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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Big Babies....

23 replies

m1nn1em0u5e · 06/10/2011 00:01

Hi, im 24 weeks with ds3..

A family friend had a baby recently, bit of a traumatic delivery & she has now been told the baby has Erbs Palsy, they are awaiting an appointment to see a consultant, I googled this & found its as a result of traumatic delivery, shoulder dystocia & often a large baby....Im now so worried.

ds1 was 8lb & ds2 was 8lb 13oz, all the way through my first labour they kept bringing the Dr in, asking my shoe size, height (5ft 3") & advised an epidural incase I had to go to theatre, the Midwife later told me they suspected the baby was huge & I wouldnt be able to deliver him normally.....

ds2 was a fast delivery, born just over an hour after arriving at hospital, no problems (not that I noticed) delivering him due to his size & my small size!..

Hadnt really given the delivery much thought, but if my next baby is nearly a lb bigger like my last two, that could mean I will be having a 9lb 10oz baby!....Oh & im booked in for a gtt test tomorrow at the hospital due to my Dad having diabetes....that also is a risk factor for a big baby!..

Sorry for the ramble, my Midwife just said 'oh your 2nd baby was quite a bit bigger & that was that!' Will mention it again next week....

Anybody else had big babies with no problems despite being petite?!....

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MummyMellie · 06/10/2011 22:31

Well I'm not petite, but nor am I huge either. First DC was 6lb4oz, second DC was a whopping 10lb 10 1/2!!

Am due any minute with number three, which according to the scans is looking like another biggie - just hope that the size of this one doesn't increase as much as it did between the last two!!

MummyMellie · 06/10/2011 22:35

Meant to add that from what I have heard, shoulder dystocia is apparently no more common in big babies than it is in normal sized ones, hope that goes some little way to putting your mind at rest.

birdofthenorth · 06/10/2011 22:40

I'm not petite but DD was 9'6". Bit fun giving birth but no truly awful medical disasters like you're fearing

MrsHoolie · 06/10/2011 23:25

Hi. I have had a 9lber and a 10lber however I had c sections so I am not your woman!(not due to size btw).
From the reading and research I did and from your previous births I don't think you have anything to worry about!Even if you have a 10lb+ baby it won't necessarily be any harder to deliver.
Even though DS was a large baby his head was totally average.

Zeeky · 07/10/2011 23:00

DS1 was 8lb 5oz and DS2 10lb 7oz! DS2 was delivered using hypnobirthing techniques, so had no pain reliefe at all. No-one realised he was going to be that big until he arrived, and then they were all totally amazed that I had done it with no pain relief!!! It can be done. Don't worry about it. I found DS1's birth far more difficult than DS2, so size has little to do with it IMO.

Original poster

m1nn1em0u5e · 07/10/2011 23:10

Aah thanks ladies, I feel so much better now!.. :)

OP posts:

stuffthenonsense · 09/10/2011 06:26

Hi. I am 5f3 with a shoe size of 5. I delivered DD2 at home- 11lb (shock, expecting much smaller) after an 8lb8 1st baby. My third was then 8lb3.. my 4th 10lb. No idea what to expect for this one. Dont worry too much, it really is very unlikely that your body will produce something it cant birth. Shoulder dystocia can be dealt with very efficiently by a confident midwife who knows the gaskin technique (and as someone else said, smaller babies often get stuck too). Do some reading around ina may gaskin and shoulder dystocia, i am certain you will feeel reassured.

FlubbaBubba · 09/10/2011 06:43

Have never heard a question about shoe size, and I've had some biiiiig babies ; a 9 lber, an 11 lber and a 12 lber. (and I'm fairly average in size and height)

Original poster

m1nn1em0u5e · 09/10/2011 11:23

thankyou stuffthenonsense!..I will have a read....

FlubbaBubba omg a 12lb baby! Ouch!...I thought it was a strange question until they explained the relation between shoe size & pelvis size apparently?!

OP posts:

FlubbaBubba · 09/10/2011 17:37

Well by that measure I should have size 15 feet :o :o

(and yes, OUCH is a good description) :o but he's ohhhhhhhh so gorgeous (and I'd do it again!) :)

Original poster

m1nn1em0u5e · 09/10/2011 19:50

Aah thats lovely :) Can't wait to meet my new arrival in January :)

OP posts:

BedHog · 09/10/2011 20:08

I'm size 6-8 normally, size 6 feet, 10lb 4oz baby. Needed forceps, but that was because I was knackered, not due to the size. No shoulder problems either.

Baby 2, due in 2 weeks, is measuring on 2nd centile so hopefully will be a bit smaller (but not scarily tiny).

