her excitement over the upcoming addition to their family of three. "9 more weeks to go!!" she wrote on Instagram yesterday as a caption for her baby bump photo. Miriam Quiambao, now 30 weeks on the family way, has been trying to conceive with her husband Ardy Roberto for the last four years, and they delivered the good news of her pregnancy in 2018!

As with most pregnancies, the body goes through changes that are physically challenging for the would-be mom, and it can become more so when you are pregnant in your 40s. From the beginning, it was a high-risk pregnancy already for Miriam, who is 43. She was instructed by her doctors to avoid long trips and plane rides. In November of 2018, she was put on week-long bedrest due to premature uterine contractions.

Thankfully, Miriam is now back on her feet and even had the chance to squeeze in a babymoon with Ardy in December.

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In her latest social media post, Miriam wrote, "Definitely feeling the back pains and other bodily aches lately, so I’ve been taking it easy nowadays."

She revealed that on her last ultrasound, her baby was found to measure smaller than its age.

"On my last ultrasound, the perinatologist says that my baby is too small for his age. They found out that my placenta is thicker than normal, causing reduced blood flow to the baby. So far, I’ve been eating a whole lot more protein and taking amino acid supplements on top of my daily Heparin injections and steroids to reduce inflammation in my placenta."

According to What To Expect, the placenta, which is the lifeline of the baby while inside the womb, usually "has a thickness that corresponds roughly to the baby's gestational age," i.e., at 30 weeks of pregnancy, the placenta should be 30 mm thick. However, in some cases, the placenta could be thicker than expected due to many reasons, among them: a low-protein diet, an infection, or certain conditions like diabetes or anemia.

As Miriam pointed out, in her case, this condition has caused the blood flow to the baby to be reduced, which could be the reason for the baby's size in utero.

One of the risk factors associated with a baby in the womb being small for its age is when the mom is "underweight before or during pregnancy," says Kids Health. In the same post, Miriam reveals, "So far I’ve only gained 12-13 lbs since I got pregnant, but I need to gain more! I’m actually about 3-4 lbs underweight. " 

In December 2018, Miriam also revealed via Instagram that she had obstetric APAS, a condition that could threaten her pregnancy. Answering a question by one of her followers on why she has bruises on her stomach, the first-time preggo disclosed that it was because of nightly injections of heparin, which is part of her APAS treatment. 

"Please continue to pray that baby will catch up on normal weight and size and that all will be well," she ended her latest post. Miriam is due to give birth to her first biological child, a boy whom Ardy has referred to as Elijah, in March 2019.

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