To ask if those of you with big babies tore badly?

[wtfisgoingon]

And if you didn't what position were you in?

I have a thread on childbirth but need a bit more traffic to help me come to a decision.

In brief, ds1 8lb 7oz - third degree tear-was lying on my side (all happened quite quickly)

Ds2 was 10lb 11oz - couple of stitches-on my knees leaning on birthing ball.

Current baby growth scan results from last week (38 weeks) showed baby as 11lb. I refused induction and a csection and deferred decision till yesterday.

I asked for another scan yesterday (39 weeks) hoping that last weeks was incorrect. Scan yesterday showed a 12lb baby.

I have booked a csection for Monday as felt under pressure to do so, but I am wondering if this is the right thing to do. I had such wonderful births with the other 2, and never imagined a csection for dc3.

I am concerned about the baby getting stuck, but that can actually happen at any size. I gave birth to a whopper already, am hoping this is a good sign.

Another concern is bad tearing.

Is it inevitable past a certain size? Or, as I am hoping, is it affected by position of mother and baby for birth?

TIA

oh and was on back with legs in stirrup

I didnt get told what size hed be?

DC1 5 weeks early and 6lbs 7 no tear
DC2 9lbs 4 he was in wrong position so episiotomy and forceps delivery
DC3 9 lbs 5 no tear

Agree with the other posters all depends on position of the baby. All three were born with me lying on my back as I have to be linked up to heart monitor due past medical history.

I'd be having an elcs in your position but if your desperate for vb can you discuss vb with low threshold for emcs?

I had a 9lbs 7oz dd I got tears all the way upto my cervix including my cervix....about 8-9 seperate tears, one of the tears was 3rd - 4th degree which left me with incontinence issues for almost a year I also needed an episiostomy and dd got shoulder stuck by her shoulders, I needed ventouse too.

I ended up on hdu needing several surgeries and lots of blood, dd got jaundice due to the bruising from getting stuck and tugged out by ventouse but thankfully is fine now.

my dd was back to back so don't think that helped.

tbf you have delivered a large baby before which suggest you should be able to do it again . do you have diabetes? I only ask because I know some midwives 'claim' unless you have a condition affecting how large you baby is you will only naturally grow a baby as large as your body allows. not sure I'm convinced by that myself :)

I was also induced with my dd and told to lay flat in the bed the whole way through every time I tried to move to get comfy they told me it was affecting the monitor and told me to lie back down.

if they are thinkinh of inducing you due to the size of your baby you're probably more likely to need intervention.

Probably not that helpful given that you can tear at any size - but DS1 was scanned as 11lb8, and was actually born as 8lb13.

Advice at the time (when they thought he was going to be 11lb+) was that they strongly recommended hospital birth (we had initially planned homebirth), but there was no reason that we should plan for section.

I was later told that growth scans are more inaccurate for larger babies.

I have had mostly tiny babies, except one 8.12 baby which is big for me as the others were all around 6 pounds. Hurt a lot more coming out but no tearing.

I have been very lucky and didn't tear with any, not even with a ventouse.

Ds1 - 8lb4 small tear, 1 stitch, 75th centile head circ, round head (like me) Gave birth half sitting, laying down, epidural, 45 min pushing
Ds2 - 9lb13 no tears or grazes, 98th centile head circ, 'egg' shaped head (like his dad lol) Natural birth, on all fours, 1hr 20 min pushing (arrived at hospital fully dilated!)

Hmm all this anecdotal stuff isn't evidence is it?

You need a re scan I guess to compare results and make sure they are consistent, you also need to know the margin of error. remember if there is a 25% chance of being a pound out for instance, yes 1:4 babies would be smaller than the quoted size but there is also a 1:4 chance of being even bigger....

I think you are worrying about the wrong things.Tearing meh, can be mended, and not a biggie really. Shoulder dystocia, stuck baby..... terrifying medical emergency and even with the best will in the world and delivery in theatre with your legs up (which is likely to be what they will suggest) with immediate proceed to GA section of needed can still result in a very damaged or dead baby. The natural child birth gurus will be along saying make sure you son't deliver on your back/be active etc and I'm sure that is right but there will be pressure to medicalise a high risk birth like this- and it will be seen as a high risk birth.

Find out the details of actual size as much as you can, a "fat baby" with a big abdomen but a normal sized head I assume would birth easily compared to a " big all over" baby.

Best of luck OP what ever you decide but remember, even though it seems so at the moment, "how" this baby is born isn't a huge thing, that it is born safely is.

Mine was 11lbs6, and I tore, but I don't know how badly or anything. I said I didn't want to know, and just kept the area clean etc. I didn't feel it was worth going into the details, it just was what it was. But it hurt to sit down for a while and I perfected breast feeding while lying down .