PreggoEggo · 10/10/2011 08:15

i"ve never been asked my shoes size (though my mum was always telling me to tell the mw and i did once and she just gave me a funny look!!). Im 5 foot, shoe size 2 and my second baby was 9 lbs 4oz, very very easy birth compared to my first (7lb 13). I too am worried about the size of this one, but i was surprised at how well my body coped with such a big baby for my small sized with DD2, i think your body just knows what to do, and Im hoping subsequent births are slightly easier than the first. Was it your friends first baby?

btw Im 26 weeks with baby3 so not far ahead of you!! :)

marjean · 10/10/2011 09:28

I'm a size 10 and had a lovely homebirth with dc3 who weighed 12lb13oz. I had no tears. I think that it went well because:

nobody picked up on her size, so it wasn't of any concern to me before she was born and none of the mws were twitchy
she was born in water and I was in an upright position
as I was at home, I had continual, one-to-one care
I was left alone and able to get into optimum positions to deliver

Check out bigbaby.org - full of positive stories and advice.

fraktious · 10/10/2011 09:34

12lb13oz!!!!!

I had an average weight baby (8lb4) but a huuuuge head and OP presentation. No real problems but I did hear the shoe size/pelvis thing. Not entire accurate as your pelvis isn't solid and the ligaments can give quite a lot.

FlubbaBubba · 10/10/2011 09:40

marjean you beat me by 10ozs. I thought 12lbs 3oz was big enough. I did have 2nd degree tears, but did with my tiny ones too (1st baby was only 9lbs 2oz) :o

leatherlover · 10/10/2011 14:55

Hey ladies, sorry to hijack... I'm on number 3 due on the 15/11 and worried about 'huge baby syndrome' also. Everyone who's given birth around me recently seems to have had biggies regardless of their own size soooo....I was wondering does anyone think it has anything to do with diet? Do we eat too much sugary stuff during pregnancy or just too much generally due to the old adage 'eating for 2'????

stuffthenonsense · 10/10/2011 16:04

leatherlover, with my last dd (10lb) i gained not even an ounce throughout the entire pregnancy.....i had such horrendous sickness right through that i dont know how baby or i got ANY nutrients at all, so for my point of view i dont think food has much to do with it.

minimuffin · 10/10/2011 16:20

Not sure this is any help to you OP but I know so many people who have had scans later in pregnancy and told that they were having ENORMOUS babies, HUGE - only to go on to deliver perfectly normal size babies between 8 and 10lb. All that was achieved was that they had the fear of god put into them about the birth.

I actually had a scan at 38 weeks with DS3 as midwife wanted to make sure he wasn't breech (he wasn't). And lo and behold I was told he was a big baby - 8lb 9oz was the estimate. As for his head circumference measurements, they were off the scale. "He's got a big head", said the sonographer cheerily, "good luck!" I knew not to pay any attention, but even so...

Nearly 3 weeks later, DS3 arrived - 8lb 7oz and with the daintiest little head. I had a planned home birth with him and it was my worst of the 3 labours and births. I put this down almost completely to the fact that all the way through labour all I could think was "massive head, massive head" and dreading what was to come. This is in spite of the fact that i knew from friends experiences that these measurements scans are almost always inaccurate - sometimes wildly so. I could have happily gone to the hospital afterwards and hunted that sonographer down to thank her for her bloody unhelpful comments...

Original poster

m1nn1em0u5e · 10/10/2011 16:40

PreggoEggo....yes it was her first baby, this is my 3rd baby too, so my body should know what to do in theory!..are you on the Feb antenatal thread?

Will have a look at bigbaby.org, thanks!..

Re Diet, I have wondered about this, however with all 3 pregnancies I have suffered from Hyperemesis for the first half of the pregnancy, I have only just got back to the weight I was when I was first pregnant!..& im nearly 25 weeks!

My sister in law was scanned 3 weeks before having ds2 & was told the baby was at least 8lbs, he arrived 3 weeks later weighing less than that!..so yep, I agree scans are highly inaccurate! :)

Thanks for all the comments, I do feel reassured :)

OP posts:

PreggoEggo · 10/10/2011 18:22

no im on the jan one but tbh it's so busy i dont have time to keep up with everyone!! :) due 16th x

kickingking · 10/10/2011 18:35

This one always confuses me. I am 5'1" with size 3/4 feet. I requested an elcs with
my 8lb 6oz baby - I am diabetic and the other option would have been early induction with epidural. I was v v worried about getting him out at my size bit was repeatedly told that height, shoe size, etc make NO difference at all to our ability to give birth - by both midwives and obs. I can't comment on that as I did get the elcs!

But the point was - everyone would have been happy for a very small woman to give birth to a large baby, flat on her back with an epidural so maybe you have nothing to worry about. You've done it twice before...

Original poster

m1nn1em0u5e · 10/10/2011 19:50

PreggoEggo, Im due Jan, but originally my dates were 1st Feb, so ive just stuck to that one, it is really busy!..

Kickingking, yes you are probably right, im just a worrier, but going to put it to the back of my mind....

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