To ask anyone who’s had a large baby…

[birthplanning]

To advise me on birth?

Bump consistently measuring above the 97th centile. DH is 6ft plus, and was nearly 10lbs when he was born at 40 weeks exactly. I am 5ft 2 and petite build. I’m mid 20s and pregnancy has been touch wood straightforward and low risk.

I’ve done some reading and I am conflicted on what to do. I definitely don’t want to be induced unless there is a strong medical indication for it, as I know it leads to intervention most of the time. In the ideal I’d like a no-interventions birth but know the odds for that as a first time mum are stacked against me anyway, certainly in the current maternity care crisis.

I am not against a caesarean at all, in fact see there are lots of positives to it and although recovery may be harder it offers an element of predictability. I would just be worried about recovery, as DH only has 2 weeks off work. That being said I do not need to drive and can walk 2 minutes to the local supermarket and a nice country park. Also concerned about the increased risks to future pregnancies although we are leaning towards just having the one baby anyway, in any event we aren’t planning for a whole brood!

I wondered if anyone who has had a bigger baby (either ELCS or vaginal birth) could share their experience and whether you’d recommend being induced/going for a planned section, or just having a go ‘naturally’

Many thanks in advance!

Had a planned section for different reasons but would say that the recovery time between planned and unplanned seem to be quite different. I was able to take some steps the day of birth and found the recovery relatively smooth compared to a friend who has a difficult labour and then an emergency section. I would recommend having a chat to the consultant about it to get a good understanding of the options.

12lbs! You sound like an absolute warrior @Hankunamatata.

Have you had a scan or are you just going on the bump measurements?

If you are much taller or shorter than average I don't think the bump measurements are very accurate -- taller people are wider and deeper and the same amount of baby spreads out three dimensionally... So I (5'9'') consistently measured under but had two babies between 91/2 and 10lbs. My friend who is 5'1'' always measured large but had a 7lb baby.

For me the scans were pretty spot on both times. There are always people who will tell you that they popped out a 10lb baby with barely a graze despite being short and petite, but if you are genuinely having a large baby then, yes, the likelihood of a c-section goes up.