DC2 - estimated birth weight 10lb + Will it be as bad as I think??

[wobblyweeble82]

Arghhh ... Just got back from my second growth scan (34w +4) and have been told that if I go to full term, baby is going to be 10lb+. She is weghing in a 6lb 9oz already and is off the centiles on the growth charts. If she keeps growing at the same rate as she has this past week, she's going to be 10lb 10oz, give or take. My Obs seems to think physically it'll be fine - I'm 5ft 10in and ordinarily a 12/14, so not too narrow a pelvis but still ...

DS was 9lb on the dot born but got stuck and ended up with a ventouse(sp?) delivery, so I anticipated a larger baby this time, but the thought of a 10lber, well blimey, I'm absolutely papping it. Anybody experienced a not so bad birth with a whopper? Feel sick at the thought of it

Oh, I got told that with DC1.
He was born at 39 weeks exactly and was about 6.5 lbs (under 3kg).
But hey ho, these predictions must come true for some people, sometimes.
DC3-4 were both nearly 9lbs.

Friend had a 12 lb baby vaginally, no special problems. Her next baby was a lot smaller but got born by CS due to labour failing to progress. I think the whole thing is a lottery.

Two things.

Estimated weights aren't always accurate.

Bigger babies aren't harder to birth. In fact gravity often helps. It's head circumference and position that makes the biggest difference. DD was titchy and got ridiculously stuck. Stuck as in an episiotomy, ventouse and manual rotation didn't shift her stuck.

They've measured her head circumference, abdominal circumference, femur length and something else which I can't work out and all work out at about the 120th centile. Position wise though, she's perfect apparently so that's something. It's just given me the absolute fear - ridiculous, I know - but I don't want to go into labour all hett up and tense. It's not good for anyone.

My ds was 10lb 6. i had a 2 hourish labour, and got to hospital with 27 minutes to spare. No pain relief, some stitches and home by lunch time.

Size makes no difference unless there is a really bad mismatch between head and pelvis size, and if you';ve had a 9 lber that doesn't sound as if it;s be a problem.

Scan predictions are totally unreliable as a guide to weight. I was told my dd2 would be less than 7lb, but she was 9lb 14oz.

And both she and her older brother who was a round 10lb were born very fast, with only minor tearing. With ds I went from 7cm to giving birth in 10 mins, with dd2 I went from, "No, you're not in labour, yourr cervix is still tightly closed and pointing backwards" to giving birth in 15 mins.

My Polish grandmother gave birth her youngest (who weighted 10 metric pounds, ie. 5 kilos, or 11lb in imperial, ouch-o-rama) on the floor of the local dairy. She'd just nipped out to get a bottle of milk.

Don't fret. Second births are generally much easier, you can really feel your body going, "Oh yes, I remember this, let's just get on with it". I had a ventouse delivery with my first baby as well (9lb like yours), but the second two just sort of short out on their own, despite being a lot bigger. All the mw had to do was catch them.

Oh, it's all just guesswork with these weight predictions! Makes me cross because what does it achieve?? Scares the mum into thinking birth will be worse and scary and difficult with a huge baby, so she won't relax, and is more likely to need intervention, yada yada. Take with a big pinch of salt! Friend of mine was advised to have a CS at 39w with her second as mw predicted a 9lb-er but he was 6 lb 6oz!!!!!!! Insane.

DS3 was a smidge short of 11lbs. He shot out in 2 pushes with no tearing and contrary to what a male friend asked me I do not have a bucket fanny
And as others have said, scans can be inaccurate - he was predicted to be about 7 1/2lbs

DS2 was 10 lb 1 oz (though they said he'd be under 8lb!) and it was a 6 hour labour, straightforward, just a small tear. Much easier than DS1 who needed forceps. One thing that helped was walking along a corridor while 10 cm dilated (a long story).

Positioning is much more important than size and second time round is generally much easier. Try not to worry!

Thank you ladies - you're all marvellous. Not so much you Anaxagora with your tale of your Polish Grandma! No milk shopping for me :)

Makes you wonder though, how they can get the the predictions so wrong, and as you rightly say, give unnecessary worry to the parents ...

Incidentally, has anybody ehard of anyhone'#s predictions that were right??

Nope. Of the few people I know who they scared with predictions, none of them were anything near right.

Slight thread hijack, I apologise! But can I ask you ladies who had bigger babies if when you were scanned in the last 10-12 weeks of pregnancy and they told you the baby was in a high percentile for size, did they also get on your case about possible GD?

The reason I ask is that I had a scan today for something unrelated (marginal placenta previa) and was referred to a consultant to discuss that, and it turned out all she wanted to do was throw the fear of God into me about diabetes as the baby measures 97th percentile abdominal and about 93rd percentile head circumference, so 2300g/5lbs at 32 weeks. The ratio was the same as the 20 week scan though. I personally think it's just a bigger baby, but the consultant insisted on a GTT test (I have no other risk factors for GD). Anyone else have any experience of this?

Glad to hear the scans aren't always accurate and that bigger babies are born just fine in any case!

Yes, i had GD test. No big deal - rememeber to take a book!

With DC4 i was tested for GD too but i was clear. Had 2 growth scans in last few weeks. DS tummy and head were off the scale. They said he was going to be around 9lb if he went to term. I was induced on my due date. he was 10lb exactly.Only took 3 pushes, least difficult and painful of all my deliveries. Good Luck

With my DS1 I had a growth scan at 31weeks that put him at 7lbs 9oz and he was born at 38weeks weighing 10lbs 8oz! So mine was pretty accurate. I had to have a c-section due to my ds having a giant head and he couldn't fit through my pelvis! But I've heard/read plenty of stories of tiny women birthing Godzilla babies with no trouble.

No idea what will happen in your case but I had my first baby last Sunday - 4.4kg - and managed on gas & air. I delivered kneeling, didn't need forceps or vontouse and had a second degree tear.

Okay, I've been walking like a cowboy but it really wasn't too bad at all. Of course, this was helped by a great midwife and calm, reassuring partner. And luckily nobody warned me I was having such a whopper. Anyway, it can be done!

GOOD LUCK!!!

Congrats Pip

And thanks all. Slightly calmer today :)

My MW at one of my later checkups said not to expect a small baby, I swallowed and asked how big it was looking and she said it would be 7/8lb - DD turned out to be a 9lb 10oz whopper. I think she probably knew but didn't want to scare me!

dd was measured by scan at same gestation as yourself, she was 8lb 11 then. At her birth last week, at 41+3 she weighed, ...yep 8lb 11 :) She does have a head full of heir though so obviously spent the last 7 wks just growing hair.

More inaccurate than they are accurate ime.

Oooh I can cope with a little hair growth lia66 :) And congrats on the birth of little one - hope it's all going well. I feel this one is still growing, purely by the face that I've two new stretch marks! Treat! I've another scan again next week, so we shall see what that brings. Everyone keeps telling me to start doing perinneal massage The thought sends me a bit peculiar tbh ...

I was told at 36 wks that ds was 7.5lbs already. He was born at 38 wks and was 7lbs.

My friend had her dd first, about 9lb IIRC, not a great delivery, lots of tearing and stitches blah blah. Ds was nearly 12lb. Two stitches. By the time I'd phoned the hospital about 3 hrs after the birth to find out the visiting hours she was dressed and about to get her discharge papers.