Petite women - experiences of natural childbirth ?

[Sunandsea13]

Hi everyone, I am 34w and just thinking about birth options. I am 5ft and have a small frame and always planned on an ELCS. I now have had a wobble and am thinking of giving natural birth a go as would rather not have such a big operation if I don’t have to. Just wondering if anyone has experience (good and bad) with natural labour when a petite size and any tips or ways to handle it? I am worried about the baby getting stuck!

5ft 1, size 2.5 - 3 feet, petite and have had two vaginal births, both 5 hours, babies around 7.5lbs, tiny tear with DD1 which didn't cause me any bother and no tears with DD2. Spontaneous labour with the first and induced with my second due to age, all fine and no interventions. I did try a water birth with DD1 but was hot and bothered and got out during the pushing stage

I'm 5'2", had DD vaginally with no tearing or interventions - but DH is also short, which may be relevant. She was 7lb 3oz.

I'm 5' 2 and DH 6' 1 and I have had 2 natural labours with just gas and air.
My lovely chum is 6' and has had 4 sections ( all babies over 9.5lbs and the last one neatly 11lbs)
DD1 7lbs 2 and DD2 7lbs 4.
My GP said shetland ponies produce shetland ponies and cart horses produce cart horses.

2 natural home births. Did need some stitches after. One petite baby (6.5lb) and one larger (8.7lb).

I am 5'1 and gave birth vag. at 42 weeks. DD was 8 pounds. I had some diastasis recti and my pelvic floor is still a bit leaky but other than that it wasn't too bad.

Not true in my case. I'm 5'1". Dh is 6'2". All 3 of my deliveries were quick and easy. Babies were 6:13, 6:10 and 8lbs respectively. I would recommend active birthing where you labour and deliver in an upright position. It doesn't have to be standing. Kneeling works too.

What's important is your pelvis. I apparently have a very suitable pelvis, at least accordiing to the student midwife at my first.

Edited to say I didn't feel the need for any drugs for any of them and no tears or stitches.

I'm 5'1"
Had 4 vaginal births, 3 were water births and 2 of those water births were at home incl one that was in the back to back position.
I found being in water soothing, although still required copious amounts of gas and air!
All babies were around 7lb.
However I did tear and need stitches for 3 of the births, but don't think this was linked to stature.
Just remember to pant not push when you feel baby go round the U bend (for want of a better term!) wish it hadn't taken me until my 4th pregnancy to find that out!
Recovery from natural births are pretty quick, however if you tear badly it can lead to vaginal scarring which can for example make wearing tampons uncomfortable or lead to decreased sensation for sex. Speaking to friends this is probably a lot more common than you hear about.

My 4ft 10in mum had five vaginal births, the first (me) needed forceps, no interventions with the others - in fact my brothers were born at home, and my sisters were only hospital births because they were twins. Weights between 6lb and 7lb 8oz. My dad was over 6ft, so a 13 or 14” height difference.

I’m a shade over 5ft, and had two emergency sections, but neither were to do with my size.

I'm under 5 foot and small framed, my baby was also small, I had a 2nd degree tear, but was stitched up and tbh 'down there' is probably better than before.

I'm 5ft 1in, my mother 5ft 2in, her mother 4ft10in
All narrow hipped, all gave birth naturally, to babies weighing 7lb to 8lb 4oz.

I'm 5ft side 6, 7stone - about 8stome 3 when I gave birth with a small size 3 feet and had two perfectly normal labours and births, second one, my son was a water birth with no pain relief, no tear no stitches. He was 7lb 7oz. Good luck

Meant to add that my DH is 6ft and had no impact on my labours

I’m 5ft and had two babies naturally. I tore both times and needed corrective surgery between the first and the second baby. But both babies were also on the small size so that wasn’t an issue for me

Close friend of mine is 5 ft, size 3 feet, had 4 natural births, no complications

I'm 5'3, very narrow hips prior to giving birth, two home water births no tears or anything.

