Need encouragement re: big baby

sept2may · April 2012

I had my 36-week appointment with one of the midwives at my birth center today and she told me while she was checking baby's position that he was going to be "good-sized." We laughed about how big I am (I'm only 5'1" and my belly is huge), and then she said, "I can justify an ultrasound to check his size if you want." I declined saying that I knew how unreliable those scans could be and I didn't want to freak myself out over a predicted weight that could be completely inaccurate. She was fine with that, but ever since she mentioned it I can feel some anxiety and worry that wasn't there before about going natural.

So ladies, help me out! Tell me or refer me to stories of not-so-big women naturally birthing not-so-small babies!

Additional info: We only have one more hypnobirthing session to go, I've already read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and other natural birthing books, and my husband was almost a 10-lb. baby while I was barely 7 lbs.

jessandandy09 · April 2012

Two things,

1) from what I have heard and read, your size doesnt always indicate the ability of your hips to spread properly. For instance, my sister is 5'11 and weighs 200 lbs but her pelvis does not spread out and she cannot birth vaginally. My ex-mIL is a whopping 5 foot and had an 11 lbs baby naturally/vaginally (no pain meds or nuttin!)

2) My DD #1 was 8 lbs and my DS was 9lbs, I felt no difference in birthing them and I did it all naturally :-)

good luck to you

sschwege · April 2012

I know it's hard, but try not to worry. I'm a big believer in that except in extremely rare situations your body will not grow a baby that you can not birth.

When I was pregnant with DD I was always measuring at least a week, sometimes as much as three weeks behind. When DD was born she was 21 inches and 7lb15oz, not a large baby, but certainly not small. After I had her my CNM said that nobody thought my baby was going to be that big, just because of my measurements and how I was carrying.

Maybe the reason it seems as if you are carrying a big baby is because you are so teeny!

superned · April 2012

sschwege:
I know it's hard, but try not to worry. I'm a big believer in that except in extremely rare situations your body will not grow a baby that you can not birth.
When I was pregnant with DD I was always measuring at least a week, sometimes as much as three weeks behind. When DD was born she was 21 inches and 7lb15oz, not a large baby, but certainly not small. After I had her my CNM said that nobody thought my baby was going to be that big, just because of my measurements and how I was carrying.
Maybe the reason it seems as if you are carrying a big baby is because you are so teeny!

I agree with this. I'm 5'4" and measured either on track or behind for my whole pregnancy. DD was 8lbs, 8oz, born med-free. My regular OB didn't delivery her, but he stopped by the hospital the following day and when I told him how big she was, he was definitely surprised!

I also have a co-worker whose daughter was induced two weeks early because of fears of how big her baby was going to be. After a three-day induction, her baby girl was born at just over six pounds. I know there are tons of people with similar stories.

I know it's hard, but try not to worry!

hilwithonelary · April 2012

First, it's hard to tell the size of a baby before he/she is born.

Second, my DD was 9 lbs 14 oz, and I did it completely med free. You can do it!

peacelove&mama · April 2012

I am 5'8" and 120lbs (when I'm not pregnant, obfviously!). Iwas a freaking house while pregnant... My son was 10lbs5oz at birth, but I can't compare, since he was my first. It was hard, and once I started pushing it took just about 3 hours to pop him out, but the whole time I just kept thinking about holding him, and seeing him, if he would look like me or his father, would he have hair or not? Those kind of thoughts. It really helped to get me through when I wanted to give up.

Also, my grandmother had 7 children, every single one was 10lbs and up, and she delivered them all naturally!

smwmrw1121 · April 2012

My first son was 9lb. 7oz. and my second son was 9lb. 6oz. and I gave birth to them both naturally with no meds. My first took about 2 hrs. to push and my second only 30 min. I guess I just have big babies. I'm 5'5" and average weight when not pregnant.

nosoup4u · April 2012

Good idea refusing a sizing u/s! It doesn't do anything but cause extra worry, IMO.

There are a lot of women on the VBAC board who've had VBACs with babies the same size or bigger than their c-section babies were (Iris427 is pretty small, too, and her babies were 7-8 lbs).