5lb 12oz second degree tear. 9lb 2oz third degree tear and 3 years on still affected by it. Both times lying down in the birthing pool.

I believe that the third degree tear was down to the midwife. I asked her to talk me through it and she refused saying I'd done it before and to go with my body. I just pushed because I didn't know what else to do despite begging for advice and help.

shelob sorry things didn't work out the way you wanted sometimes they just don't but that doesn't mean that they don't sometimes work and can't be talked about. People are just sharing what they thinked helped them, someone saying the found perineal massage helped isn't a slight on you. In the nicest possible way get a grip and stop projecting.

Sorry I think I've been reading too many childbirth threads, I'm just thoroughly fed up of women giving birth naturally being accused of being smug and doing so to make other feel bad. I just find the notion that anything good happening in labour childbirth being purely down to luck downright insulting.

Ds1 9lb10 2 stiches delivered on my back
Dd1 10lb11 no stiches delivered on my back
Ds2 11lb 8 no stiches on my knees

And im only small 5"3 size ten in my experience the bigger they were the easier and quicker they were to deliver

Good luck :)

Scans can be as much as 1 Lb out- as I'm sure you know though series of growth scans are more accurate.

The MW with my first didn't like the sitting up over chair position I wanted - finally got me in stirrups and the register called as I was taking over an hour did episiotomy as I was starting with a small tear.

I've torn down that line both subsequent births but not bad - scar tissue has less give apparently. First 9 lb 2 ? a surprise being that big, 10 lb and 9 lb 10 second and third were HB.

Several medical people kept insisting the last one would be bigger than 10 lb - but I felt she was between the previous two ? apparently some research shows mothers are more accurate in knowing. I was under pressure to have C-section despite previous births with no issues.

It was suggested that due to 3 rd babies supposed size getting stuck was a risk ? but our research indicated it was only higher risk if I had gestational diabetes and due to family history that has been ruled out for me.

My reading prior to labour suggested there are better positions for bigger babies - squatting though that need practise to mainatin, kneeling over birth balls or on all fours. Stirrups are also supposed to be good according to my first set of MW.

I do know many people with smaller babies have torn much much worse and some internally but I don't know once you get really big.

Can't you cantact your MW and have a chat with them again about what is best for you?

evidencebasedbirth.com/evidence-for-induction-or-c-section-for-big-baby/

Has link to some reserach papers to do with tearing and baby sizes - though it seesm the reserach is a bit inconclusive.

Wow, thanks for all your replies, lots to think about.

No gestational diabetes here, which is why I had hoped the first scan was way off the mark. Was really hoping that yesterday's scan would show a smaller bundle, I think I was hoping for a great deal of inaccuracy!

DD1 - 6lb11oz - no tearing but still hard to get out (2.5 hrs pushing), ended up leaning over a chair
DS - 9lb10oz - episiotomy as he wasn't engaged and I was tiring after 3+ hrs of pushing and 11hr on an oxytocin drip (I still haven't fully recovered and he's 3 next month), therefore was on back in stirrups.

I'm only 5ft4 so am not really designed for big babies. My ds was so big because of a medical issue (not diagnosed at the time). I'm glad I didn't have a ecs but it was very close and I was prepared for it right from the start. If you've delivered big babies before it shouldn't be an issue but I can understand why you're concerned.

I think the 1 lb differince in scan size is the 'normal' I know people in RL who had greater differences between predicted and actual size I just don't think it very common.

2 births both 8lb 4oz.

First an episiotomy so doesn't count I think but second, 8 hour labour but Fast delivery (four contractions in total)
Second degree but this was due to the speed he came out and nothing else. Apparently. I just couldn't control it!!

Wow, mrslyman. If anyone is projecting, I have a feeling it might be you.

I haven't attacked anyone. In my experience - and that is what the OP has asked us to share - luck plays an enormous part in childbirth. I haven't accused anyone of being smug, just unrealistic if they think that "listening to your body" stands as advice. I think it is good the OP is asking for advice.

Telling me to "get a grip" after I've laid out one of the more traumatic experiences of my life is almost funny. It's a good job I know a lot about the natural birthing movement, or going by your knee-jerk overeaction, I'd assume they were all unsympathetic cunts.

Oh yes and first was on my back and second was on my side.
Because I had a terrible time with an episiotomy I was advised to squat to prevent tearing

My 5lb 4oz daughter tore me top and bottom. I had quite a bit of stitching and it hurt for months. My son with the massive head at 6lb 10oz was fine and although tore me didn't need stitches.

DS 8lb 12 nothing.

With DD we had a scan they day before she was delivered by c-section, showing she was a full kilo heavier than she actually was. We were told to expect a whopper and she was 6lb 6oz, so don't believe everything scans tell you.

Ds was 8lb 11oz, and I was on my back, he was born really quickly.

I didn't tear badly just a couple of stiches and a bit grazed.