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November 2014 Moms
Carebella
member
Delivering "Big" Babies
Carebella
member
Up until a few weeks ago I had been very worried about trying to deliver a big baby given that DH at 6'2" is short for his family and while I'm only 5'2" I was close to 8lbs. Everyone seems to love to talk about how big babies make for really tough delivers, that 10lbs is huge, and we aren't built to push them out...
And then the doula teaching our childbirth class told me about the recent birth she attended where a woman, about my height or a little shorter, weighing maybe 100lbs, gave birth to a perfectly healthy 12lb baby with NO tearing. Our bodies are definitely built for this and 10lbs is not huge. Yes, there are going to be exceptions, but I now feel so much more at ease and can just focus on encouraging LO to be head down and spine forward.
Hoping this helps ease others fears/worries like it did mine
And then the doula teaching our childbirth class told me about the recent birth she attended where a woman, about my height or a little shorter, weighing maybe 100lbs, gave birth to a perfectly healthy 12lb baby with NO tearing. Our bodies are definitely built for this and 10lbs is not huge. Yes, there are going to be exceptions, but I now feel so much more at ease and can just focus on encouraging LO to be head down and spine forward.
Hoping this helps ease others fears/worries like it did mine
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Delivering "Big" Babies
Edit to tag @Cici3913
My doctor isn't the one that got me all worked up, she said, "we will strip your membranes at week 37- you'll be fine", no mention of a C-section. The radiologist on the other hand was like, "they will be keeping a close eye on you, you may need to have a C-section". Looking back, she really should have STFU, she's not the doctor and her comments have stayed with me and worried me ever since.
Thanks for the story
Trust me, our bodies are made for this. Hospitals and docs are a bit trigger happy on the interventions because, guess what? They make more money for every extra procedure they perform on you.
Okay, I will not let them scare me into a csection! Why do they make big babies seem impossible to birth naturally?
I had a 9 pounder myself, I was told he'd be big (actually they estimated 9 pounds and it was spot on), but I was also told he was measuring taller - also correct. Still, I was petrified and I went 40 weeks 6 days - so that made me more nervous. He came out just fine, 17 minutes of pushing with a 1st degree tear which was no big deal. Things like shoulder dystocia can be a huge deal, so I'm not trying to say that a larger baby is no big deal for everyone, but this is something where it's not just the size that matters. Some of the things I was told by providers that alleviated my fears (and turned out to be true at least for me):
1. the baby won't continue to grow like crazy - so if you are being told you're having a big baby and you get to 40 weeks or past, it's not like they are going to continue to get huge increasing risks. Therefore, there is no reason to jump into induction or c-section just for size alone. My regular OB suggested this at 40 weeks (induction), it was the high risk neonatologist (AMA) that talked me out of it. I went 40 weeks 6 days. He was still what they estimated he'd be at 38 or 39 weeks.
2. Ease of delivery is going to depend not only on weight, but estimated height and % of head. That makes sense. A 10 pound baby with a head in the 50% who is 22 inches will be easier to deliver than a 10 pound baby, 80% head who is 18.5 inches. While they can't tell you the exact inches, they can estimate. I was told my son would be taller based on his measurements, he was and came out easily.
3. Like other ladies have said, the pelvis matters. My OB said she had very large women who had trouble with a 7.5 lb delivery because they had a small pelvis, and tiny women who were 110 lbs who pushed out 10 pounders no problem.
So my advice to anyone worried about this is to talk to your provider (and even the ultrasound tech) about some of the specifics. Being told you should be induced or consider a C-section just because the baby is big (in weight) doesn't really say anything. Why do they think that - your pelvis might not be adequate? The baby is looking shorter with a bigger head? There are so many variables. Just being told you have a big baby and making it seem like your birthing experience will be a horrible nightmare is unfair (and not accurate). I had so much anxiety for weeks before due to this and it turned out to be a complete non-issue, easy delivery, easy recovery, healthy baby. That's not to say some women don't have difficult deliveries due to size and that a larger baby is no big deal - but you're not condemned to a horrible birth experience just because the baby is looking bigger.
Just a quick aside, obstetricians tend to jump to c section because of fear of complications during vaginal delivery in the current environment of malpractice lawsuits and increasing cost of malpractice insurance (obstetricians have some of the highest rates) and not because they make more money if you havea c section. Malpractice is so high in some areas of the US that there are no practicing obstetricians there.