FWIW, I gave birth to a 10 lb, 10 oz 23.5 in baby (I am 5'10", though!).

ah625 · April 2012

There's a heavy chance they are wrong. I was told 4 days before my son was born that he was 8.5 and would be about 9 if I went to my due date (12 more days). He was born at 6.5.

wheelsonthebus · April 2012

I'm tall 5'8, but very slim. Your size has nothing to do with your actual pelvis size. If the baby is in fact big, it will probably be a size that you can handle. I had a 9lb 9oz 22 inch baby without an issue. I always measured behind and the dr's and midwife all said the baby was going ot be average at most. Everyone was shocked at my baby's size when he came out. During my pregnancy with my second, my midwife said I have a large pelvis and it's no wonder the baby was large. My advice is to try and forget about the size all together. This being your first baby, you'll have nothing to compare it too and just go with it. :-) The baby could very well end up being tiny. There is really no way to tell for sure.

choppinbroccoli22 · April 2012

I applaud you for not going the route that 99.99% of women would have taken, which is to get the u/s for sheer delight of seeing the baby on tv, regardless of the value of the results and the damage that inaccurate results might do.

My midwives thought my baby was going to be a full pound less than what she ended up weighing. They said, based on u/s that I had late to check fluid pockets after being ill, as well as by feeling me, that she was "tiny", and "no more than 6 lb". Well, she was 7lb 2 oz., pretty darn average. I am a tall person and I hid her well.

sept2may · April 2012

Thanks for all of this ladies! Reading all of your stories has made me feel a lot better. I'm just going to try and stay calm and remember that our bodies are designed for this. Also, "big" is relative when it comes to babies!

Cotton · April 2012

I'm 5'2" and 120lbs prepregnancy and have delivered two 9lb11oz babies and then one 10-pounder. The third was pain med free and, while I did deliver him safely, my doc claims he came close to getting stuck. That delivery was just nuts, so hard, but so exciting. My fourth was measuring off the charts and given my history, we believed it. I totally chickened out and opted for a c/s. So glad I did...he was 10lbs 14oz. I honestly believe I was well suited to deliver big babies...but not quite that big! At some point it's just tooo big.

jjhp2018 · April 2012

*lurking*

I have to agree that it doesn't matter on body size. I'm a little shorter but I definetly have some hips and I ended up having a 9lb 6oz baby that couldn't drop down because she was so big. My first was only 6lb 13oz and I had no issues with her. I have GD with every pregnancy though so it can affect how much your baby is growing for your body.

My grandma is only 5ft and delivered 8-11lb babies (7 of them) naturally! It can definetly be done.

pinksweetpea2 · April 2012

I just had a 10 lb 10 oz baby 9 weeks ago and didn't tear at all.

You can do this.

GL

LaurelBee · April 2012

I was measuring 5 weeks ahead at my 34w apt and my nurse called Ds "huge." I had to get an US to check fluid levels around 38w and again my Ob mentioned how big Ds was measuring. I worried over that so much and even referred to Ds as my monster baby!! But Ds came at 39w1d weighing 7lbs 5oz. Needless to say, I was worrying for no reason. You can do it mama!

lily225 · April 2012

Don't worry!! It would be nice to go back in time and just "un-hear" that comment. My OB never mentioned DS's potential size even though I went to 41w6d and I'm really glad for it. I know I would have been like you and had a hard time putting it out of my head. Just do lots of reading and know that most women can birth bigger babies without complication.

DS was 9lbs 2oz, which isn't huge, but is on the bigger size, especially compared to DD's (8lbs0oz and 7lbs9oz). I did end up getting an epidural with that labor but pushed for 3 easy contractions and out he was, no issue at all. I had a "skid mark" that she put one or two stitches on.

theladyjess · April 2012

We knew my LO would be big because my Hubby is a big guy and was a big baby. A u/s at 39w2d showed that she was measuring at 8lb 15 oz. I gave birth a week later to a 9lb 7oz little girl with a 37.5cm head and only suffered a 2nd degree tear. You can do it.

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