Too big baby for due date

[muppetgirl]

Hi everyone, new to all this so bear with me if I've butted in where I shouldn't! Just had 20 week scan (are 21+2) and have been told that the baby is way too big for the given dates. Have been booked in for a growth scan in four weeks but they have said they will just move my dates if the baby is still big. That's great if the dates are wrong but what happens if they are right and I'm just having a big baby? My 1st son was 9lb 1oz and a nightmare to push out (27 hrs of labour, epidural,ventouse, epis, ripped anyway.) I'm only 5"3!!

Wow, you did well to have natural labour with number 1.
I would wait for your scan and see what happens. I am sure you can discuss your options after. Maybe a c section?

I was told ds was going to be a big baby, he was 9lb 12oz. He was also breech, so I had a c section.

hi there this happened to me at one point they said she was about 4 weeks ahead,scared the shit out of me thought i was going to give birth to a giant!!!
the growth slowed down and by the end of the pregnancy was only just above average.
she finally weighed in at 8lb 10oz.
don't worry too much yet x

Try not to worry, those scans can be very inaccurate, particularly the early ones! (e.g. mine said baby would be 7lbs, was actually 5lbs 10!) They are right, dates could be wrong, you never know xx

how wrong are they saying the dates are? i always measured bigger, had growth scans, two perfectly average babies. 7 lb 13 and 7 lb 8 !

if you have had one big baby, then you might have another big baby..but second babies can sometiems be smaller

i would not worry too much at this stage, and growth scans not always accurate

epidural can make labour longer, and make ventouse or forceps more likely, so that might not have helped, also, different birthing positions can help with a bigger baby

I had that and when saw consultant he said was fine and if could push out my ds2 at 10lbs then could push out anything - and that was it! I was really worried but he came out no problem at 9lbs 8oz. They may give you a gestational diabetes test - mine was normal.

at my 20 week scan they said mine was small. My second was bigger, but two weeks later than my first.
however my third was supposedly going to be a 9/10 lber and turned out to be 7lb 8. This one looks like 6lb something.
basically they are not always accurate and you have a way to go yet. Try not to worry too much.

Oh and had epidural, ventouse, epis with ds2 and absolutely no pain relief or intervention wih ds3 at all! Lots of rocking and chanting - only just made it to hosp in time! and they told me he was back to back and would take yonks and not to rush in!

How much "too big" are they claiming? DS was top of the scale at my 20 week scan, no one suggested moving dates then but they did later on when I continued to measure big -- wanted to move my dates by a month (!). Fortunately I was absolutely sure of my dates and stood my ground (and DS arrived pretty much bang on time at 39+5 and 10lb 5.5oz, so I was right).

Have you had a previous scan this pregnancy.

Hi me again, thanks for all of the replies it's made me feel less anxious over the whole thing. They are saying 2 weeks +4 days out so should be 23 + 6 not 21 + 2. They are going by the baby's head circumference, also have low lieing placenta -does anyone else have this and can it cause aching as I've had severe aching from the start!
The reason for induction last time was due to being over due eventually 11 days and still no sign so they induced. Wanted very much to be left alone this time as I realise 1 intervention leads very much to another....

Sorry, just re-read the last message the baby's head circumference is above the scale! Seemed to thoroughly confuse the sonographer.

Just re-read another messege, this is my 4th scan as miscarried before christmas so had one at 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 13 weeks. The dates seemed to be getting later each scan (27th Oct, 29th Oct and then 5th nov)and then to be told this is really confusing!!

Hi mupetgirl
New to this too (realised I butted in on someone else's chat last night).

Sounds v.similar to my pregnancy, Had bleeding & discomfort so lots of scans - had low lying placenta and was v.achy although was told they weren't related. Scans showed my daughter to be big so dates were regularly changed & never made sense... But Mrs sonographer I cant be due then unless an immaculate conception! Luckily PappaK not the suspicious type !

Was diagnosed with gest-diabetes at 35 wks & told baby was too big to go to term so had date set for induction at 39 weeks (was originally 38 wks but I pleaded for them to let her stay where she was comfortable as long as poss).

Day before induction had final scan was told baby was 10lb 10 at least. She arrived 3 days later a wrinkly 8lb 9oz after lots of intervention as she just wasn't ready bless her.

Having not been discharged from postnatal care yet they are discussing next baby & implications of gest - diabetes, all the time referring to my daughter as a big baby & planning quick diagnosis to ensure next one isn't so big. I really dont consider 8lb 9 oz to be that big especially as I am 6ft & PappaK 6ft 4!

It seems like health profs dffer on what is & what makes big (head circ. length etc.) really isn't an exact science - reading the other comments just reassures me of this.

Sorry muppetgirl, even managed to spell your name wrong, and being new at this is no excuse for that - feeling a little foolish!

My middle baby had a large head at birth (38cm), which caused a very difficult second stage(he got stuck for 3 hours, needed forceps in the end).

For this reason, I was scanned a lot with my last pregnancy and the head circumference was off the scale with all of them. I can still remember the sonographer's expression at some of the scans, frowns and sighs and measuring again and again. She even referred me to the Consultant for a second opinion at one point.

I insisted on a C/S for this birth, as I didn't want a repeat performance of my previous birth. I'm 5"4 and petite but my husband is large so I was really worried that my baby was just not compatible with my body size.

The baby did indeed have another large 38cm head at birth. Even when you look at him now, his skull seems much larger than other babies of his age. My husband is the same, his head seems a lot bigger than other mens'.

The head circumference is, IMO, much more relevant than the baby's overall size in relation to the birth. I'm certainly not advocating that you choose a C/S like me (although it was definitely the right decision in my case), but I would outline the situation in your birth plan and keep reminding the staff on the day especially if you hit any difficulties during the second stage. Good luck, forewarned is forearmed.

Odds of Gestational Diabetes when you have already had such a big baby are high - have you had a test yet? I think I didn't have mine until 26 weeks. In anticipation though you can up your protein consumption and cut back on sugars and do a little more gentle physical exercise.

My last one was 9lb 3 and am anticipating another largeish baby - although this one is a girl, which is usually smaller. I had a scan at 33 weeks to check placenta and I was correct for dates, but both scan and doctors and less so midwives, often get it wrong when guessing babies size. No one guessed DS2 correctly and only the midwife got it right with DS1.

I hate the way they just magically move the dates - load of hogwash I reckon. My step-sister had hers moved cause her baby was small for dates - nothing to do with the fact that she is tiny herself and continues to smoke or anything .