Poll: Height and serious tears / bone breaks

smilormarie · January 2013

Hello, I will be making a decision between a midwife and birthing center or an OB and hospital over the next couple of months. I'm very short 4'11" and wondering if height seems to have any correlation with scars/injuries after delivery. I'm thinking because midwives take a more natural paced approached, my risk should go down of tearing or broken tail bone or broken pelvis over going to a hospital/having an OB. Any ladies under 5'2" who would like to share their experiences, good or bad? Thanks in advance!

NoeliaV · January 2013

I don't think size has much to do with it, honestly. I'm 5'3" and had a pain med free birth in the hospital with a small labial tear, no other issues.

stepheverhart · January 2013

Im 5'0". I had a preemie and he was 5lbs 5oz. I didn't tear at all

Bride-hilda · January 2013

Going natural doesn't mean you're less likely to tear!!!! I know many women who go naturally and tear up a storm!

I don't think height has anything to do with anything. My SIL is about your height, she married my brother who's 6'4. She had to have a c-section, but it had nothing to do with the fact that she was tiny and was having a giant's baby. The baby was completely normal-sized, (although, now he's a giant too.)

Anyway, it's all just what it is.

kathleen02 · January 2013

I have a coworker who is 5'4" and she had twins that were 8.5 lbs. each. She has a petite, fit build and she delivered vaginally for both in 4 hours (beginning to end). Her and the babies were totally healthy and she basically lost he weight a month later. Seriously, it made us all sick but it can be done.

smilormarie · January 2013

kitchencolors:
I am 5' tall on a good day (probably more like 4'11.75"). I had a super easy natural birth with minimal tearing. Baby was 6 lbs 14 ounces (so perfectly average sized). My mom is 5'1" and had two easy natural births with full term babies - about 7 lbs and 8 lbs.
I saw a group of midwives for my prenatal care and gave birth in a hospital (attended by a midwife). My height was never mentioned as a concern at all.
I am 100% sure that being able to feel everything while I was pushing helped me to not tear as badly as I might have otherwise. I was able to tell when I was stretching and when I was tearing and adjust how I pushed accordingly (to a certain extent... at some point your body just pushes, though!).

thanks! this is very helpful! And I've been reading that midwives have other techniques to reduce tearing so this gives me hope!

aylafsu88 · January 2013

I am agree with PPs, I do not think height has anything to do with it. I am 5'3 and had a pretty bad second degree internal tear. My LO had a nuchal hand and the OB gave me a perineal message to avoid a much worse tear. In my situation I would have torn no matter what and height/water birth/squatting would not have made a huge difference.

tokenhoser · January 2013

Being 5'7" didn't save me from a third degree tear. My baby was the wrong way around (occiput posterior) and he just wasn't in an ideal position to push out. It really wasn't the end of the world - I healed quickly and well.

Haley.Beth · January 2013

My MIL is tiny, 5'2"ish and 100 lbs on a good day. She had 4 babies vaginally just fine, the smallest was 9 lbs 6 oz, the biggest was 10 lbs 13 oz! My grandmother is a tiny woman, had 3 natural births no problem.

Your body will rarely make a baby too big for you. Size doesn't have anything to do with it!

Alliebooberz · January 2013

I'm 5'2" and don't think my height has anything to do with anything.

Nadine714 · January 2013

I am 5'2". My son was born in a hospital with an OB...and they didn't do late u/s's and had guessed he would be "no more than 7lbs at 40 weeks" by just feeling. I had him at 39 weeks, naturally, but did have an episiotomy (may or may not have been needed..can't really tell now can I?)

He was 8lbs. Came out pretty much just fine. I didn't know, but at one point the OB called more help in bc she thought his shoulders were going to get stuck. But, like I said, I had no idea and there wasn't any scary moments, I pushed him right on out after the episiotomy. And I pushed *gasp* on my back semi reclined....

Natural births CAN reduce tearing if mom is allowed to push when she feels the need and in positions that allow baby to come down properly. Studies have been done that state mom's that natural un-medicated births have much lower rates of 2nd degree and up tearing. Not to say it never happens.

iris427 · January 2013

I'm 4'10" and my vaginal birth did not result in any injuries. I had a very minor 1st degree tear, no stitches necessary. Women your size have been giving birth for all of time. I think the kinds of injuries you're thinking of have a lot more to do with the baby's position than your height.

CanadianGurl · January 2013

I had a 4-1/2 pound first baby with very bad tearing, and it was a very fast, natural birth. With my second who was 7-1/2 pounds, I had a vaginal birth with an epidural and minimal tearing. I think it has more to do with the speed of the birth (and genetics, and other uncontrollable factors) as to how much tearing you will have. My midwife tells me it is often to do with how much practice pushing and time for the tissue to slowly spread that is the only controllable factor for tearing. I don't know much about bone breakage.

beany02 · January 2013

I'm 5'6, and had a natural hospital birth, DD was 8lbs 10oz. I broke my tailbone and had an episiotomy, which i think tore even further. I think it had to do with the position i pushed in. Next time i am delivering at a birthing center and plan to try different positions.

kspies · January 2013

I think it's less about height or meds than about the delivery itself. I'm 5'3 and petite and had two painful tears with my hospital, flat-on-back, rush-to-forceps baby, and not even a paper cut with my home birth, delivered-standing-up baby. Both unmedicated, same size baby, same size head, both normally positioned.

PansyPants · January 2013

I can't speak from experience but my mom had a med-free birth and is 4'11 and she had a 2nd degree tear with me and no broken bones. I was born 9 lbs 10 oz.

stever · January 2013

I'm 5'1" and got a 3rd degree tear with DS1. WIth DS2 I started to tear, was given an episiotomy then tore some more Tongue Tied

9fraulein · January 2013

iris427:
IWomen your size have been giving birth for all of time.

and au natural too. I'm 5'0" and the only others in my family that are my height are my grandmother (who had 7 children) and my great grandmother (who was 4'10" and had 10 children) all at home, a LONG time ago, and in the rural Philippines. I have to think about them in order to maintain my courage. If they did it repeatedly, I think I should be able do it a couple times... my grandma even told me that childbirth was easy, this tiny little frail old woman who needs a wheelchair and is mostly blind told me it was nothing to worry about...I hope she is right!

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