Just under 5'1 size 4. Two natural births 8lb10 and 8lb13.5. I had some problems but these were due to having a funny shaped (bicornate) uterus. I agree with staying active.

My mum shorter than me and size 3, had five children, four naturally second child was emergency cesarean.

Wow ! 5 foot here and two C sections. First ECS but it wasn’t really an emergency as I had done hypnobirthing and was very calm.

Impressed with everyone’s tall husbands. Mine is 5’11 and think that is a big difference.

dc1 is now 17 and I am quite glad for the C section. Can still trampoline and have a great pelvic floor.

good luck op.

I'm 5' 2" and had five vaginally - all fairly quickly with no problems or intervention (spontaneous labours). I was very lucky.

5'1, DC1 EMCS 24hrs after induction, 8.5lb, DC2 ELCS 7.5lbs. DC1 was back to back which slowed things down massively, otherwise I think I would have been able to manage it. DC2 was in a much better position but I knew I had a slim to non chance of getting an epidural at the hospital where I was due to give birth and no way was I doing it without one, so I requested and got an ELCS.

I read that birth weight of child is correlated with size of mother, and adult size of child correlated with size of both mother and father.
Birth has its risks, but evolutionarily speaking women grow babies they can birth.

Like so many PP. I am a petite woman (5'1) who gave birth twice with no complications arising from my size. My babies were relatively big compared to me also - 8.5 and 8.75lb. My smaller baby gave me more problems but that was to do with my position amd his and not size. I need to be squating and not lying down to give birth comfortably.

Editing just to say both births were actually pretty easy although I did get a tear on the first. Healed brilliantly and had zero problems with the second. No pain killers and quite fast both times. With the second it was a bit of a sneeze birth and I was out and about with her and pleased as punch within hours

5'2". Three vaginal birth using gas and air. DH is also short but I had big babies, DD1 was 8lb13oz, DD2 was 8lb 3oz (both term) and DS was 7lb 7oz at 36 weeks.

My Mum is the same height as me, DDad was 5'8" and they had 4DC. All vaginal births with no pain relief (she didn't like gas and air).

I am 5ft with a very petite frame and narrow hips, and my husband is well over 6ft. The baby was measuring 96th centile (on the growth chart personalised to my size). I was so worried about all the same things as you ahead of the birth. I seriously considered an elective caesarean but didn't request it in the end. I actually had, to everyone's surprise (not least my own!) a very easy vaginal delivery, no interventions, and just had a small tear that healed quickly. Recovery was quite easy. I'm really glad I went for it, as for me it was clearly the easier option than a c section. It's hard though, because you can't know in advance! That's part of what formed my decision to try vaginal birth first.

I didn't have a water birth as was consultant-led for reasons unrelated to my small frame.

I'm 4ft 11, size 4 feet and had 2 natural births with only very minimal tearing on the first that didn't require stitching. 1st baby was 7lb6 and 2nd 5lb15 (2.5 wks early.) Both short labours of 6.5hrs/2.5hrs.

I SWEAR by raspberry leaf extract taken in the last 4 wks of pregnancy. It made the contractions really effective and I just powered through. Also used a bit of wheatgerm oil to massage the perineum during pregnancy. Active birth helped massively too. So keeping upright/on all 4s/mobile/kneeling up all felt like the best positions. I couldn't have lain on my back if you paid me! It was too uncomfortable and definitely would've slowed things down. Good luck!

I’m 5ft 3 with very narrow hips. I had two vaginal births. One 7lb baby and one nearly 9lb with a big head. A bit of tearing but no stitches required. The bigger baby was born at home in birthing pool. I also had an antenatal yoga teacher who was really tiny (short and about a size 6) she had a 10lb baby at home!

I'm 5'2, size 3 feet, small frame and DH is over 6 ft- two vaginal births with no problem- both around 7lb