To think a bigger baby won't necessarily be a lot harder to birth

[Oysterbabe]

DD was born at 35 weeks and was only 4lbs 13. The labour was quick and the birth was fine, much less painful than I'd anticipated. 2nd baby due in December and growth scan suggests that if I make it to term this time he should be a much more average size baby rather than the teeny one I had last time. My DH and sister keep banging on about how much harder it's going to be and how it'll be a different kettle of fish than last time. I know all births are different and you never know what will happen but I see no reason why this one can't be easy too. What difference can a couple of extra lbs really make?

DD1 6lb3 at 34+6 - really not that painful but I did tear a lot and needed stitches re-doing in theatre.

DD3 9lb13 at 38+6 - painful birth including a shoulder dystocia but no stitches needed.

Every birth is different. We have 5DC and whilst the process is the same, the outcomes can vary a lot. Be warned that slightly early babies can get a lot more moulding of their head during birth as the bones are a lot less hard than at 40 weeks and this does give a less painful birth IME. You may find that a term baby is easier to push though.

My biggest was over 11lbs. The pain of labour was no different but it took much, much more effort to push him out. Much more. It was the hardest work of my life. His head was huge and his shoulders were wide. He was a normal length, chubby baby. It was also the best birth. He was born at home and it was a great experience.

My other babies were 8.13, 9.7, 7.15 and 6.15. A couple of pounds can make a huge difference but it's nothing to worry about.

The smallest was by far the easiest but that was an induction with an epidural.

Hi!

DD1 8.9lb
DD2 11.8lb

Both natural and just on gas and air. Big one was much shorter labour but very very intense. I begged for more drugs but alas "I didn't need them" ... midwives apologised after.

But - I didn't tear and I would take the second labour over my first any day... my first labour was 24 hours and I had a really bad tear so I couldn't sit down.

Sorry for waffle - you'll be fine! Big ones are class she's wearing her sisters clothes now who's nearly 3 and she's 8 months old.

Position impacts on birth too rather than size. Both mine have been big 4.6 kilos and 3.9 kilos and they were in good position which helps with getting them out.

What can make labour harder is having idiots offer unsupportive and unintelligent suggestions. AskDH and DS why they are being mean ?

My biggest baby was the easiest to birth. 2 hour labour, no tearing, home a few hours later.

My first was 9lbs. My second 10lbs. My grandmother always said your body learns a lot from the first birth and I think she was right. You will be just fine.

My first was a big baby over 9lbs, back to back and was a vaginal delivery just on a few puffs of gas and air.

My second was 2lbs lighter, perfect position and an awful delivery that ended in a c-section.

Size didn't matter, my body knowing what to do didn't matter, both got here safely and that's all that mattered!

My second was 11lb 14oz and the labour was much easier than my first who was 8lb 4oz. I'd say the only worse bit was crowning that giant head! 😳 MW said when he arrived "wow you don't need a babygro you need a school uniform" 😂

Everyone was in awe, I was practically a celebrity on the ward and you could always tell when the shift changed as all the new staff wanted to come and see the giant baby.

It wasn't all good because he was jaundiced and had low blood sugar - turns out I had undiagnosed GD (am now expecting #3 8 years on and having extra monitoring because of this). But had it been picked up on that would've been less of an issue and they wouldn't have let him get so big before inducing me.

It's funny though how even though I then found out that bigger babies are easier to birth I still get winces, and "didn't you have a section" (possibly they would've made me if his size was predicted) from professionals. And at the time I got a lot of "you'll never be able to feed him enough" etc (which only made me more determined and he was fine with no solids until 6m, BF until 2y)

I get a bit embarrassed saying that I gave birth to such a big baby though. I always worry that people are thinking blimey she must be huge down there or damaged by it etc. When I'm actually totally fine. Pelvic floor exercises are important for everyone - do them! And birth injury can happen in any labour.

In any case second births tend to be easier purely because your body has been through it before. Tell your DH etc to shut it.